Easter
April 21, 2011 at 11:41 AM
Every Easter, I display a tiny silver basket cradling a Polish Easter egg that was blown out and decorated by a woman who shared her tradition with me almost thirty years ago. I remember her and the artistry she found time for, despite the fact that she was the single mother of a then young daughter. The intricate designs took days of painstaking work but represented her culture, her tradition and her country so very far away. The delicate, thin eggshell spoke to her skill, not her character. Just a few years ago I learned that not only had they made it in this foreign land, but the daughter was graduating from college and on her way to grad school. The proud mother's hard work and faith were paying off.
This Easter, I stopped by the Friends of the Homeless Dining Room on Easter morning and found a large basket cradling brightly colored Easter eggs. They weren’t as intricate as the Polish one I treasure, but they were dyed with the same love and spoke of the same strength of character. The Kitchen Manager decided that Easter was going to be special for FOH guests and the "small detail" of dying several hundred hard boiled eggs was her way of honoring tradition and providing a sense of belonging in this foreign land of homelessness. The guests loved them and many were hesitant to crack open their treasures for the sake of nutrition.
The egg has long been a Christian symbol of the Resurrection and today the Easter egg continues to remind us of the HOPE that is the message of Easter.
Kathy Tobin
After almost thirty years covering the news for television affiliates in Western Massachusetts, Kathy joined Friends of the Homeless in the fall of 2009 to help raise money and the profile of the organization to fulfill its mission. As Director of Development, Kathy is available to help you understand the work we are doing and how you might contribute to end homelessness in our community.