IT'S THURSDAY AGAIN...

...so it must be Community Fridge Day!

The first good thing about our day today was a FaceTime chat with our son in Vietnam - he had been selected to receive four tickets - on payment, of course - for the 4th day of the Test Match at the Oval in London, for next August.  Whilst it was a lovely thought, I think Mr. HCB felt that without his Cricket Buddy, Keith, it wouldn’t be quite the same and also he can’t sit in the sun for long periods of time, so reluctantly, he had to turn down this kind offer.  We had a lovely chat with him for about half an hour, thanks to WhatsApp, although when he told us that it was rather chilly at the moment over there at 29°C, it made us smile, so I showed him our garden, which was very heavily frosted!

It was still a very cold morning, and when I left home just before 10 o’clock, it will still below freezing.  However, I do have a “bottom warmer” in the front seat of the car, so was quite warm by the time I got to the Church.  How did we manage before we had all this new-fangled stuff?  I guess we just put up with it and probably wore more layers!  The middle shot on the right in my collage was from a little wander around the garden before I left and you can see how frosted the rose is - an indication of the hard frost last night.

Anyway, today, an old friend from Belgium, Vi, was in the UK and said she would love to meet me - we haven’t seen one another for about 7 years, so it was lovely to see her today.  I knew she worked with Refugees in Belgium, so thought she would be interested in seeing how the Community Fridge and the Bags of Hope was run at our Church.  Vi was quickly enlisted to put chocolates into many of the little stockings, knitted by various people, and which will go into the Christmas Bags of Hope delivered regularly to those in need, so I left her chatting with Lesley and Jackie while I went out and chatted to some of our early customers.  A bit later, David, one of our customers, took the lovely photograph of Vi and me, at the top left of my collage.  

It must have been really cold for our customers waiting outside today, as you can imagine from seeing the heavy frost on the rose.  Meg told Vi, when I introduced them, that some of the customers are there waiting at 8.30 and even bring little folding seats so that they can sit down while they wait.  Meg also told Vi how they make friends with others in the queue, which is so lovely to see, and then some of them come into the café and sit and chat together in the warm, as our Church hall is designated as a “warm space” within the Borough.

There were lots of goodies on offer today - we are allowed to take 5 items ourselves, but I resisted the GÜ Chocolate Cheesecakes -as there were only 3 in the fridge, and I thought that it was unfair to take something like this when at least 3 people would like them and would benefit from them far more than I would.  Actually, I looked up the “Syn value” which every food item has at Slimming World, and when I realised that one of them, on its own, would be 14½ Syns and my daily allowance is only 15, I think I did the right thing!

There were plenty of cakes, and about half a dozen Parkins - made in Yorkshire, where they obviously know how to make them - but again, I resisted temptation - but ginger Parkin is one of my favourite cakes.  I was being tested today, that’s for sure.  However, I just had one banana and made sure I drank plenty of water.

It was interesting to see “Falcon” the lovely black dog, which was a Guardian Angel Assistance Dog with its owner.  I spoke to the lady as I was interested and she told me that if her heart rate dropped and she was likely to fall, the dog knew this from the change in her scent so she was glad to have it to protect and look after her.

Looking online, I found this out about the organisation:

“Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs work through their incredible dogs to make a difference in the lives of those struggling with a variety of disorders including PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, Seizure Disorders, Mobility Issues and more.”

How wonderful that people can have this assistance so that they can go out without worrying.  

Mr. HCB and I have just been out delivering some Bags of Hope since I got home and it’s already freezing out there.  It is so heartwarming to be able to help those who are going through hard times - and as I told one of the mothers, “There is no point in us in the Church sitting in our holy huddles without doing something to help our community,” which we believe and which is so true.  Holy huddles have their place, but helping those who are much less fortunate is so much better and what better way to show the love of Jesus to these people. 

Stay warm and if you are going out this evening, as Mr. HCB is, put on your Long Johns!  M xx