Caring for the Homeless - a way we can help

Kent et al,

I have often heard the phrase, "By their works ye shall know them."
Blessing to you and those to whom you reach out...

I have asked that in lieu of gifts for my birthday, that friend help donate to the homeless.

Thank you, Kent, for bringing this issue to the forefront. And for reminding me that we all need help at some point.

H6

 

Kent - Just a suggestion: I think another good item to donate would be those wind-up flashlights and lanterns, safer than candles (fire) I'd think. Bless you for your work.

 

H6: appreciate that; "Don't we all?"

Bandmom: another great idea; we have some of those in our house. After Fran came through my bride inisisted that we get some of those to have on hand.

 

Recap of our morning visit to a new camp off Tryon Road

This morning, myself, and two other men from my church, Danny and Herman, went to a new camp (new to us) to put up a tent for an Hispanic guy called "Shorty". Danny had a tent he wanted to donate and I asked Alice McGee (Church in the Woods) who may have an immediate need for a tent, and she thought of Shorty.

Here's Shorty's story that Alice emailed to me:

Hi, Kent! Here are the directions to Shorty's camp. He is an Hispanic, very sweet. He is the one who God healed both his legs. A car hit him and ran over both his legs. He was in the hospital for a month and then he did not have any therapy.

When I found him he was laying on the ground subsisting on the handouts of other homeless people. His legs were in a lot of pain and had frozen up. I prayed for his legs three times and our wonderful God healed him completely! The first time the pain went out of one leg. The second time the pain went out of the other leg. The third time he was able to move and walk. He is a worker with a tree service and is back climbing trees as work is available.

Yay God!! There is nothing too hard for Him.

Shorty wasn't in camp when we arrived this morning, but there were 3 others there.

Following are some photos of today's visit.

 

Here's Shorty's home. It is badly in need of repair, so the new tent will really help out.

 

Shorty's living room. In the back is another piece-meal tent where his 2 dogs probably sleep or any other homeless person that hears about this camp and wanders in.

 

This is the tent that was donated to Shorty. We wanted to make sure we had all the parts. Shorty will probably take the old tent down and put this back up in its place, then take some tarps to weather-proof it even further.

By the way, there are new homes going up all around this camp.

Shorty got a new home today, too! He will be so surprised when he gets "home".

 

This is Hector and his home. He lives right next to Shorty. Hector helped put the tent up.

We left Shorty and Hector some winter clothes.

 

This is Rocky, one of two dogs that also live in the camp. They barked at us right off the bat to let us know that we weren't slipping up on them! Rocky soon became one of our friends. We like Rocky!

 

This is "Grandpa" or Dwayne. He's one of the oldest in this camp. He said he'd been in this camp for way over a year. He said he used to be an iron worker until he had an accident and got banged up pretty bad. He's had some rough times, many of them brought on by himself, unfortunately.

Dwayne said he spent a lot of time in prison, but came to know the Lord from a prison ministry initiated by a local church.

We gave Dwayne a nice arctic coat that fit him perfectly.

 

This is "Grandpa", Danny, and me on the right.

 

Kent, thats how it is in Boston and the surrounding areas up there in the winter. On very cold nights they open emergency shelters and send around vans to pick-up the homeless and bring them somewhere out of the freezing cold at night. May not always be great accomodations, or a bed to sleep in, but better than getting frostbite or freezing to death.

 

This is Herman, Grandpa, and Larry, the third resident who was in camp this morning. Larry is from Connecticut. So is Herman. They lived just across a river from each other. Small world, right?

We made sure Larry had some winter clothes, as well.

As you can see by the sign in the back, the property is for sale. There are red surveyor's flags all over, so it looks like this camp may have to relocate soon.

 

Why I post pictures of the camps.

The main reason is to put a face with a name, to try and humanize these individuals and not just label them as "homeless", and to show just what conditions they are living in.

I can describe them all day long, but a photo does more than my limited ability to write about them can do.

Another reason, is to ask for prayer for these men and women, and to speak their names, and have their faces in front of you when you are lifting them up to the Lord.

Continue to pray for Alice McGee and her ministry, and all the other ministries who are devoting their time, money, and resources to help our area homeless.

 

10-4 on opening up shelters on very cold nights. I encourage anyone who hears about these ministries to support them if you can.

Many of these camps are located off main roads, especially near exit ramps, and in wooded areas that are zoned commercial.

If you see someone "flying a sign"/panhandling, it's a good chance their camp isn't too far away.

