Today, CNN saluted Essie "Big Mama" Reed.

This lovely creature in Fort Lauderdale, Florida brings salvation to the needy day after day.

When Hurricane Wilma struck, she was there.

She was there last Thursday serving poor folks and hurricane victims Thanksgiving Dinner. She served the dinner in a vacant lot!

She is one of those great people on this earth who have little but give much. She cares for the down and out.

Read about her and other activities to help victims in Fort Lauderdale at: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/sfl-cthanks21nov21,0,6952919.story?coll=sfla-news-hurricane.

I called the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce to get an address so that donations could be made to Big Mama. They are closed on Saturday so I was out of luck. If you have this information, please e-mail me and I'll update this article.

Salt Lake City Rescue Mission

When I was a graduate student I was the Sunday school superintendent for our church. The adult class invited the then Director of the Salt Lake City Rescue Mission to the class. As he spoke to the class, I decided that I was looking at my first true Christian.

He said that his background was Catholic, as I remember, but that he did not push his personal views on others. He had one objective. He wanted to feed and give sleeping quarters to the vagrants on the streets of Salt Lake City. He wanted them out of the shelter right after breakfast and in line at the unemployment office.

He asked the class for food. He said, "Go down into your basement and bring up some of that bottled fruit you've not used and will not use." He asked for canned goods, flour, sugar, and what have you. He talked about businesses throwing away perfectly edible food that he needed and how he was trying to get the businesses to change that practice.

He said everything in the simplest terms and was as humble as a newborn lamb.

At that time, the mission was by the post office and near the unemployment office. There was pressure to force the city to move the location of the mission. Mayor Harold B. Lee said that this man was the only one doing anything for these vagrants and that people should not be harassing him to move.

Well, the mission did move and the walk to the unemployment office was considerably longer. Some vagrants just didn't bother to go there anymore.

The mission gave an evening meal, but first the vagrants had to give up any liquor, which was ceremoniously dumped into the sink. After the meal, the director gave a short spiritual message and sent them to bed. In the morning, they had their breakfast and were sent out to visit the unemployment office.

The mission still operates in much the same way. There are restrictions on who sleeps and who doesn't due to health and security concerns. The restricitions do not apply to eating meals and the shower facilities.

I tried to call the Salt Lake mission. I wanted to obtain the name of the man who was director in 1962. The phone was busy all morning. The current director is Steve Trost. The web URL is: http://www.rescuesaltlake.org/mission/. They take donations at the site.

Salvation Army

During recent forest fires in Arizona, the Mormon Church and the Salvation Army were the first to respond. They were feeding and housing victims more than a week before other organizations came in.

Earlier in the week I was talking to one of the little bell ringers that the Salvation Army has on the streets of Twin Falls. She gave me a big hug and twice a God Bless You. Giving can be fun!

The Salvation Army is one of the most efficient organizations in the world when it comes to relief work. While other organizations pay large executive salaries, they do not. They are an army of volunteers. They always deserve our support. You can donate at: http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn.nsf.

I'm always amazed at the benevolence of common folks. Without resources, they often make great contributions to the down and out. Thursday, our little town fed hundreds of folks Thanksgiving dinner. Donations were taken for the food bank. One man started this some years back and it is a tradition here. The local church groups serve dinner to town folks on Wednesdays. There is never any restriction as to who is fed in our town.

Atlantic City Rescue Mission

One antidote before I leave you. When I lived in New Jersey, we had the Atlantic City Rescue Mission test our products. We went to the mission every few weeks to see how things were going.

One time the director told us that one of the patrons at the mission had thrown a dinner plate and conked another patron in the head. The plate sliced the poor recipient's forehead and dropped to the floor--as did the patron.

My question was, "Did the plate break?"

The answer was, "No."

The URL for the Atlantic City Rescue Mission is: http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn.nsf.