Our crew for this months' homeless outreach includingYn Susan, Me, Fr. Vazken, Meline (Harout's mom), Sonigand Kevork (Harout's aunt and uncle) and Ani T.If you tuned in to last week's episode of the Next Step with Fr. Vazken, or if you're friends with "In His Shoes" on Facebook, you've no doubt heard about our homeless outreach last Thursday evening.  I've talked out our In His Shoes homeless outreach quite often....in fact I feel like I'm talking about it all the time.  But it's important.  And I wanted to mention what a beautiful gesture it is when a meal is donated in memory of a loved one to those who have no way of repaying the kindness.  A couple months ago, the Hamparian family donated the meal in memory of their daughter Cathia.  This month the meal was donated in memory of Harout Mekhdjian by his family.  We've had many other donors who have donated in memory of a dear father and husband, sister or a mother.  And in all these instances, I can tell you that the families leave the shelter after a night of service feeling uplifted.  This past week was no different. We arrived at the shelter at 5:00 p.m. to prep for a 6:00 p.m. dinner.  After unloading the car, we started cooking.  There were mashed potatoes and stuffing to be made.  Harout's mom and aunt and uncle were offering a prayer of Thanksgiving for their son and nephew's life, by preparing a Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings for the shelter residents.  Together we worked.   We all had our jobs.  I have never made such a huge pot of mashed potatoes...it was something like 28 cups of water, 14 cups of milk, 8 sticks of butter, and packet after packet of mashed potatoes!  The turkeys were prepped ahead of time and kept warm in the oven.  There was cranberry sauce and gravy to go with the potatoes and stuffing.  Salad, pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  As we worked happily in the kitchen, I noticed a little girl looking at us through the window.  The kitchen at the shelter has a glass window where we can serve and pass the meals over.  And this little girl was watching us.  If she were a bit taller she would have been able to press her nose to the glass, but she was still a little too short.  She answered with a nod when I asked if she was hungry.The shelter is home to families...and this month we had a record number of children.  The littlegirl looked familiar.  I normally remember the kids from month to month and I like to surprise them by remembering their names.  But I couldn't remember her name or when I had seen her last.  But her face stumped me.  As we were cooking, the residents starting returning to the shelter, which is closed during the day as the men and women go off to look for work, and the children go to school. Some of the children were playing together in the main room while we cooked and I saw a mother with a baby in a stroller.  I had definitely seen her before and then it all clicked.  Last year, my siblings and our families had "adopted" a family for Christmas fulfilling their wish lists for clothing and gifts.  The little girl was four last Christmas but was tiny wearing only a size 2 toddler.  Now at five, she had grown a little bit more, but was still small.  The family that we adopted - who were then in transitional housing after  a fire had devasted their home - were now back at the shelter.  The mother, who was very pregnant last year, had had her baby - Gabriel.   I went up to her and reintroduced myself.  She remembered.  After commenting on how her children had grown so beautifully, I asked what had happened.  Plain and simple, she answered the funding for housing had run out.  Without that, they found themselves back on the street.  With four children, and having nowhere to turn, she came back to the shelter.  Grateful as