Page 81 - MLD Book

waited for Harvey to come and chase it out with a broom. It was not happy, baring its teeth. After Critter Ridders sealed off the chimney, I had a covering installed. Harvey is always coming to my rescue, and I am comforted to know that whenever something happens, he is always the first to respond and fix it. I am called his second mother, and he is my first “son.” He also was instrumental in getting four cable TV sets in my bedroom so I could watch all of my ballgames at once. And that was a major accomplishment to making 2017 pleasant more times than not.
And one more thing bordering on the silly, but fun. My grandchildren challenged me to play POKEMON and of course I wanted to prove that OLD people had enough sense to do so. So on July 13, I embarked upon that addictive game, and I am still at it. The goal was to reach Level 40. As the months ensued, the kids went back to school and didn’t have as much interest in it. By this time, Of course, I was hooked. Sit took a couple of years, but I finally attaned level 40, and became a slight object of admiration of the younger generation. But getting there is by no means the end! They are always throwing more stuff and goals at you to make you go on, and I have.
2018
With the departure of Elizabeth to St. James, 2018 continued in a somewhat chaotic state
that had almost become the norm. After delBane, we were reluctant to depend on yet another outside interim, and so the vestry decided to call one from our own diocese. Although Whit Stodgill made a very political move to become the next interim, cooler heads prevailed, and thankfully John Allen was called in March to be the latest Calvary interim priest. His calm and caring influence was just what we needed, especially with his interest and support of our outreach programs. Sermons called attention to what we were doing both at the Well and in the food and clothing day to day operations. He went right with us when we went to the Well, even to climbing up the steep incline to get to the people hunkered up at the top of the viaduct! I must mention that, as our Well menu expanded, Tom Gift decided that we needed to have popcorn! He provided a popping machine, corn, oil, bags, and the labor each Thursday to provide popcorn, as many as 88 bags and even double that as the idea caught on. He was widely known and revered in homeless circles as the POPCORN MAN.
Tom had been one of the original six (Tim Duncan, me, Jon Smith, Dean and Linda, and Lou Henson if I remember correctly) and over the course of time, we were joined by Fr. John, Cindy, Billy Hower, Metalia, Roman, Esbenshades, Larry Davis, and Joan Wempe (that bloomed into a relationship!!!), Joseph Reese, John and Jordan, Kim the homeless, Anita, and many others I am forgetting. Peanut butter and jelly, hot chocolate, lemonade, cups, and other things were donated by us and people who could’t go to the site but wanted to be a part of it. Oh yes, while we are on the subject of the Well, I must relate that I succumbed to getting the shots for Hepatitis A, since that disease is rampant among the homeless. I also had to get a triple barreled shot of something or other that enables me to hold babies! (Well it did before Covid at least!)
One day I arrived to find the steps to the north entry had completely disappeared! They would be replaced by new ones eventually! What to do with that day’s distributions? With