Visiting the Christmas Bureau last Friday was not quite what I expected. I have worked the front desk of the House of Charity as a Gonzaga work-study since February, and the prospect of seeing and meeting Spokane's poor population was simply not that intriguing. After all, I figured they would be the same people I had worked with for months. Not surprisingly, this was not true in the least. I should have realized this earlier when I heard about the massive volume of people who take advantage of the Bureau, far more than the people who use the House of Charity, but it still came as a surprise to see the line of recipients extending well beyond the entrance even when the volunteers were making every effort to get everyone inside and out of the cold. It served as a reminder as well, that Spokane's poor are not merely those who live in shelters but those who are just scraping by on low-wage and part-time jobs forced to accept charity to have gifts for their children this Christmas.