Dowtown Daily Bites
DDB is a busy place. On any given day, one can meet a variety of human service providers. One can meet lawyers from the Dauphin County Bar Association, employment counselors from the YWCA, lady barbers cutting hair, a visiting pastor or rabbi, guests who want advice about starting their own soup kitchen, volunteers from churches or businesses, or other organizations, and representatives from foundations touring the facility.
Individual students or whole classes stop by for a lesson on poverty and to learn how they can do community service to help the needy. College professors and social workers come to DDB to learn how a small organization can provide multiple services through collaboration. Tours of human service providers stop by to see first hand how they can help their clients by referring them to Downtown Daily Bread.
One will also see the clients lined up for showers in the morning and for lunch at noon. Individuals wait outside the counselor’s door at all times of the day. Clients will be in the kitchen talking with Brenda, the DDB cook, or having a cup of coffee while they tell her their stories.
Every day at noon the pace at DDB picks up. Four or five volunteers from supporting churches and other agencies arrive. A hot, nutritious meal waits to be served. Before noon, people begin to arrive for the AA meeting which takes place every day on the second floor of DDB. At 12:30 clients file into the DDB dining room, most times 100, sometimes more.
Members from the community often stop by to bring in donations of fresh produce from their gardens or trays of leftovers from special events.
Every day is different at DDB. There is a steady flow of people in and out. The variety of clients, DDB staff, volunteers, social service providers, students, and professionals makes for an interesting mix.
If you want to get connected, if you want to network, or if you want to be helped or to help, come to DDB. We have it all.
