It is our duty to take care of the homeless, the sick, and the elderly. We have to be the mother to the motherless and the father to the fatherless.

This came from Rastafarian Patricia Parsons, who has taken on the responsibility of helping to care for Bermudians in need.

"The Rastafarian community have always been feeding the homeless. I believe that some people think the homeless only need to get food at Christmas time, that seems to be when everyone gets a conscience.

"They start to think about doing a good deed and that is the reason for the season, but good deeds should be done all the time,'' Ms Parsons said.

She added: "I felt that these people should be taken care of more than that, so I turned around and said to my King (my better half) we need to do better than this, and we discussed it and put different programmes into action.'' Ms Parsons said most times food is donated and she, sometimes with the help of others, will prepare it.

"We serve meals to the homeless once a month. Not only do we feed them but we also collect canned goods and second hand clothing and distribute them from the Bermuda Industrial Union building.

"Some of them also know where I live and if they are hungry they just pop in for food or a change of clothes.'' Like the Island's Coalition for Affordable Housing, Ms Parsons feels Bermuda has a growing homeless problem, one she hopes to impact in her own way: "Even one or two homeless people is a problem,'' she told The Royal Gazette .

"We see approximately 60 people coming in (into the BIU building) for food and clothing on a slow day,'' Ms Parsons said.

On a normal day she says, she can see over 100 less fortunate streaming in for life's essentials.

She added: "We also have a service that, out of the food contributed, we have a single mothers food basket called Helping Hands and that allows single mothers to come in and take home a basket of food once a week.

"We have quite a few women who come for the basket because Government only allots so much, and how can you tell a child that there is not enough for seconds or you can not have any more.'' Amongst the many helpful programmes Ms Parsons has organised there is an in-home care where she and some friends check on the elderly and HIV patients to make sure they have the necessities in life or "we are just their to talk sometimes or we go and just clean-up''.

"When you think about it the little we do, God does more and it is just about doing your part.

"We also go around to the brothers sitting on the wall. We get their name and occupations and call companies to solicit jobs for them to show them someone cares.

"We can't look to the people who enslaved us to save us -- and that is not a racial statement,'' Ms Parsons added.

She also offers teenage mothers a place to keep their children for the day while they continue with school.

"When you look at it, the reproductive thing is a part of life. I don't condone teenage pregnancy but I don't condemn it because I was a teenage mother.

"Teenage mothers still need help because some of them are not more than children themselves. We all make mistakes, but mistakes are like stepping stones. You make them and move on but some people don't allow them to move on they want to hold it against them.'' Ms Parsons added: "Some girls are eager to continue with school despite their situation.'' She remembers: "When I was a teenage mother Marilynn Smith, who was a social worker with YHED (Teen Services) tried to get me into Whitney Institute -- but they said no and I had to move on because I had a child to take care of.

"Today, most of these girls are sponsored by family members to help them continue their education, but child care is not included so I will look after children for those who can pay but sometimes it is not all about money.

"The money that does come in goes towards helping the ones who can't pay or are short on funds, or it goes towards helping to buy medication, pampers etc.

Some weeks we don't get any money at all -- but that is all right.'' Ms Parsons added: "I am not doing this to get praise. I am doing this because it needs to be done. These are my people. They are my family. I grew up with some of them and if I didn't, I know someone they grew up with,'' she said.

"I want for my sister what I want for myself and that is all there is to it.'' Anyone needing assistance from Patricia Parsons can reach her at 292-2674.