First glance

There's always some suspicion when we go visit folks on the street. "Are you a cop?" was the most common question I faced - when I was young. Funny, they don't ask me that now. Must be the paunch and the gray hair.

Some nuts are just harder to crack.

"K" has been around in the homeless community for years. We helped him at Nightwatch, and I've seen him literally hundreds of times at various other places we visit. Usually we get a nod out of him, or he says a few words. "Thanks for the pizza."

A few weeks ago he especially voluble, for him. He got out of his spot in the corner, where he sits, reading. He actually came and got some pizza from us while we were still at the shelter. (He usually waits until we're gone.) But this week, amazingly, he stood at the counter, looking at me.

"I didn't know you were a minister," he said.

After five years and hundreds of encounters, it finally registered.

Low-impact care. It's what we do.