Angels appear out of nowhere these days | Letters | Aug. 7

Published 3:27 pm Thursday, August 6, 2009

As a regular volunteer at the Helpline House Food Bank, I see angels every time I’m there.

When I was working more than full-time in Seattle, it’s funny, but I rarely saw angels. It’s a nice change.

The angels I am referring to are the amazing array of individuals on this island who step up to help our mutual neighbors, not just once, but every day.

People come in donating extra garden produce constantly during the summer months.

People who really need the food bank are so grateful since fresh produce, as we all know, is expensive.

Even food-bank users who have extra food, or whose babies no longer fit certain size diapers, donate back.

Many food bank users only choose to take what they really need, knowing others might be in worse straits.

One angel explained she had made a pact with herself to bring two bags of groceries to Helpline House every Monday morning for three months. And she did, with a smile on her face, carrying those bags proudly.

The Grace Church gardeners often traipse in with lots of children in tow to watch their garden produce get weighed.

Last Monday, an angel backed her car in full to the brim with the food donations she had requested for a birthday party in lieu of gifts.

And one of our volunteer Helpline food buyers was at T&C preparing to pay for more than $100 of ground beef, when the angel behind her in line insisted on paying.

A surprising number of these giving angels are not interested in receipts; they are interested in helping their community, in doing the right thing, because they can.

What a wonderful example these angels are to those of us who see them!

Robin Denis

Helmsman Court