by Marta Brohawn
Hello all!
I apologize for not keeping up with the weekly blog. Christmas time/ the month of December in general is the busiest time of year for Sarah’s House; we obtain 80% of all donations during this time! Although it’s hectic, seeing not only returning people but new people respond to our needs and help make Christmas here wonderful fills my heart with joy. Every parent here was able to provide their children with extra clothes, toys, and various other gifts. Every guest was taken care of and received their Christmas wish. Daycare’s, corporations, schools, families, individuals all reached out to our families here at Sarah’s House. It’s an amazing time of year to say the least.
My caseload at work has gotten substantially larger and a tad overwhelming. But it is a good overwhelming. This is a HUGE learning experience for me and I’ve already seen myself grow and learn so much in just the 5 months I’ve been here. The support never stops here and I’ve learned it’s all about being confident in your desire to serve people and you can’t go wrong. That’s where I find my strength. My family literacy class has been going well. The children and parents actively participate and are starting to bring in their own books to read!
I guess I should talk about life at the P’SERVE house as well! My housemates and I are all so close and I couldn’t have had a better support system for this year. Let’s see…. A typical night after work for us is a planned or unplanned dinner, followed by hours of Netflix on the couch. We’re a lively bunch. On the weekends we like to explore Baltimore, venturing in the Walter’s Art Museum, going on walks around Mt. Vernon, discovering little café’s, going to the movies in Fells Point, volunteering at events, or going to the various free Baltimore festivals ( more recently was the Greek Festival.. and indulging in a large bowl of Baklava sundae). When we find we’ve saved extra money after grocery shopping we never hesitate to go to our favorite pizza restaurant, HOMESLYCE. However, we have recently received a wonderful gift card to Joe’s Squared Pizza, and as soon as Arthur gets back from his little vacay that’s the first place we’ll go. We’ve received a lot of love and support from our Catholic Charities family. I’m very excited to see what this new year will bring for us!!