FOR A GOOD CAUSE -- Dennis Askew

Jennifer Kho

Dennis Askew has been a chauffeur to tens of thousands of sack

lunches, hygiene kits, blankets, clothes, bus tickets and bottles of

aspirin as a volunteer for Serving People in Need.

Every week for the last eight years, he has driven a van to Santa Ana

and distributed donations to the homeless.

“I give them a few bucks if I have money in my pocket and cigarettes,

even though I know that’s not politically correct,” said Askew, a Costa

Mesa resident who works as a financial writer.

But the most valuable supplies Askew said he delivers are intangible.

“We’re pretty good at smiling at people, shaking their hands, patting

them on the back, telling them we believe in them, encourage them not to

break the law and referring them to resources in Orange County,” Askew

said. “And sometimes just that we care means a lot more to them than free

food or a jacket or whatever.”

Askew, who said his age is “47 and closer to heaven,” has always felt

a duty to give back to society -- a characteristic he attributes to

influence from Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King Jr.

He said he was first inspired to volunteer for the ALS Society in

Orange County about 12 years ago after reading a book by Steven Hawking,

a physicist with Amyotrophic Latera Sclerosis Disease.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis -- also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease --

is a rapid, fatal disease that stops muscles from moving by attacking the

neurons that transmit messages from the brain.

After the society moved to Orange, Askew said he saw a flier

advertising the need for volunteers at SPIN and decided to try it out.

“I went out once and realized that it was for me,” he said. “It’s

where I fit in because I go out in the van and park right at the

curbside, right in the trenches with nothing between you [and the

homeless]. You’re not standing behind anything, you’re just face to face.

I like that.”

Since Askew began his weekly visits to “the trenches,” he said, some

of the homeless women he has met have had children, some of the homeless

men he has met have been in and out of jail, and “all of them have seen

my hair gray over the years.”

He said he likes the sense of humor in the homeless culture, the

directness and the clear, simple priorities -- food, shelter and

clothing.

The compassion Askew said he has gained -- and given back -- has

rewarded him with lessons deepening his character, expanding his

knowledge and increasing his love of others.

The hardest part of Askew’s volunteer experience is being limited in

what he can do for people in need.

“When I’m out of money, they can’t get medical attention or everybody

has given up on them, that’s the hardest thing,” he said. “And when they

get stereotyped, that’s pretty hard too. All these people are individuals

with moms and dads. All of them are human beings.”

The best part is seeing people go from having nothing to having

everything, he said.

“Some guy will come out of prison and have $12 and be sleeping in a

parking structure,” he said. “A year later, I will see he has a job, a

car and an apartment, and I’ll know he made it. That’s a good thing.”