Our drop-in at Coventry Jesus Centre is called the Bridge; here lonely and destitute people, mostly men, come for free breakfasts; that includes asylum seekers whose application has failed and who, for very good reasons, cannot return to their own country; they have no access to housing or benefits and no right to work. But the destitute does not just include asylum seekers. What about the penniless young woman from France looking for work, whose application for benefits has, for the moment, been turned down?
I’m on, you see, today: the baked bean trail: baked beans on toast for 20-30-40? Not sure how many.
Now, let’s open the first tin but, alas, me and anything but the simplest gadgets don’t usually get on. And yes, this is no exception. Can I work out how this new super-design tin opener works? No. How on earth ...? I’d better pop through into Bev’s kitchen and borrow the good old-fashioned sort. I can manage those.
“Are you ready?” team-leader Connor calls through the hatch. “It’s 9.00am.” And in they come ...
I soon realise I’ve not heated NEARLY enough beans. I mean, NOT NEARLY enough. Quick, open another three tins.
The first customer prefers white toast. Well I’ve only toasted last night’s brown cut-ups so - I’m sorry - you’ll have to wait.
“On the toast, please.”
“On the side of the toast, please.”
“I prefer unburned toast, please."
Well, this is when I discover that what I call ‘burned’ isn’t the same as someone else’s! I turn the toaster’s heat settings down and the next visitor says he really likes toast properly done. Well, can I win? But, no hard feelings. Would you ever think there could be so many VARIATIONS on beans on toast?
I hear raised voices: the visitor waiting for the white toast is getting involved in heated debate. Distraction is the answer so I call him over to collect his breakfast. He comes eventually ... sorry, my friend, your beans on toast are a bit cold now.
“More coffee needed, more sugar please ...” comes the cry at the hatch. Yes, yes, I’ll be as quick as I can.
And yes, help! We’re running out again. .. I really did not heat ENOUGH beans.
Meanwhile, the washing up is piling up in the hatch as the guys bring their empty plates and cups. Sheka comes to my rescue. He’s a good sort. Multi-tasking on this scale, at this speed, is not my sort of thing. Remember, I’m a teacher, not a multi-handed chef. And you need at least three pairs of hands for this job anyway!
10.00am. I’m the proud presenter of 30 breakfasts (I have to thank Sheka for this great accomplishment).
11.00am. My penniless friend from France arrives. She’s managed to acquire two tins of baked beans; she pulls them out of her bag with a cheerful smile and we place them at the front of our church, along with other tins people have bought for the drop-in, to see us through another day.
Does it remind you of another story? A poor widow, 2000 years ago?
Later, I spot my Nigerian friend Alice; she’s all dressed in her African attire and looks beautiful today. She’s tells me she did 42 breakfast, single-handed, last week with no help. Easy? Not for me.
Who knows how many are destitute, living on the fringes of our society? You can’t count them, so many have gone ‘underground’. And how many have been left in poverty and without a home in these tough financial times? The huge rise in people using food banks in the last few months tells some of this story.
But a few beans, from a poor, penniless French woman, can make a difference.
For an article on homelessness:
www.jesus.org.uk/blog/theology-and-social-comment/life-streets
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