I went down to Lipscomb Sunday afternoon with a group from church. We took them ice cream. It was a small gesture to let them know we cared and they hadn’t been forgotten. It was our way of being the church. We took 204 individual ice cream treats including ice cream sandwiches, fudge pops, and popsicles. It brightened their day with most of them smiling as they picked out their favorite and thanking us for the treat. We made sure the volunteers, mostly from the Red Cross were included as they really have worked hard over the past two weeks taking care of everyone staying there. The count of clients on Sunday was 160, add in the volunteers and you’ve got over 200 people at the shelter. The volunteers seemed to visibly exhale when they were asked if they wanted ice cream as well. One of them came over rather out of sorts stating that every night when she calls her husband back home he tells her that he’s sitting in the chair eating a ice cream sandwich, could she please have one? It seemed to bring a level of comfort to have that ice cream sandwich. In about 30 minutes time we managed to hand out just about all the ice cream we had and it was time to go.
I know they appreciated and we were blessed for being able to do it.
Guess what happened Monday morning when I showed up at the shelter? The first thing I heard from one of the men staying at the shelter…
“Thank you ice cream lady”
I can’t help but grin and chuckle even as I write this. It’s the small gestures we do for others that sometimes bring the biggest joy.
