A Hand Up

Saturday morning I was here at the quan. Just about to initiate a day of manual labor (or manuel labor as my late stepfather called it but that's another story)

Up walked a kid with that street urchin look. A little dirty, a few tatoos. He introduced himself and asked for some work.

Now I'm a pretty charitable guy but the funny thing is my first reaction was to turn him away. Strangely I think it's the same with most people. So I told him no. No work today.

But I talked to him for a few minutes. Tried to decipher the situation. After a few minutes I decided he might really be just having a hard time and not some of the other things that first came to mind. And that's when I realized I was planning a hard day of labor and I told this kid I didn't have any work. How strange is that.

Well I do have to admit, I did have to check my bank account to make sure I did have some cash to pay him. I did so i fed him and then took him to work with me. Although I watched for any sign that I should let him go.

Kevin is a good worker. I could tell he tired out after about 4 hours but he wouldn't admit it and he kept working. We had a good day and I was happy to have his help and he was happy to be fed and to make a little money. It turned out to be a good decision.

So Kevin is homeless. His family left after their house was foreclosed on. Kevin is hungry and scared.

I don't believe in hand outs but I do believe in hand ups. And I believe this is a hand up.

Who out there in the Valley Springs area can offer Kevin a little work. Won't take much to keep him fed. A yard mowed. Some weeds pulled.

From my stats a blog post on this site should reach about 1000 people in Valley Springs. So out of 1000 people who read this I should be able to find someone that can work Kevin for a couple of hours

Right?