THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602090187
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK YOUNG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
Gray-haired Daisy Presswalla, dressed in a turtle-neck shirt and white jeans, stood in the kitchen of Bayside Presbyterian Church where dinner had just been prepared for 55 visitors. With the aroma of a hearty beef stew lingering in the air, kitchen helpers were washing up after the meal.
Presswalla was waiting to begin her own cleaning duties.
``Are you ready to wash all those feet?'' someone asked in disbelief.
``Oh yes,'' chirped Presswalla in her Indian accent. ``I've been preparing for it all week.''
She offered to wash the feet of homeless people who were spending the night at the church as part of the Winter Shelter, a program where local churches offer food, a warm place to sleep and a few other comforts to people who have no place to spend cold winter nights.
Christians know the biblical story of the Last Supper, where Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. According to the book of John 13:14-15, ``If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.'' The lesson of humility is not lost on the members of this church and others in the program. Not only was foot washing on the agenda that night, but members purchased, cooked, and served the food, and they provided other items and services such as toiletries, underwear, lipstick and 100 pairs of new socks. One church member took home laundry for one of the guests and brought it back clean and folded early the next morning.
Super Bowl enthusiasts among the congregation managed to add another dimension to the church's generosity. A challenge between Steeler and Cowboy fans raised more than $300. The funds were used to purchase 30 books of TRT bus tickets, a critical need among the homeless seeking jobs.
A man, who wanted to be identified only as HLS, said, ``I've never seen anything like this. This is an extraordinary church. They really care about you. Usually we just get food and spiritual advice. Sometimes they'll give us a lift here and there. This church really goes beyond that.''
Presswalla and Dr. Harry A. Fee set up shop in a paneled room down the hall from the kitchen.
The new socks were arranged neatly on a table and several plastic basins and buckets sat next to a large area of floor covered with plastic to catch any spills.
From his battered leather doctor's bag Fee pulled professional toenail clippers, foot powders and ointments, a variety of foot pads and a hand-held abrasing tool that resembled a battery-powered screwdriver. In the hall outside, homeless men and women, ranging in age from their 20s to their 50s, sat waiting or milled about.
Ministering to the feet of the homeless began four years ago with the Rev. Richard Keever, senior pastor at the church.
Keever agreed to do the washing to assist his podiatrist parishioner, Fee, to provide examinations and basic care for the feet of the homeless. Fee has performed the service once a year since then.
This time, Presswalla took over the washing job. With her hands in Playtex gloves she began washing the first pair of feet at a few minutes past 9 p.m. It was nearly midnight before she and Fee stood up from their stools and began to pack up to go home. Most of the participants, came in shyly, almost reluctantly. ``You really gonna wash my feet?'' said one of the first.
Presswalla answered, ``Yes I am, but you have to take your shoes and socks off.'' Volunteers kept basins of hot water coming in a non-stop flow from a sink down the hall.
After Presswalla washed, massaged and dried each person's feet, Fee called the patient over to the chair in front of his stool.
While he clipped toenails and ground down old calluses Fee kept up steady conversation with each one. By the time each got up, he or she had received not just foot care, but Christian fellowship as well. The mild-mannered Fee is not too shy to let them know he cares about them.
He will provide his service again on Feb. 28 at Baylake United Methodist Church.
Both Fee and Presswalla have ties to Bayside Presbyterian. Fee is a former member of the church. Presswalla, a Zoroastrian by religion, attends services there to care for the children. She is a certified massage therapist, who volunteers her services for the sick, the dying and the homeless. She also serves meals with members of the church once a month at the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center on Oceana Boulevard.
This was the Rev. Will Kiser-Lowrance's seventh night as an innkeeper at Bayside Presbyterian where he is the associate pastor. Churches rotating in the Winter Shelter program usually offer hot meals and overnight housing for up to 70 homeless people for a week at a time.
After eating, and when their feet had been taken care of this night, the guests could still help themselves to home-baked cakes and cookies left over from dessert, and they could spend time talking with church members or watching a television that had been set up for them. They slept in the fellowship hall and nearby rooms. More church volunteers came in at 5 a.m. and prepared another hot meal entirely from donated food. Vans then took the homeless to bus stops to go to jobs or back to the Oceanfront area where they were picked up the night before.
Bayside Presbyterian is one of 35 churches and synagogues that have hosted the homeless on a rotating basis between October and April for the last eight years. The Winter Shelter program is administered under the auspices of the Volunteers of America/Chesapeake chapter. Another 20 churches contribute time and resources to the program. Debbie Maloney, program director for the Winter Shelter program, said she hopes this is the last year the program will operate in its present form.
In 1994 the city received an $800,000 grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish a shelter for the homeless. It hasn't been created yet, but some volunteers said there would be advantages to a shelter. The churches have love to share but no showers or cots to sleep on. The one inch-thick pads and blankets the VOA provides for sleeping must be placed all around walls on the tile floors. MEMO: For more information or to help, call the Volunteers of America voice
mailbox at 499-9117 and leave a message. Donations may be sent to
Volunteers of America, Winter Shelter Program, 5677 Herbert Moore Road,
Virginia Beach, Va. 23462. A qualified bus driver is urgently needed at
this time.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARK YOUNG
Following Jesus' example, Daisy Presswalla washes the feet of one of
the homeless people staying the night at Bayside Presbyterian
Church.
KEYWORDS: HOMELESS SHELTER MINISTY by CNB