Thank you to Gillingham for this report:
Gillingham ecclesia took delivery of 20 rucksacks in November.
After the breaking of bread, members and visitors packed the rucksacks with a
copy of the gospel of Mark and hats, socks, gloves etc. before they were taken
down to One Big Family's outdoor soup kitchen in Chatham. The lovely staff and
volunteers had set up a tent kitchen where they were dishing up a hot meal for the
night and a home-made ready meal for the day after, plus donated clothes and
toiletries. Some of the homeless who were arriving had flimsy plastic bags, so it
looked like the rucksacks would be helpful. Earlier in the week the main
organiser said that people had been asking for rucksacks after the recent wet
weather, so it was timely. The staff
seemed to know the customers quite well and so were well placed to decide who
would benefit most from the rucksacks - there were about 25 people already
queuing as the kitchen opened and the person managing the kitchen estimated
that they normally served 80-120 customers.
The kitchen manager asked about Christadelphians, so we told
her a little and gave her a card with key websites on the back. However, we
didn't take photos or ask for any recognition of Christadelphians as the donors,
to try to follow the spirit of Matthew 6:1-4.