Charity Carts

The charity carts are a network of horse-drawn carts that travel in sections all over Atherus. These carts have food, medical supplies, toys etc. Anything that the poor might need. The goods are collected to temples which the carts travel to and then disperse them. They trade based on what has been needed in certain areas. The best day at orphanages is when the cart comes through with toys and clothes. Each child gets to pick a toy and an outfit.
The carts and their staff are paid for by the Kingdom's funding for social services, a program created by Priest Theocritus, taking local services and combining them into a Kingdom wide effort in order to improve the system as a whole. Those manning the carts are mostly followers of the temples who take minimal pay, only enough to pay for what they need that they cannot get from the temples they visit.

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I joined the charity carts 6 months ago, training with a married couple. Even though they were nice I always felt a bit like a spare wheel on the cart. A message got sent up a month ago that a cart route running by Lake Limnli had one of their workers came down will a sickness and they needed a temporary replacement. I was sent up there along the routes.
The sicks women's partner, who had the odd name of Julia, was nice but I could tell she wasn't happy having to work without her. I asked, and they have had this route for almost 15 years. One of their main stops is an orphanage I have never heard of. She called it The Gate, strange name for a place until I saw it.
We pulled up to this walled property at a wrought iron gate. A middle aged women was waiting at the gate with about 40 kids of all ages lined up behind her. They were all remarkably patient, when the women walked to open the gate not a single one moved from their place. tbc