A few years ago, one Sunday a month, I volunteered at Dorothy Day Hospitality House. It was such a fulfilling and amazing experience on so many levels. I had tremendous admiration for the folks I volunteered with. Long talks about life, relationships, religion, family ensued as we gathered together preparing to feed the hungry. And, there were the patrons of all ages who so humbly walked through the door anxious for a mid-day meal…some carried mental and physical baggage easy to detect, others looked like the gal or guy standing behind me on the grocery line. Who would have known?
The experience of volunteering at Dorothy Day made me less judgmental of my fellow man. Life is full of surprises and sometimes we're forced into survival mode. Life got in the way of my volunteering, in the form of kid's activities, mothering and being a wife. I had to stop. I still keep in touch with some of my Dorothy Day volunteer buddies. They continue to gather on the third Sunday of every month in service and love. My kids are getting older and my goal is to spend Sunday afternoons at Dorothy Day once again.
Dorothy Day Hospitality House is based on the Houses of Hospitality founded by Dorothy Day during the Great Depression. Many considered Day to be a living saint. Her response? "Don't call me a saint. I don't want to be dismissed so easily." Day died in 1980. The Claretians, a Roman Catholic religious community of priests and brothers, have launched an effort to have her canonized.
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