# Serving dinner at a soup kitchen is very rewarding.....and potentially humbling. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-dinner-at-a-soup-kitchen-is-very-rewarding-and-potentially-humbling/833062 "2019-04-26T01:50:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-dinner-at-a-soup-kitchen-is-very-rewarding-and-potentially-humbling/833062/1 "2019-04-26T01:50:02Z")
This evening, I joined a group from my church to do this. I’ve done it many times before and thought I knew what to expect. I did not expect to see someone I knew there, and not this person either. He seemed to recognize me in the line, and I wondered if the scroungy long-haired man with missing teeth in front of me could possibly be who I thought he was. He sat down close enough to the serving line that I could hear him speak, and yes, it was him. ☹ I knew he had lost his job in a downsizing several years ago but not that anything like this had happened to him. I was hoping to go over and say hello to him, but I saw him leave before I had a chance to do so. If there was even an incident illustrating that anyone could potentially land on desperate times, it was this one. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-dinner-at-a-soup-kitchen-is-very-rewarding-and-potentially-humbling/833062/2 "2019-04-26T13:50:38Z")
There’s an old saying “Change the name and the tale is told about you.” I never thought I’d be homeless, but I spent six weeks in a homeless shelter last summer. Most of the people there were people who had fell on hard times. Believe you me, shit happens. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-dinner-at-a-soup-kitchen-is-very-rewarding-and-potentially-humbling/833062/3 "2019-04-26T15:37:05Z")
I volunteered in a shelter\* on weeknights for almost 5 years. One of my tasks was teaching remedial courses to move clients into full time employment. Like **nearwildheaven** , I had the strange coincidence of encountering someone I knew. One of my students was a high school classmate of mine – from 40 years earlier. It was an odd situation, but we enjoyed trading stories of goofy teachers. I never found out what brought her to the shelter though. \*Convenient shorthand for our charity. More of an intervention organization than a shelter – all volunteer group taking new-homeless and providing meals, childcare, training and legal advice to get them restarted in the workforce. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-dinner-at-a-soup-kitchen-is-very-rewarding-and-potentially-humbling/833062/4 "2019-04-26T18:42:33Z")
I strongly suspect that more happened to him than just losing his job. That’s usually the case. Perhaps he had to deal with things like the death of his parents, a serious illness (and not because of the bills; the psychological issues that go along with it), etc. and maybe started drinking, gambling, or engaging in some other destructive behavior. AFAIK, he’s never been married and has no children; he’s in his mid to late 50s and I don’t think he’s gay. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-dinner-at-a-soup-kitchen-is-very-rewarding-and-potentially-humbling/833062/5 "2019-04-30T06:56:08Z")
I forgot to mention that I told one of the other servers about this as we were cleaning up, and he said that he once worked with a man who was a really bad alcoholic for a long time, and none of them knew it until he didn’t show up for work one day. The boss called a meeting and told them, with the man’s permission, that he had decided to seek treatment for alcoholism. He somehow managed to find a way to drink a fifth of vodka every night, and not bring it to work the next day, and one day he decided he’d had enough and checked into a hospital.