After a successful Saturday, we returned Sunday morning. A few Facebook friends had alerted me to the presence of snow (there was only a dusting where I live), and the drive out saw me routed around a rather nasty accident involving a semi and an SUV, but there was less than an inch by the time I got to Amarillo.
As we set up, though, the snow started falling. And falling. It would fall for seven straight hours, approaching whiteout conditions. But we had said we would be there, and we were.
Sunday's turnout was lighter than Saturday's (we served about six people in all), in all likelihood because of the weather. But we were encouraged by the fact that the people who came mentioned the news story. We had a visit from a Colombian sculptor who spoke halting English, and fortunately had the assistance of Daniel Ramos for translation.
As the day grew on, I was thankful to God for the weather. Shelter is one thing many of us take for granted, and spending 8 straight hours in the open wind and snow was a greater Christmas gift than I could have imagined. The zipper on my coat busted early on, so I was unable to close it against the cold, but we had FEMA blankets that had been donated to OA to help keep us warm. I was very grateful for those blankets.
We didn't see a police officer. At one point, we did see two cars parked by the Civic Center and one across the street at the Globe News Center, so I suspect there was some video footage shot. Cars drove by and occasionally honked there support, but for the most part, our interaction was limited to each other and the people who came by.
It did get amusing to watch the reaction of some of the drivers, though. Some switched lanes as they passed us, apparently afraid we carried some kind of "commie cooties" or something.
As the day dragged on, it got colder. My feet were wet, and at one point I was a bit concerned about the numbness, but between the van's heater and rubbing my feet, I was able to restore feeling. I sat in the van for a bit as a precaution, but again it bears noting that many of the people we are trying to help don't even have that as an option. Small wonder that many who are left with no home find a short term hail stay to be a preferable alternative.
One gentleman who came at the end of both days said he had been arrested for public intoxication 57 times.
As the day drew near to a close, I noticed that our last customer had no gloves. I gave him mine. I'll get new ones.
All in all, it was a beautiful weekend and a very good learning experience. I am blessed to have a family that understands that holidays can be celebrated on different days if need be (we celebrated on the 23rd), but that need has no days off.
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