Christmas In July

Today was our annual Christmas In July BBQ and we served at least 350 guests - men, women and children who came in out of the heat for a fun event!  Chef served all hand cut fries... these amazing deep fried curly cues of sweet potato and carrots.  He made a pasta salad with brocoli and tomato, and of course brownies and pop.  But the piece de resistance was the BBQ beef.  Not only did Chef brine the beef, he then braised it, and slow cooked it.

Why go through so much effort, when we could just serve a hot dog,a bag of chips and a granola bar?  Does it even get noticed or appreciated? 

When we started Souls Harbour Rescue Mission in Halifax we came up with the tagline:

Welcome ~ Hope ~ Dignity

That meant that everything we attempted to do would be done to the best of our ability.  Inasmuch as we are able, and especially when it came to our guests, we treat them as we would want to be treated.  Who doesn't love being treated like they are the most important person in the room? 

The Bible says if you throw a party, invite the poor, disabled, blind.  Today, as I handed a man a free t-shirt as a "Christmas" present, he said, "What colour is this.  I'm blind."  I was able to tell him it was forest green with white lettering. 

And so as we go through this heat wave, we are thrilled to have a place people can not only come to cool off and get hydrated, but a place where they can get happy!

It's all about love.  Loving God.  Loving your neighbour.  That's the Souls Harbour family.  We're so grateful for all of you who participated in our summer of hope campaign.  You are truly touching lives with us.