Our Brown Bag Lunch Outreach has provided over 29,000 lunches to people in Bridgeport since covid began nearly 3 years ago. Behind every one of those lunches there is a story. Teryl Eisenberg recounts one.
Recently, Linda Hudson decorated her lunch bags with drawings of a beautiful goldfinch which found its way to a young man outside a liquor store in Bridgeport. The store is now a frequent stop to hand out lunches to those who gather outside. April Barron, recognizing the individual, told him to “stay focused,” and “on the straight and narrow,” as she handed lunches to others. I handed him the lunch with this beautiful finch, said hello, and explained that a church member named Linda drew the bird for him. April commented, “You see how she pointed out the bird? A bird is free. Remember that.”
The young man froze, as April’s word sunk in. I knew I need not ask what freedom meant to him; his reaction conveyed the power of the word. Incarceration, poverty, addiction, gangs, and more are all freedom-robbers to most we meet. Instead, we talked about the symbolism of birds and messages we can intuit if we observe them, including messages from others who have passed on. He was quite astounded that someone drew a bird for him. He said he would start looking for birds.
A bird drawn on a lunch provided the means for a conversation… a connection.
“Hope is the thing with feathers,
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all…” (Emily Dickenson)
~ Teryl
To find out how to become part of this effort please contact David Vita or 203.227.7205 x14.