Some time ago, about 1985, when L’Arche was half as old as it is now, and when the Internet had barely been born, it wasn’t unusual to “pluck” assistants—literally—from the side of the road.

The scenario was this: Normally, at the end of a day, or on returning from a walk or an errand, we would be driving back to the house. Being good Samaritans, we would stop to pick up one or two young people, hitchhiking and struggling with backpacks, to help them travel the next few kilometres. They sat in the back of the van, where they were in very good company! Once the shock passed, we spent some time telling them about L’Arche.

One thing led to another … we would offer them a place to stay that night, and most of them stayed on for several days, some for several months, even for a year. At the time, there was no Internet; there were no police records checks. Folks played with the carburetors of their cars rather than with the insides of a computer.

In those days, our recruitment methods were somewhat unplanned, even wild. Today, I would like to see if we can attract assistants using Facebook.