There’s Never Enough Love

There’s Never Enough Love

By Paul McCann

There once was man , Stan was his name and he drank sweet sherry every day . at work until he could no longer stand , then he was sent home by his employer who finally sacked him  , after losing his job , he lost his house , his wife and family and then he became homeless . Stan lived in homeless shelters around the city until the day a kind man reached out to help him get back on his feet .

Stan went through a detox in an institution that helped clean up his blood system and then he was put into a rehabilitation plan where he had regular group therapy and other meetings that were an invaluable process of Stan making progress with his alcohol issues .

From the start of this journey to recovery all of the people who walked and talked and supported him were people who genuinely cared for him and gave him love and support every step of the way .

How can anyone measure the love that was given ?

It would be impossible to say however sometimes there is never enough love to give and so there is always a need for more people to help .

Ihn the recovery of one person it could take a team of varying people to continually help one person to make the recovery that is necessary to live a normal life again after alcohol or substance abuse or any other kind of abuse that controls people lives and only real love is what can overcome virtually everything along the way .

Stan was very lucky to have made a full recovery from alcohol abuse with the help of many people who loved and supported him and that is the reason why Stan wanted to give something back to life because he was given a second chance .

Stan got a job with the Street City Mission .

Every night he would drive around the city streets with a van picking up homeless people who were sleeping rough . He already had a good idea of all the places that the homeless would be because he had been there himself .

Among the people Stan would pick up some of them were in need of food and shelter . Somewhere out of the cold and rain . Then there were others who needed tender loving care like mothers with small children who had been victims of domestic violence and young runaways , then there were some who were disabled or had a mental illness and had lost sight of reality .. Most of the asylums had been closed down and so there were more mental cases on the streets than in mental institutions so there were so many in serious need of help on the streets .

Stan loved his job and could see the great need that existed .

It was like a battlefield out on the streets and there were not enough people in the fight to save all those who were in need .

Stan lifted and carried people off the street into his van and he also gifted others with food , clothes and some cash . He was one of the few who were dedicated in the work they did to help people with their addictions and other problems .

He started a men’s group that met once a week in a local school hall where it provided an opportunity for men to share their problems as well as to provide a venue of support where each individual could offer some personal advice or words of support .. Stan always said at the groups that there was never enough love when it came to making a full recovery so the more people who came to his groups the more chance everyone had to get through all of the dark days to find a better place and a brighter future in their lives .

During the winter Stan converted his van into a soup run kitchen , going around the streets to places that the homeless slept . There were some charitable businesspeople who donated sleeping bags and tents that Stan handed out as part of his work in assisting the homeless . He eventually became a case worker for the Street City mission looking after the needs of  select few who were in great need .

The case workers with the Street City Mission were responsible for the securing of  financial support from  the city business community . The4y regularly donated funds to the city mission which helped them to but a cluster of homes around the city where they could offer shelter and help with recovery plans to the most vulnerable.

Many people who were once homeless had Stan as their initial contact person .

Out of all the people Stan helped a small number returned to give something back to help others . Even though their help was invaluable , it was still never enough to go around helping all who were in need .

Stan was one of many success stories . He remarried and had a new family of his own . He loved his wife and children with all his heart and sometimes when he held them close, he would say,’ there’s never enough love to go around but he did his very best to give then all he had .

The End