It has to be said that among the homeless and the needy people, there are angels who give selflessly and unexpectedly - and bring a smile and relief to someone who thinks that hope is lost.
At the ACE resource center in Seaford, last winter, two different citizens donated their cars and made two people very happy! It helped a man who just got a job, and made it possible for him to visit his daughter and take her shopping.
On another day last winter, I was walking along Highway One in Rehoboth, trying to get several totes and luggage across the highway to the bus stop and then to a motel a mile up the road, when a light-colored sport utility vehicle pulled over and a mature woman asked if she could help.
She pulled over and helped load the bags in her car and offered a ride to the motel and when we got there, she paid for the motel! At St. Luke's Church in Seaford, last winter someone donated a box of insulated ponchos to protect the homeless men and women from the elements. Another evening a box of new socks and shirts came.
Last year the people of Sussex County gathered up pocketbooks and filled them with toiletries and gifts to give the women of Immanuel Code Purple Shelter in Rehoboth.
Several of the thrift stores in the Lewes/Rehoboth area donate clothing and shoes to the homeless, that often help them dress for job interviews and clothes to work in - they are the New Life Thrift Store, God's Way thrift store and All Saints' thrift store. There are many businesses in Sussex County that donate food to the resource centers and the homeless shelters.
Thanks go to Wawa food stores for donating breakfast sandwhiches, hash browns, and hot dogs; to Walmart for salads and produce; to Giant, Safeway and Food Lion for their many food donations. A big thank you to the Seaford Police Department for donating pizzas to St. Luke's soup kitchen shelter.
Also on another cold winter evening, Dr. Sarah and Carol visited the women's shelter in Bridgeville to give the women a hand massage and free samples of essential oils and to educate them on their usefulness. A volunteer of Code Purple and her husband volunteered their truck and time to go to Newark and help move belongings from storage to a storage shed in Seaford so a woman wouldn't lose her family photos and genealogy documents.
Recently, a homeless woman, who sleeps in her car, discovered one day that someone flattened all four of her tires.
Within a couple of days a woman from a local church came by and told her she wanted to buy her new tires for her car; she paid for the tow and all four tires!
These are the stories of love and hope! Helping our fellow citizens, unselfishly and unconditionally to relieve their suffering.
Susan Duck
Lewes
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