Caring

From CEO, Bill Powers:  Bonnie Brae is a caring community. We teach our guys to take better care of themselves. We also teach them to take care of others. Asking often in our groups not what have you done for yourself today but what you have done for others. For some of our guys this is a foreign concept. Sometimes they, their family, and their family's family, have been cared for by others for multiple generations. Sometimes it takes all of their energy just to take care of themselves. Bonnie Brae's work with Bridges Outreach to feed homeless people in New York City provides a great opportunity to care for others. Three times a year we make three hundred box lunches and then deliver them to homeless men, women, and children at two stops in Manhattan. Our guys not only provide food, and often clothing, but also go out of their way to connect with each of these homeless people. On the return trip to Bonnie Brae, they often speak to the joy of being able to help others, or of being surprised that many of these homeless people started out just like them. On a more personal note I have been amused lately to see how they now take care of me. Ten years ago when we first started partnering with Bridges I would be the first out of our van, the first to set up the tables, the first to take the soup to the waiting homeless. Now my guys rush to do the physical labor. If I move to get a table out of the truck, two or three guys rush over to get it first. Their unspoken caring makes me smile.