You Made My Heart Happy

By L.A. standards the weather has been cold lately. To make matters worse, the army of volunteers helping at food banks begins to dwindle after Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, the Olympic Korean Church English Ministry gives out food, water, and hand warming packets sporadically throughout the year. This past Saturday the youth orchestra, along with some team members from Urban Encore, joined them at MacArthur Park.

We set up on a grassy area and sang and played for those who were coming to pick up food.

By the expressions on the faces of the people, the synergy of food and music acted as a potent encouragement. They probably enjoyed seeing elementary, high school, and middle school students bringing cellos, violins, flutes, and clarinets to their corner of the park.

Gloria, a retired nurse, has been helping people on the streets of L.A. for over 30 years. She was one of our main liaisons for this concert.

In any case, we hope that we were able to bring cheer to faces that bespoke toil and exposure to the elements. Many of the people looked like hard work had carved out cracks and wrinkles into their young faces.

One of the most inspirational moments for our group was seeing people lingering to listen to us sing and play for 30 minutes to an hour at a time. Some of them would record us on their cell phones, while others just stood there taking it all in.

While we gathered our stands and put away our instruments at the end, a man came to me. His hands looked cracked from the wind and sun, and he carried a large black plastic bag. Perhaps that bag was filled with his belongings, or he may have been collecting recyclables. With his broken English and unforgettable smile he said, “You made my heart happy.”