Door of Hope

So, this quarter I finally got myself in gear and got involved at a transitional housing community in Pasadena called Door of Hope which I have to say, is providing me with some amazing, life-changing interactions. Door of Hope provides free housing, food, counseling, and life skills training for 8 (two parent) families. Families are given a year to transition through their program and eventually find permanent affordable housing and become financially and emotionally stable. Please check out the website for more details or ways you can support Door of Hope. And now onto the stories...

-I have been helping my friend Kimberly (who works at DoH) schedule people to donate dinner for each night of the week. We have a major influx of volunteers as as result of the Disney "Give-a-Day, Get-a-Day" program. So basically I respond to e-mails of people interested in volunteering and schedule them for a date to bring dinner for our families and then they get a free ticket to Disneyland. This has been quite overwhelming and in one day Kimberly got 400 e-mails. Currently, the calendar is booked solid with a different person providing dinner each night of the week until May 1. Communicating and scheduling volunteers that have a very clear incentive to volunteer has been a great learning experience for me. On the one hand, sometimes people cancel at the last minute and think that the only result will be that they don't get their disney ticket... this makes me sad for humanity. But then, I e-mail a list of "on call" meal donors and frequently will have 4-5 people willing to cook dinner for 30 people the next day... this helps me to remember that there is still good in this world.

I will continue to share stories of my experiences at Door of Hope but to avoid this post being too long, it will have to wait for another time. Please check out the Door of Hope website to learn more.

PS-- I got into the John Exegesis class I was on the waiting list for. I'm super excited about it. Just in case anyone cares.