SOS at the Zoo

    Recently there was an interesting announcement in our church bulletin that clients from the South Oakland Shelter, or SOS, would be hosted at its facility for a week in August. What caught my attention was the statement that over 200 volunteers would be needed during that week! Imagine! Two hundred members of the congregation needed to help with that event! Much bigger numbers than what Al and I were used to at home! But of course, now we are living in a suburb of a huge metropolitan area.

    SOS is a rotating shelter for homeless/ needy people and families. Over sixty congregations participate by providing housing for one week during the year. When it is time for a congregation to take its week, clients are brought to that location in vans at dinnertime, spend the night there and then are taken to a central facility. From there, many of the clients are driven to jobs, since one of the requirements for being in the program includes the willingness to work. Children of families have the opportunity to go to day care or school. Assistance is also available for long term housing as well as counseling and other services.

    In the announcement, volunteers were needed to set up cots, prepare and serve meals, organize activities for the folks to do in the evenings and take shifts for security during the night. Helpers were also needed for special activities, like an evening outing at the Detroit Zoo.

    Al and I signed up to help with the outing at the zoo. Donations from the church and the community made it possible for those attending to get into the zoo free, as well as to enjoy a fried chicken dinner.  Everyone seemed happy to be there. One man said he hadn’t been to the zoo in twenty years!

   After serving, we sat at a long table to sample the chicken. People were hungry, so there wasn’t much talking going on. But then someone stepped on a packet of catsup causing it to splatter on most everyone in the vicinity, including about 10 of us at the picnic table.

   The lady sitting across from me whose name was Barbara pointed out a spot on my light colored shirt. “Well,” I laughed looking around at all of the other people wiping away the red sauce, “I guess that makes us all related: catsup brothers and sisters!”

   With that, the ice was broken and conversation was started. I commented the splattered catsup is a lot like the sin in our lives: both are hard to cover up, affect others and are difficult to remove! “I like that analogy,” Barbara chuckled.

     The mother of an active little boy, she mentioned working for two years in the SOS program. I asked her several questions about how it was organized, glad to have someone who was knowledgeable and who had been involved with it.   

   “I can only say good things about it,” she said. “Even if I tried, I couldn’t think of anything bad about SOS! Now that I am employed elsewhere, I still try to volunteer whenever I can and I always bring my son.” 

   Barbara, her son and the others soon finished their dinner and left to enjoy the rest of the zoo before it was time to go. After we cleared off the tables and cleaned up, Al and I departed for home. It was a special evening, one that I’ll remember for a long time. And a little bit of stain remover did the trick for the catsup. Now that’s another good analogy, one that I will leave up to you!

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-24 NIV