Social Distancing: There Is Still Room For Love

A dad drove up to our Drive Through Grocery Giveaway a few weeks ago. I couldn’t see a smile behind his mask, but I hoped he could feel mine; I was smiling hard, but he greeted me in a shaky voice. He wanted to know what Youth World was about, so I jumped on the opportunity. I told him about Kids Club and Teen Night, our after school programs, and I told him we hold monthly community outreach events. He was listening quietly. I stopped my shpeel to ask him how he was doing, how his family was doing, and that’s when the hot tears started to spill from his deep, bloodshot eyes and down his weathered cheeks. A grown man crying right in front of me, vulnerable, longing, and my heart was beating heavy in my chest. I stretched out my hands and whispered a prayer. He told me he hadn’t worked since March when all of the restaurants closed due to social distancing. “I haven’t been able to provide for my family...That is why I am here.” His cheeks flushed, and the tears left tracks. I kept whispering my prayer of hope, and we filled the back of his car with bags of groceries. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You all do not have to do this.” I lifted my hands again; that was all that I could do, and he echoed my prayers in a powerful agreement. I told him to come back, and he said that he would. “I will be back with my wife and my kids next week,” he said. “Thank you all, and God bless you.”