Two Quarters.

It was 2014, I was in New York City at Union Square subway station. I didn’t even have a cent when a homeless man came to me and asked for some money. When I told him that I had nothing, he opened his hand; he had four quarters and without words, took two and handed them to me.

At a time when I was getting weary in well doing, when I was tired of being ‘on mission’, trying to survive in the big apple, not knowing where I was going to be staying next, or where my next meal was coming from, this homeless man’s act of giving from his little, encouraged me to keep going. I wanted to go home to London, get back in to a job and be normal again. I was tired of believing that what I was doing was worth the discomfort I was feeling. But those two quarters looking at me from between his fingers, were more than coins, they reflected his heart and it inspired me. If this man, shuffling along in worn out shoes and a dusty coat, could keep going and find something to give from his little, then so could I.

In 2017, back in London, my heart was stirred to get back out on the streets. I decided to create a pack to give out to homeless people, sharing the story of the homeless man I had met in New York City. In the pack, I included a piece of paper and printed the story on one side and encouraging words on the other. I put it in a zip lock bag with two real quarters. I placed another bag inside for them to give to someone else as a way for them to pass on the encouragement.