Today she is sorting a bag of donated clothing, holding each article up to the light and looking it over for stains, tears, or missing buttons. She starts to put a sweatshirt onto a hanger, but then reconsiders and removes it. She folds the sweatshirt and puts it into the box for rags instead.
“What made you change your mind?” I ask.
Catherine tips her head sideways, and looks at the shirt again out of the corner of her eye. “It was okay, really. I would have worn it. But yesterday I was driving downtown, and I saw one of our clients walking along the sidewalk. He didn’t look so good. His shirt was too small and his slacks were tattered. I was embarrassed. He comes in here and we give him clothes, and I felt responsible for the way he looked.” She shrugs. “Anyway, when I looked at that sweatshirt just now, I was thinking, do I want our poor people to wear something like this? I decided not. I want our poor people to look as good as possible, and that sweatshirt just was not going to do it.”
I think I’m done training Catherine.