Conrad and Wong belong to the First Baptist Church of Temple City on Baldwin. Every Saturday, the volunteers gather at the church at noon. and spend an hour making sack lunches with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cookies, fruit and water. Then they put the finished products into their cars and head out to Pasadena to distribute the lunches.
These events primarily take place in public places such as Memorial Park. In addition to giving out food, the volunteers also help by offering clothes, money and sometimes conversation.
“You don’t know what to expect,” Conrad said. “It normally turns out great, because everyone is very thankful,and very nice about us connecting with them.”
The people who gather here, the volunteers and the deprived alike, don’t come just to have lunch, but to have a decent conversation with someone else every now and then. Conrad and Wong often interact directly with the people they help out and get to know their stories.
The homeless that the volunteers encounter are often in their 30’s and 40’s. Sometimes they come alone, but Conrad recalls couples showing up as well. She also mentions that some of them are trying to get off drugs and alcohol, while others are just looking for jobs. Wong notes that some of the people they help out don’t fit the image of a homeless person.
“There was this one lady in her mid-30’s, who was wearing a business suit and pumps, and had a dog with her. We couldn’t tell if she was homeless,” Wong said. “So we gave her some food. As it turns out, she had been evicted from her home.”
The volunteers head home after five to six hours of working. At the end of the day, Conrad and Wong are just satisfied with being able to reach out to those in need. Conrad, in particular, feels that the experience reinforces both her faith and the faith of the people they help.
“Everybody who is there wants to be there,” Conrad said. “When we come we always try to bring $2 or $3 to help with supplies.”
Wong started participating in this program when it first began in January this year, while Conrad entered the program more recently.
The church offers training classes once or twice a week to teach the volunteers how to approach certain situations during the distributions.
“It’s cool for them to have started this,” Wong said. “It is very fulfilling, and gives you a better awareness of the situation. It was like a wake-up call.”