A "bear store" story...

Last Wednesday, I arrived early at the parking spot behind the store, only to find a man with a shopping cart filled with all his worldly posessions sleeping in a bunch of blankets, right there on the cement.

As many of you know, this "little bear store that could" is situated in an older part of our city, some might even say in a sketchy part of town nowadays. And they'd be correct.

Also, it's been pretty cold here in Tucson lately, especially at night. So, I was quite taken aback at seeing that someone had been sleeping out in the cold like that...

When I got out of my car, he sat up and asked me if it was ok if he slept there for a while. I said, have you tried to stay in one of the shelters? It's been so cold, it seems like a shelter would be safer for you. He said, yes, he knew where the shelters were but preferred not to go. I was perplexed but I was also a little bit scared, so I left him alone and after awhile the sun started coming into the area where he was set up. And he slept.

Meanwhile, out front, we did our normal bear store day and played bears~ I looked out the back door a couple of times and still saw the shopping cart and the blankets. I assumed he was still sleeping.

Then the day came to a close and I started packing up my stuff to go home.

I started to wonder what sort of conversation I might have with him as I was leaving. And although I really don't want my alley to become a haven for the homeless, a part of me also didn't want to leave him there un-helped.

So, I took a bunch of food that I had here, heated up a meal, and put it in a bag with some apples, cliff bars & water & stuff. Then, I went out the back door, and I found out that even though his stuff was still out there, he wasn't! I left the bag of food next to his bedroll and drove home.

The next morning, he was no where to be found. But on the back door, was this:

And I know one thing, I got back way more than I gave...