Store Front
by Vivian Fu 林郁子

This must have been at least 7 years ago, long before I moved to San Diego. My daughter Irene was training in the UCSD hospital at that time. We went to this place with her church friends to a shelter nearby Balboa Park to serve a bunch of teenagers dinner.

The impression of that event has stayed with me all these years. So when the newly formed NATWA-GSD chapter was searching for a social project to participate, I immediately thought of this organization and sort them out.

The Storefront as they name themselves for discretional purpose is San Diego’s only emergency shelter program for homeless, runaway and “street” youth. Youth are assured a safe place to stay until their lives have been stabilized with the help of professionals and caring staffs and volunteers.

I met with their director early in August this year and decided that what they most need would be a caring group that would provide activities for them during the holiday season.

So it was thus decided that we would plan a Christmas party for them. With the five hundred dollars of budget from our headquarter and donations from some of our local sister, on December 16 we gave them the Christmas party that I am sure we, as well as the kids will forever remember.

Thanks to the information provided by their program director Laura. The foods we brought completed with home made fresh fruit salad, pumpkin pie, and Subway sandwich and sparkling cider were exactly what they love.

After lunch, we started to decorate their activity room. The tree we purchased for them was 5 feet tall with that special fragrant that only belongs to a fresh cut tree. In a short half an hour, the place was turned into an instant winter wonderland.

Then it was the “craft” time.

I really have a lot of fun going through “Michaels” and selecting what craft we would do with them that afternoon. The M & M wraps were completed in no time. That would be something they can give to their friends as a little treat. Then we made and decorated our own Christmas cards and also made origami decorated with seasonal glitters. The cards they can send away to distant love ones if they have any. The Origami they learned to make were turned into Christmas ornament that they can again give away or just hang around their own bed which is their temporary home.

That day we have Julie Lee (林珠薏), Joy Liao (廖綬真) and her young son Michael with me. I must say the four of us all had as much fun as the kids did. Somewhere in the middle of these, the guarded faces of these boys and girls began to relax; the laughter and chats began to fill the room.

All of a sudden, a few people disappeared and Laura said they went into another room to make a “secrete” gift for us. When they appeared again, they handed us this beautifully decorated card addressed to Me, Julie, Joy, and Michael. The most touching moment would follow when Julie told one of the girls that she loved her. As she looked up and wanted to say something, tears started filling her young eyes and ran down her childish cheeks. And then she quickly lowered her face and pretended to work with her cards. The image of that kept coming back to me, wondering when could be the last time since someone told her that “she is loved”?

For presents, we gave them tickets for movie, bowling and roller skating at Horton. These would definitely bring them some joy during this holiday season.

I asked Joy and Michael to write a little paragraph of this experience. This is what they send to me:

From Michael:
As I first walked through the doors of Store Front, I had to admit that I was a bit skeptical and perhaps somewhat intimidated by the other teenagers there at first. As time past on, I soon realized that they were just kids like me and were very thankful and grateful for what we were doing for them. They were all courageous in dealing with their own hardship and just needed some form of support. I'm glad that if I made a difference and wish the best of luck to the teenagers at Store Front.

From Joy:
This was certainly a very rewarding experience for me! Those kids at the Store Front really touched me and I walked away that day with heartfelt appreciation for life. I still recount today, their names, their faces and trying to relate to their gloomy life story behind their smile.
There are so many folks out there, young and olds, who can really use a little bit of kindness. I would love to see us doing much more of these social works! Since, we receive much more as we give.

Joy is completely right: To give is to get!
I know that afternoon, we got much more then we gave.

P.S. Many thanks to Yen-Hwa(梁琰華) for helping us with all the purchase of tickets. Also special thanks to all those that have donated to this project.
Please go to the following website if you wan to know about this project.
http://www.sdycs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=storefront