 

You are one special person. Thanks for putting faces to the names. Watch for a PM from me soon.

Grace

 

Homeless update

With the cold weather upon us I thought I'd bump this thread to reacquaint everyone to Alice McGee and her Church in the Woods Ministry and the needs of her ministry for the homeless:

Church In The Woods Needs List

10 full-time missionaries in the streets
Bus Drivers (non-CDL)
Cooks – food already cooked, just needs to be picked up, heated, and delivered to meetings
Churches-to adopt a mealtime once per month, provide food, paper goods, and serve
Printing materials
Volunteers to pick up donations
Volunteers to help sort donations and stock our bus
Bible Study leaders for discipling groups
Prayer ministers to pray for people at meetings or in the streets
Prayer walkers to go into new areas and pray for the homes and lift up Jesus in the street
Musicians to worship in the streets and in the meetings
People to visit homeless camps on a weekly basis

Tangible Needs

Sweatshirts Gloves Hats
Blankets
Jeans
Coats
Underwear Socks Thermal Underwear (bottoms only)
Tents
Backpacks
Propane Stoves
Propane
Candles
Freezer

Financial Needs

Support for 10 full time missionaries
Bus and Van maintenance
Gas and Insurance for Bus and Van
Newer Vehicles
Housing fund for the homeless
Gas Cards
Drop In Shelter Fund
New Underwear


CITW EMAIL: churchinthewoods@earthlink.net
CITW WEB: www.churchinthewoods.net
Blog - http://least-of-these.blogspot.com/

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A recent update from CITW:

The Lord has sent workers to His mission fields in Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, along 401 in Raleigh, and a new mission on Lenoir St. The Lord has also blessed these workers with provisions of food, both physical and spiritual. What an opportunity to bring His love, living water, manna, and His living word to so many! Toys have been donated for so many families as well as clothing for the monthly “Gratis “ sale. We thank You Lord, Jehovah-Jireh -- the Lord our Provider.

On Saturday, the Lord provided a truck load of donated food, as well as boxes of food for single moms, close to 100 bag just in Apex and another 250 in Cary given away, all in the name of Jesus. Missionaries had the opportunity to pray with families in need of healing and lambs were blessed with the answer to prayers for food.

Coats and blankets were taken to many a few weeks ago in the Cary, Apex, and Holly Springs missions. Gifts for 20 children were donated, allowing a former homeless lamb to join with purchasing some of these gifts. What a blessing for her! Another family in Christ donated gently used and cleaned toys to be given to the children in need for Christmas and the “3 Kings Day’ celebration. Brothers and sisters in Christ have organized neighborhood collections for winter clothing. Churches have organized food drives to restock the food pantry. Gifts for the homeless have been donated, so many can experience the love of Jesus Christmas Day! Donated food from an area caterer and church allows meals to be taken to those in need, many recovering from surgery or the birth of children, and for the tutoring program that has started again on Saturday mornings. While at a luncheon for leaders who serve in the community, water and snacks was offered from the Red Cross and has been donated to be used by the Brown Bag ministry who donates 800 plus lunch bags each week to so many missionaries, equipping so many with the opportunity to bring the love of Christ door to door, building relationships with each person. These relationships allow the person to experience Jesus’ love.

The Body of Christ is such a blessing! The need has increased, but God is faithful and His provisions have also increased. We serve such an awesome God! Thank You Jesus!

What a blessing to be the hearts, hands and feet of Jesus with so many of you!

May all of you have a blessed Christmas!

Church In The Woods

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So, if you you can help Alice meet some of her ministry needs, call or write to her.

 

Thanks, Kent. Where have you been?

Sherry

 

Sherry, I've been busy, busy for the past few months putting an addition on our house, subbing out most of the work, etc, plus working full time, along with family and church duties.

Not much time or energy for much else.

I visited a homeless camp today and left off some medical "goody" packets and discovered another small camp in N. Raleigh and had a long conversation with one of the men in the camp, Donald Baker.

I always try to get names so I can make this a personal experience and not just lump them in as "homeless".

But for the Grace of God, I could be in his place.

I gave Donald some clothing items and other supplies and called Alice at CITW to document this new camp.

Keep CITW in your prayers and encourage your circle of friends and family to support the ministry.

 

I will certainly keep CITW in my thoughts and prayers. We have items to donate so I will use your contact information to pass them along. Several blankets and coats.

Now that I am thinking about it....I may just ask the sponsors of my teen's high school club if the teens could gather items and go visit these folks. I think this would be great for all involved.

Talk soon,
Sherry