The Kind of Neighbor I Want To Be

By Olivia Hamilton, Director of Community Programs

There are children in our community who rely on school cafeterias for hot meals, and those meals are not available in the summer. During the months of June and July this year, We Will Go started a new summer feeding program that provided fresh free lunch to any child in our neighborhood. The second day of the program, a teenage boy named Dee came in for lunch and asked if he could come back every day. We told him yes, and Dee brought his friends from down the street. There were six children, with the youngest child only being 2 years old. They ate lunch each day all summer. Being a reliable person who helps kids know they are safe and have food to eat is the kind of neighbor I want to be.

One day in July, our friendly group of kids came in for lunch and announced it was Dee’s 16th birthday! We quickly pulled a cake from the food pantry and a basketball from some toy donations and took a moment to celebrate this young man. I asked him what his birthday plans were, and he looked at me and responded, “This! Being here, with my friends is what I wanted to do today!” I suddenly realized this would be his only birthday cake, and his only birthday gift. We Will Go is where he felt loved and celebrated. Those six children ate the entire cake in one sitting. We say a lot, “if this only helps one child, it will be worth it, ” and as I sat at that table eating cake and laughing with those kids, I found that to be true.

In my time at We Will Go, I meet so many people who are in a hard place simply because of the uncontrollable circumstances of life. I meet so many grandmothers raising grandchildren alone, so many parents who have lost children to violence, and so many single moms working multiple jobs. Jesus tells us to care for widows and orphans and to love our neighbor as ourselves. I believe we show the love of Christ to our neighbors by creating a space to build relationships and meet physical needs. At We Will Go, we want to be the kind of neighbors who take time to listen and learn people’s names. Being able to bless families with a week’s worth of groceries is a practical way we are able to make a real impact in our community. I get to meet some amazing neighbors that I am proud to call friends.