Charity

Wednesday 25th November, 2020

I had most of the day to myself. Other house members were out for lunch and Christmas shopping! So I trundled off to Mass. Only four of us there so it was quiet and reflective. On my way back I took a diversion via a Charity Sale, really a jumble sale. The monies from it support the local Community Centre. The Centre does much for many from toddlers to the octogenarians and older, from keep fit to 'Come Dancing' for the retired. The lady in charge is a live wire. She wears outrageous clothes, hats and foot gear and has a loud piercing voice...she is charity personified with a large dose of efficiency and ruthlessness. She gets things done and even makes the lonely feel loved and the neglected feel nurtured. The Centre survives mainly on monies raised so it is a joy to buy things there. Sadly there was noting I wanted but I bought three jars of lavender bath mousse, whatever that may be. I now search for a victim to give them to for Christmas: that should cheer someone up!

I then wandered home pondering the horrors that arise which need charity. The sudden famines and natural disasters, the places and people devastated by wars, the underfunded cancer and mental health charities as well as much more from cats to dogs to children to the old. Daily I am receiving requests and feel so awkward at not being able to help them all. I then heard that the Chancellor is cutting out Overseas Development funding. I know we are in dire straits but a million pounds does ten to twenty times more in Nigeria or Ethiopia than it does in Yorkshire. A child in Malawi can be fed on £14 a year at school or so the last statistic I read for Mary's Meals told me. What is the cost in the UK?

Then I went for a longer walk and saw the Charity Sale was still on. I went in to help with food parcels from foods donated by local shops, God bless them. They give their 'about to be binned' throw aways to the Centre on certain days. All those who have food bank parcels are given choices, they come in and take what they need. There is no anger, no pushing and shoving but a real sense of sharing with each other. It is not a source of embarrassment but of kindness and cooperation, a community care for each other.

Just now I have returned from my last stroll. It was such a lovely day that I decided to take the evening walk as the sun set. The colours stunning, skeins of geese flying over with their distinctive sounds and four herons settling for the night and a swan with its head tucked under its wing. A free gift to us all. The skies do not demand a fee but give of themselves as themselves. That is what we do when charitable....a gift of us to another and what a joy it is and what a sight for sore, prejudiced and jaundiced human souls.