Engl 109 - the Helping Hand

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“Hi sir, would you like a Nutella sandwich with hazelnut?” said Caleb enthusiastically. He had the same warm smile on that he greeted me with. The homeless man’s face lit up with joy and he dropped his blanket and stood up.

“Oh hell yeah, I would really love to have one or maybe even two?” I thought it was very kind of Caleb and Hanna to give away some of the extras. The boxes were starting to feel heavier as we continued walking down the streets of downtown Toronto. I could not help but observe all of the beautiful buildings and even the tall glass one that read KPMG in big white letters on it. My heart sunk a little but I continued to look around at the fashionable clothes everyone was wearing and admired the scene.

“Hi there, how are you can I help you to a cheese sandwich on this sunny day?” I was startled out of my daze as Hanna exclaimed to a woman down the street who was holding back her Husky.

“You would think God answered my prayers by the way you three showed up.” The woman looked relieved, grateful but moreover she looked full. Although she had not eaten the sandwich yet, she looked full of relief and happiness. ‘We only made 101 sandwiches, how are they giving so many?’ I wondered until I realized that we were not catering an event we were catering to feed the poor. For a couple of seconds I felt astonished by the idea and felt foolish for not thinking of that sooner. I have never really done anything without a reward in return. I was familiar of volunteering towards my high school credit and participating in volunteer excursions at school only in hopes to be recognized and rewarded for it one day. However, until I felt the reward, the one that was not monetary, the one that I felt when the man put the second sandwich in his bag and the one where the woman’s hard lines on her face softened. Seeing how the simplest of things can change a person’s day really changed my perspective. I began walking up to the homeless people on the street my own and handing out the sandwiches until my box was empty. I wish I helped Hanna make a couple more sandwiches as I saw couple more homeless men and women curled up down the street.

“Hey, why don’t we call it a day? You did an amazing job today. Thanks for all of your help. I know it was a lot of work to do for free but I hope you found it worth your time. Let’s put the boxes in the trunk and head home.”

“Anytime Caleb. I’m really glad Hanna came to my door the other day.” I looked at Hanna as she looked rather shy and remembered her saying “it pays”. However, she was not wrong at all, this job definitely does pay. It paid me a feeling that I want to feel for the rest of my life. For one I felt free of all my stresses and genuinely satisfied with myself.

Since that day, I devoted my time with Caleb and Hanna every week throughout the summer reaching out and feeding mouths all over Toronto.

Once upon a time, I looked around downtown Toronto and saw life as a concrete jungle, that I wanted to be apart of and now I see the humans of Toronto curled up by the base of buildings living a life that I would rather be a part of.