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People become addicted to many things from drugs to exercise for various reasons. Chocolate gives us a sugar rush.
Cigarettes contain the addicting chemical nicotine. So what is it about community service that keeps people coming back? All it took was one Saturday afternoon at a homeless shelter for the Ramstein Keystone Club to discover the answer.
Ramstein Keystone Club is a branch of the Boys & Girls Club of America that focuses on leadership skills and community service. This holiday season, members decided to give back to the host nation community by putting on a Thanksgiving dinner for the St. Christophorus shelter in Kaiserslautern.
Run by a Catholic organization called Caritas, St. Christophorus is supported mostly by donations and partially by the government welfare program. The 24/7 staff works incredibly hard to ensure the safety, comfort and health of the residents. The amount of care they provide is truly amazing.
On a tour of a facility, Keystone members asked one question after another and were continually met with surprising answers about the shelter. Yes, they do provide clothing. Yes, they do give a daily allowance of €3. Yes, they do give each departing resident €12 for transportation to another shelter. Yes, they do offer counseling and career services. When possible, the staff even helps residents find and adjust to life in their own apartment.
The shelter will take in any homeless adult for at least five nights. In the winter, their stay is extended to 10 days, and for special circumstances, people can stay indefinitely. One thing St. Christophorus can say for certain is this: they have never had to turn anyone away.
On Nov. 21, the Keystone Club arrived at the shelter with two vans filled with volunteers and food. Donations from club members, the National Honor Society and others within the Ramstein community provided nothing less than a feast.
With the help of a few adults Keystone volunteers prepared the typical Thanksgiving
trimmings to ensure that the residents would have the full experience. Come 5 o’clock, the food was served to approximately 50 residents. Met with many smiles and thanks, Keystone Club members could immediately feel the effect their efforts had on the shelter. The festive atmosphere not only united the American and German communities, but also brought together the residents.
Living on the streets is unimaginable for those who have a roof over their head and unbelievably hard for those who do not.
The Thanksgiving dinner gave people a break from their day-to-day struggle and replaced it with an opportunity to relax and enjoy a decadent meal.
“Serving Thanksgiving dinner to the residents of the homeless shelter was really easy and proved to be a lot of fun,” said Keily Couture, the Ramstein Keystone secretary. “I could tell how appreciative they were, and it made me feel good to have helped them in any way.”
What they say is true: when you give something to others, you get something back.
Each and every volunteer that day walked away inspired to make a difference, grateful for their own blessings and humbled by what they learned. It’s not really so hard to see why people volunteer after all.
For more information on the homeless shelter, e-mail Markus Schmidt at markus-schmidt@caritas-speyer.de
