Behind the Scenes in Clarkston, GA

On June 26, we had the opportunity to serve over 700 refugees who now reside in Clarkston, GA, just outside of Atlanta. A few Samaritan’s Feet team members when to facilitate and cover the event (click here for the big story), and we thought it would be a great opportunity to share a few behind-the-scenes moments from our weekend there—because it was very special!

Approximately 800 pairs of shoes and socks, along with 800 Hope Totes were shipped to our partner in Clarkston—two pallets of about 25 boxes each.

Just after arriving in Clarkston, the team learned that the shoes were stuck at a distribution center and unable to be delivered to the distribution site.

The team hopped into action and drove across the city to retrieve the shoes.

It was such a relief and exciting moment to see those boxes! The show could go on—the shoes were packed up in a truck and the team drove them to the distribution site.

The night before the distribution, the team along with a few partners, were treated to a beautiful Eritrean dinner. Elsa, a refugee from Eritrea, owns a restaurant in Clarkston and invited us to dinner as a thank you for serving in her home. After the large, colorful feast, she also hosted a traditional coffee ceremony for us which includes roasting the beans on the spot, infusing the coffee with ginger, and three rounds of coffee. Check out the photos from our time with her:

Volunteers were also treated to a traditional coffee ceremony at the distribution. A wonderful woman came and prepared the coffee for us so that we could sip on the flavorful coffee throughout the day. What a treat!

After the “official” distribution was finished and all volunteers had left, a few kids came in the distribution site looking for a drink of water. They were passing by on their way to the store. We noticed two of the children quickly as one boy wore mismatched tennis shoes on and one girl wore her mom’s oversized winter boots. We immediately wanted to find shoes for these two sweet kids. We hurried to the back were the excess shoes were packed up and happened to pull out just the right sizes.

The two kids were ecstatic for their unexpected treat of the day. It was really the icing on the cake for the entire weekend.