Celebrating Mother’s Day at the Homeless Shelter

It was a beautiful day on Mother’s Day, May 14, Golden Year 3 (2006) with sunshine and a spring breeze, when Ohio initiates went to the Drop Inn shelter in downtown Cincinnati to serve the homeless friends. On this special day, we wanted to bring God's love to the less fortunate. This time we also had six Convenient Method brothers and sisters who wished to join us for the event.

After hearing that the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association would come to celebrate Mother’s Day, some of the homeless people stood in front of the shelter waiting for us to arrive. When they saw our cars pulling up, they warmly welcomed us and helped bring the food and gifts inside the shelter. We brought about 1000 spring rolls, seven big trays of colorful fried rice, two containers of sweet oranges, three very large vegetarian cakes, 350 beverages and 300 gift packages.

The gift packages included toothpaste, soap, shirts, towels and snacks. Moreover, in response to the request of many homeless people when we visited them the last time, we also prepared a special chocolate candy bar for each person. The people told us previously that they love chocolate very much and were craving it. So, to fulfill their wish, we prepared 300 chocolate bars by placing labels on the outside, printed with our organization’s name and the SM Logo.

After we put up Master's picture and our banner and turned on Master's chanting CD, the atmosphere in the shelter filled with joy. As soon as Master's voice blessed the shelter, the feeling immediately changed and became very peaceful. One Convenient Method brother who had just learned the meditation the day before was so happy to join our group. He told us that it was very meaningful to him that he was able to have a chance to serve the homeless. He also said that he understood how the homeless people felt because he was once a homeless person himself.

We soon noticed that there were more people arriving at the shelter. Later, we heard that they came especially because they found out from other people on the street that our group was serving at the shelter that day. Everyone patiently waited their turn to get into the shelter to receive the vegetarian food and gifts. The staff at the shelter told us that this was considered a very special day to the homeless people to have such treats as the delicious meal, the personal necessities and the special surprise of a large chocolate bar for each person. One homeless man with a big smile on his face patted his stomach and gave us the “thumbs up” sign to show his happiness after eating the meal.

While at the shelter, we took the opportunity to distribute the Alternative Living flyers. People read the flyers as they enjoyed the food. After they finished reading, we were touched to see that everyone put the flyers in their bag; none were thrown into the trash.

The Convenient Method brothers and sisters who joined in serving expressed positive feelings about participating. They feel that our Master is great because they see that serving others is a very good way to help improve the conditions of this world, as well as by doing the meditation. They are impressed that Master’s teachings bring Truth to even the mundane life because practitioners do things that are practical as well as spiritual.

Many people said that they had a meaningful Mother's Day from the celebration at the shelter. The homeless were happy to receive the good meal and warm care from God, and we were pleased that we could bring some hope and the love from God to our less fortunate friends on Mother’s Day.