(Kota Raya 1am Tuesday 30.8.11)

Its Aidilfitri. A time to reflect on the holy month of Ramadan and to look forward to celebrating.
Over the last few weeks I have already celebrated.
Celebrated the new friends we have found in Reach Out.
Celebrated the compassion and camaraderie in our sponsors and street volunteers.
Celebrate the willingness to share and care for those in need.
We do this all year but there is something special about the 'new' Reach Out that has appeared over the last few weeks.
Like tonight.
We were out with a great crew when I got a call from Khairul and the KL Swifters who told me that they had just decided on the spur of the moment to come out with us. We met up at Pudu Raya Bus Terminal.
Like Sue who was just passing Kota Raya when we had just finished the nights operation, and stopped to say hello and offer any help she could.
Like Amin who gave me an sms and said he was coming out and wanted to know where to meet.
Like Chin Wei who just felt the need to come out tonight.
Like Hee Ling who decided to help out tonight to allow our Muslim volunteers the night off to celebrate.
Like Danial who has just returned to Malaysia and came to the packing for the first time on Saturday and was on the streets tonight.
Like Shoubli last night who brought his wife and two daughters out to help.
In fact everybody who just comes, without fuss, quietly and with dignity to do what is needed.
We went down into those dark and forgotten areas the last couple of nights. Onto the riverbank, under the flyovers where the forgotten of KL sleep.
The crews worked away without any fuss, quietly and with dignity as they always do.
No hooha here. No media. No photos in the papers or on the TV. Just a support crew making things happen. The Run Leaders. The Committee. The Volunteers. The sponsors.
All doing their part without any fuss, quietly and with dignity.
Is it all worthwhile? You bet it is.
Even if just one of our street friends feels the dignity and sincerity of our volunteers then that will be passed on by them to others and the cycle of care and decency increases.
And that can only make things better. A better place for the future.
And Reach Out continues to do what we can without fuss. Quietly. With dignity.
The Frontline is stronger with all of you. And our street friends know.
They feel it. They know you care.
Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. May all of our Reach Out Warriors be blessed with peace, light and love always.

The Frontline Revolution.

Sometimes life is really funny.

Don't mean yahoo, haha type funny, but just sort of weird funny.

Strange may be a better description!

Just when things seem really tough a revolution happens.

Not evolution, (that's a step by step process), but a huge, smack you in the face, mind blowing revolution of change at one go.

And you can't figure out why.

You think you may know but then when you analyse it, you can't really make out the reason.

And that's where I am right now.

How did this happen? Why? What?

It started at the end of July when members of our Committee and operational staff resigned owing to operational differences and walked away. The founders stayed.

We picked this up and with Feexa and Jenny we got things sorted very quickly. Zakir came on board as a Committee member and the founders reformed a new Committee in double quick time. New Run Leaders stepped forward (Mustaqim, Zakir, Shazana), and with our old teams of myself, Amin, Jenny and Feexa we never missed a step. Maple, one of our founders took up the post of VP and Tiki one of our original members came onto the Committe

Runs continued uninterrupted.

Feexa gave up her normal job to focus on putting everything in place.

We got new sponsors, huge numbers of new volunteers, a new packing and storage place.

People just appeared and the response was quite incredible. I have never seen such a response.

Never!

I am still totally stunned!

Whatever we needed for our street friends just appeared through donors responding to Feexa's Wish List Campaign.

Zakir got our Twitter account up and running. He got our Google calender up and running and volunteer databases in place.

Our registration came on in leaps and bounds and we have a great facility to pack on Saturdays, register volunteers and do the necessary briefing and awareness briefings courtesy of Dato Mustaffa and all at Amcop Security Resources.

Volunteers are out in their Reach Out t-shirts.

But the key was the response from the good folks out there.

That's what stunned me.

Volunteers came in huge numbers. They packed. They came to food distributions late at night, in the afternoons and whenever we needed folks.

The Sahur for the Homeless event on Friday 19th August was a perfect example of this. The use of social networking and word of mouth saw 105 volunteers arrive. They came by car, bus, train, motorcycle, on foot, in fact any way they could. They came in the pouring rain and high wind.

They brought gifts or just themselves and friends.

Some just came by themselves because they wanted to.

Because they cared.

I watched the volunteers interact with our street friends, some of the volunteers never having been on the street before and I was humbled. I was almost in tears when I saw the compassion.

Compassion in action. True compassion. No agendas. Just a care for those in need.

It was then that I realised that Reach Out had turned the corner. It had moved to a level I had always hoped we could achieve. Something my darling Feexa and I had dreamed off.

You see, Reach Out has been evolving, step by step.

But by 5am Saturday morning when we finished operations after the sahur event and street feeding operations, I realised there had been a revolution!

There had been a huge shift in Reach Out.

I got home exhausted. I sat down, lit a ciggie and cried.

I don't cry. Not in my style. But I cried. Tears of thanks. Tears of joy. Tears of hope.

I saw hope in our revolution. I saw so many people who care, who can share our vision, and who do it without thought. They worked with the poor because it was the right thing to do and for no other reason.

I saw hope for humanity. In our little world of Reach Out I saw hope on our own doorstep.

I still can't explain it. I can only see the circumstances that took place on the streets over the last few weeks. I can only thank God for this blessing that we have been given, that we have been allowed to do the work we do and can ,with guidance, make the difference to those in need.

The people of Reach Out are true warriors. No medals, no glory, no titles.

Warriors on the frontline of the fight to eradicate poverty in all its forms.

I am proud to lead and share "The Frontline".

I am proud to walk with these warriors.