For many of many in Milwaukee, specifically the guests at St.,”Winter is freezing, and often unpleasantly cold for everyone. If we lose a glove, we might complain for a few hours, until we get to the car or the store, where we easily purchase another pair.

For many of many in Milwaukee, specifically the guests at St. Ben's meal program, this frigid time introduces a season of survival: Without a means to warmth, they will develop serious medical ailments, or even die. Lack of gloves is common as the common cough that seems to come hand in pocket with it; they forego the smaller luxuries and seek a covering blanket or sleeping bag that will shelter them from the cold.

Certainly the cost of heat is frightening, is leaving many scrounging for change even while keeping the meter at fifty-nine degrees. Still, its good to be still and see that life remains a comparable breeze. These are persons whose homes will have the cheapest heating bill this side of the energy crisis: a sleeping bag or blanket, a two inch barrier against the freeze.

When we find ourselves searching for meaning, for God, and sit there scratching our heads in confusion or in doubt sharpening our cynicism, we need to remember that God is as close as the closest person. When those beloved disciples, champions of holiness and heralds of buffoonery) asked, "When did we see you naked and cloth you?" Christ, communicating a radical entrance into and solidarity with the suffering of humankind, answered, "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers or sisters, you do unto me" (Mt 25).

There are many things Marquette students can do to take this advice seriously, and to aid their fellow freezing citizens. At St. Ben's, we beg for sleeping bags and blankets from individuals, churches, and organizations all across the city and suburbs of Milwaukee. This year the demand outdoes our supply many persons over. Please consider dropping off a sleeping bag or thermal blanket at St. Ben's Community Meal, located just blocks from the Marquette Campus. If you have the means, simply drop them off at 1015 N 9th Street, on Wednesdays and Fridays from 12-4 p.m. We will distribute the bags from the friary, as persons request them throughout the coming weeks.

Your generosity is met with great gratitude, and will be warmly felt by many folks whose only floor is pavement, whose nebulous walls may be little more than the nook of the County Courthouse, whose mutual ceiling is composed of the heights of heaven stretching above.”,”Joshua Hren is the chaplain of Saint Ben's Community Meal”

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