From my hand to yours
/Living outside my country has given me the great opportunity to discover and experience a different type of culture and festivities. Thanksgiving is one of those new celebrations that I have adopted over the years and has become one of my favorite ones.
I love the idea of having another excuse to sit down and have dinner with my loved ones with the only purpose of giving infinite thanks for all the blessings we have received. There’s no better way to start the holiday season than with this wonderful celebration.
Besides the importance of having the turkey, the filling, the cranberry sauce and each and every one of the details you need for the Thanksgiving feast ready, it has also become essential for me to make sure that my children really understand how fortunate they are. And also to make sure they’re really thankful from the bottom of their hearts for all the things they have; health, food, clothing, a roof over their heads and lots of love.
With this same concern of showing their children the importance of gratitude and the responsibility to give and help others, about a year and a half ago, two very good friends of mine started an organization in Houston called "De mi mano a la tuya" which means "From my hand to yours".
This organization works as the bridge between homeless people in need of a meal and all the people that want to help but don't know how. The activity they organize, consists of gathering three or four families every week so they can prepare around 150 - 200 brown bag lunches and then they deliver them personally to a group of homeless people in downtown Houston. Thanks to the generosity of three other women that recently joined the organization, now this activity takes place not only on Saturdays, but also on every Sunday of the year as well.
Before handing out the lunch bags, the coordinators explain to the children the importance of delivering the sandwiches while looking at the people in the eyes, without fear and with a big smile, because they are not only delivering a meal, they are giving that person a moment of love and compassion.
“It’s really important to help the person, not to their circumstance, because this way they feel validated as human beings”
“You can see the gratitude in their eyes and many times they even ask you to please pray with them”
“We have to teach our children that you can and have the responsibility to give”
The experience was incredible for my children because they were able to look at the person in need in the eyes and that helped them realize that the food they prepared and delivered was probably going to be the only meal that person was going to have that day.
Besides handing out lunch bags on the weekends, every December this organization collects funds so they can help these persons a little bit more during the cold months. This year they are planning to deliver used clothes and warm meals by the beginning of December.
If you want to help it’s very simple, just gather all the men used clothes you have that are in good condition and let the organizers know at demimanoalatuya@yahoo.com, so they can pick it up or you can also give a monetary donation to contribute with the warm meals. Either one of this options will be greatly appreciated.
If you are interested in participating with your families in the preparation and delivery of the lunches any Saturday or Sunday of the year, send your information to demimanoalatuya@yahoo.com and any of the 5 coordinators will contact you.
"De mi mano a la tuya" wanted to give special thanks to the Parish of Santa Teresa Church, as well as Memo and Luchi for lending them their kitchens for the food preparation every weekend, without them all of this would not be possible.
Yo Mariana am very grateful with "De mi mano a la tuya" for giving me the opportunity to write about them and above all for giving me and my children a couple of hours of happiness by knowing that we were able to help someone in need. Also, I can't thank them enough for giving my children a life lesson they will never forget by opening their eyes to the world and for teaching them that if we help one another, even with a tiny act, we can truly make a change in our world.
Send your donations before November 26th!
And if you have any questions, you can contact me at: yomarianablog@yahoo.com
Follow me:
