Yolanda & Richard

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I have mentioned several times that during the Springfield years we became involved in a ministry called Our Fathers Table (OFT).  OFT was the feeding program of High Point Urban Ministries, a coalition of faith-based organizations and churches that provided outreach to the homeless and under-resourced of our community.  Beginning in 1988, we would take a group of five or six students and myself across town to work in the soup kitchen and serve lunch.  A couple of summers we went every Friday; after that, we went every other Friday.  Eventually Springfield Friends Meeting as a whole took up the ministry and started taking groups of adults on a regular basis. We would arrive a few hours before opening, make soup and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, set up the tables, wrap the plastic utensils, and then serve the meal when the patrons would arrive.  We would also clean-up afterwards. I may not seem like much, but it was always very important to me that the students in our ministry learn to serve.

The director of OFT at the time was a fireball of a woman named Yolanda Jackson.  A short, attractive Hispanic woman, Yolanda loved that ministry.  She poured her life into the hundreds of people who passed through each week, often taking care of much more than just their hunger.  She was a deeply spiritual woman who did what she did because she felt Jesus had called her to that work.  She also ruled the place with an iron fist.  People seldom got rowdy at OFT, because if they did, they knew they had to deal with Yolanda- and that was never pretty! 

We often had interaction with the clients who would share lunch with us, learning their stories and sharing with them our faith and our lives.  There was one particular individual who we all fell in love with, and for whom OFT had become both a home and a ministry.  Richard would be there every Friday when we arrived, usually inside sweeping and cleaning the kitchen and taking out the trash.  He was the only patron allowed in before the doors officially opened, because he would come in and work until it was time to eat.  Richard was homeless, although he sometimes got to sleep at the house of a relative; he had some mild mental issues and a major speech impediment.  You had to listen very closely to understand anything Richard was saying, and if he got excited you had no chance.  Yet we spent hours talking and listening to Richard.  We often gave him a ride after lunch to wherever he needed to go.  We would bring him clothing and other things when we could.  For us, Richard became the official "mascot" of OFT.  Through him we could relate to many of the issues that faced everyone who stopped in for lunch.  For those few years, Richard made a major difference in our lives and in the ministry of Springfield Friends Meeting.

Today on my Lenten devotional blog, The 40 Day Adventure, I challenge us all to live out Matthew 25:31-46; to reach out to those who are hungry, naked and sick, and to do so in the name of Jesus.  Every time I donate a can of tuna or some used clothing, I remember Yolanda and Richard and the impact they had on my life.  As so often happens in ministry, I am sure they influenced us much more that we did them...

Because of Jesus,