Challenge #10: Feed a Homeless Person

There’s a little quote on my lululemon lunch bag that reads “Do one thing a day that scares you”. While I can’t say that I consistently accomplish this, I have always believed that if something scares you or pushes you out of your comfort zone, that it’ll somehow be beneficial in the long run (barring some obvious things, of course).

When I read GOOD’s #10 challenge, feed a homeless person, I was definitely a little bit uncomfortable—so much so that I immediately started brainstorming modifications that would allow me to stay within my safety bubble (bad Danne!). I brought the challenge up to Dan last night over dinner at Pizzeria Regina to see if he had any insight on the situation. We went back and forth a bit, talking about experiences that we’ve had when we’ve seen homeless people angrily deny gifts of food, saying they only wanted money (the scenario I was dreading), and trying to determine what would be a comparable challenge. What if we bought scratch tickets and passed them out to the homeless people camped out in Harvard Square? What if we paid $20 for a Spare Change Newspaper instead of the suggested $1 donation? We settled on the scratch ticket idea, and even though I thought it was a pretty good compromise, I still felt a little bit like a slacker.

But then, out of nowhere, this miracle happened:

We’re leaving the restaurant with a big box of leftover margarita slices when a woman sitting outside on a bench stopped us and asked “Hey, could you spare a slice?”

Now, I have to interject here and say that NEVER in my life, literally never, has a homeless person asked me for food (and living in a city, I see homeless people all the time). They have ALWAYS asked for money. Also, I’ve been to Pizzeria Regina about 10,000 times and there has NEVER been anyone outside, begging for food, never. In sheer disbelief that this was actually happening, especially in such close proximity to the conversation that we just had, Dan and I quickly opened our pizza box and offered the very grateful woman whatever she wanted from it.

Call it coincidence, call it the law of attraction, or call it the universe really hooking it up, but whatever it was, it was awesome, and I was more than happy that I was actually able to complete this challenge in its original form.

Uni, you never cease to amaze me.