A Kind Act, A Humble Gift

On Friday nights, volunteers from Bridgetown Ministries, led by Marshall Snider, help the homeless people gathered under the Burnside Bridge in Portland, Oregon. In addition to providing hot meals, shaves, and haircuts, some of the volunteers wash the homeless people’s feet. Tom Krattenmaker, a writer for USA Today, was stunned when he saw that, calling it “one of the most audacious acts of compassion and humility I have ever witnessed.”

This group of society’s outcasts had their bare feet immersed in warm water, scrubbed, dried, powdered, and placed in clean socks. One man reported with a smile, “I can’t find the words to describe how good that felt.”

Krattenmaker later wrote, “Washing someone’s feet is an act best performed while kneeling. Given the washer’s position, and the unpleasant appearance and odor of a homeless person’s feet, it’s hard to imagine an act more humbling.”

The leader of Bridgetown Ministries prepares volunteers for this ministry by saying, “When you go out there tonight, I want you to look for Jesus. You might see him in the eyes of a drunk person, a homeless person.”

In the midst of fundamentalists' numerous condemnations and atheists' attack on monotheistic religion, Krattenmaker concluded, "Perhaps what happens Friday nights under the Burnside Bridge can be a reminder. While the fighting over religion drags on, let's remember that many, many people around the world — some who count themselves among the true believers, some who don't — are living up to the religious ideal. They're helping the needy, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, even washing their feet."

 — Tom Krattenmaker, “A Witness to What Faith Can Be,” USA Today (December 18, 2006)