Welcome to another edition of Helping Humpday, dedicated to Kossacks helping one another through personal emergencies or tough times.
Humpday — because we’re smack dab in the middle of the work week and getting over that hump sure looks sweet. But for some folks in this community, the humps they need to get over are far more daunting than looking forward to the weekend. That is where Helping comes in.
No Questions Asked. That’s the motto and guiding principle of the Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen in my town. Modeled after the “Houses of Hospitality” that Day herself founded beginning in the 1930s, it provides a safe comfortable and friendly setting and a free hot meal to whomever walks through the door. The Kitchen isn't just about filling stomachs. They are also committed to making people feel welcome and respected as valued members of the larger community. While it is run out of an historically black Catholic parish, the DD Soup Kitchen is an ecumenical effort. The volunteers come from an eclectic hodgepodge of local churches, businesses, civic groups, youth groups, as well as students from Winthrop University and Clinton College (a small historically black AME institution). The kitchen’s guests also usually pitch in and help, and several have become regular volunteers.
We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love, and that love comes with community.
… to change the world. Socialist, humanitarian, human rights activist, journalist, feminist, radical, saint? Dorothy Day’s goal was simple. She wanted to change the world. She wanted to nourish and empower the people. She envisioned a world where families and individuals joined their efforts to make life fairer for all out a sense of love, justice, and community. As a founding member of The Catholic Worker newspaper (which spawned the Catholic Worker movement), Day fought for the rights of workers and for better living conditions for the poor and destitute.
But first and foremost she offered a hot meal and sometimes a bed — no questions asked.
Dorothy Day (1897-1980)
Of course, as a journalist, Dorothy Day had a lot to say about a lot of things. She lived a long life, most of it in service to the poor and to radical social change. Much of her philosophy would resonate with today’s Democratic Party. She believed in the redistribution of property. She believed that the revolution started with each and every one of us as individuals. She believed that middle classes were too insulated from the invisible need around them. She believed we can only work to improve ourselves and not other people; it was our job to help and then let others work on themselves. She believed that love was the answer.
Helping Humpday is also organized around the same principle of helping those in need without judgment. And most importantly, in DKos being a community. Dorothy Day strongly believed in the what she called “laying one brick at a time” — the many small efforts that combined would eventually change society. Many small donations amplify our ability at HHDay to be the community safety net. Because until such time as we get the government that we want and deserve, when there will be no need for fundraisers, some Kossacks may need the help and compassion of this caring and generous community. That’s why HHday resides at Street Prophets Coffee Hour, the intersection where politics and ethical values conveniently meet and sometime collide. Here we may highlight a particular Kossack’s story, share links to appeal diaries, share links to support services or other information, spread the word, offer a shoulder to lean on.
Virtual tea, coffee, hugs, the occasional cat or dog pic, and a musical interlude along with the Community Needs List and Links are below the fold. Please join us.
This is an open thread.