Just Do It – One volunteer’s story of serving the homeless

Last weekend, I did something I was scared of. I went to hand out sandwiches and coffee to the homeless in Luxembourg city.

In itself, this activity is nothing to be scared of really. It’s not like diving with sharks or bungy jumping. It’s a different kind of scared. Not the bodily kind where you fear for your life. More a fear of the unknown, the unfamiliar, the out of the comfort zone stuff.

I had wanted to do this for a long time. And never had the time… or, to be honest, always found excuses not to go. Lack of time is the ultimate excuse. Because, yes, we always have so much to do we even use this excuse when our friends want to meet us. So even on the morning of the day, I wanted to chicken out. Because I was afraid. Afraid to meet new people of Serve the City first of all. I may be considered a social person, an extrovert even, I still find it hard to strike up a conversation with people I don’t know.

Afraid to meet the homeless, not knowing what to expect.

So when I got to the house where we were meeting, I immediately got myself busy with cutting eggs and buttering baguettes. And, as always, conversation starts when your hands get busy…

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Read the rest of Miranda’s story of her day joining our Street Team on her blog, Create & Connect.

Our Street Team goes out regularly to meet and talk to the homeless, and serve them sandwiches and coffee if they want them. We need 3-4 people each time, so if you’d like to join one Saturday or Sunday in 2014, email our project leader Manuel (manuel (at) servethecity.lu) and he’ll be happy to hear from you. Let him know what languages you speak (German and Luxembourgish are a plus! French is also useful) and your general availability. The teams usually meet around 11am to prepare, and then spend around two hours on the streets.

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Photo credit: Almyra Knevel Persson.