Christmas Gifts for the Homeless

Last month our home group fellowship distributed hot tea and blankets to homeless people we found in the metro stations. We decided to do something like this monthly. So for the past three weeks we had been buying or collecting more supplies to hand out to the homeless as Christmas gifts.

Sixty was the magic number; there should be no problem finding sixty homeless in the metro stations. After our pizza supper we filled the bags: socks, scarves, gloves, hats, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, tissues, wet-wipes, mandarins, apples, candy, peanuts, turo-rudi, and finally a card that wished them a Merry Christmas and said that we were praying for them. We all signed the cards.


Jack filling bags with candy


Máté adding socks


With approximately twenty of us, we divided into four teams, each one having at least one Hungarian-speaker. Each team left with fifteen bags and headed in a different direction from the center point, Deak Ferenc Ter. Basically we covered the red and blue metro stations.


Cindy and Sharon ready to go.

Here is a report we filed with our home group members:

The Blue Line Toward Kobanya Kispest Team Report!

1st stop: Nepliget, hoping to find Judit, a recipient that we had talked with in November. She was not there unfortunately.
2nd stop: Kalvin Ter (square), a very populated place in this cold weather. We disbursed ten bags hereand poured them each a cup of tea. Cindy, Dori, and Sharon received hand kisses from a very appreciative man wearing a scarf, but having no gloves. He was so happy to receive them in his bag. One woman refused any tea, but we "forced" her to take a bag. It was here that we noticed security people with a camera, photographing some of the "homeless" activity (or inactivity, as most were trying to sleep).


Jack pouring tea with Cindy, Dori (Hungarian speaker for our team), Justin and Sharon making up our team.

3rd stop: Ferenciek tere, where we handed out four bags and more tea. The same security people were here also; we must be on some of those photos!
4th stop: Hatar ut (road) station (closest to our home). We decided to give our last bag to "our" regular homeless lady. (Our faithful translator Dori had left us at Ferenciek.) Unfortunately this lady is also permanently inebriated. She refused tea saying, "If it's not wine, I don't want it." (Jack's translation) She also said the bag was not quite what she wanted for Christmas. She said, in perfect English with perfect thumb and forefinger sign language, "Money, money". Really a pathetic situation! We went to the other side of the station and found a couple of homeless people who did want to finish the tea.

It was a humbling, yet satisfying experience to be the hands of Jesus for the "least of these". Unfortunately there are so many people living on the streets, and the weather has turned very cold. It is the goal of our home group to serve monthly in a similar way. We are also "charter members" of a new initiative called "Serve the City - Budapest".