Caring for the Homeless - a way we can help

A good story. A good example.

http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=dcd5e4c7caded8f23b36

 

I see you as a "saint".

Sherry

 

Appreciate the compliment, Sister Sherry, but it's the guy in the story I posted, and folks like Alice McGee who humble me for not doing as much as I really could.

 

Yes, they are remarkable people but I feel humbled by you. I used to think that our family did there fair share in helping others but when I think of you, Alice, etc. we just do a small part.

Take the compliment and keep on with what you do. People are lucky to have someone like you.

Sherry

 

Church in the Woods update

Greetings Friends!

Thanks to everyone who so faithfully walks with us as we serve the Lord and his children (or future ones).We are all knots together on the fishing net that is in His hands. It is so wonderful to rub elbows with His servants from so many different churches and denominations, loving one another as brothers and sisters of the same Heavenly Father.

We want to thank you for all your prayers! We have received the van that the Lord sent. It was given at no cost to us and it is just beautiful!
It has already been working hard.

We are still in need of a bus to convert into a closet to distribute clothes and other items that the Lord puts into our hands. Our old 1977 one has been down for some time. We have been looking for a while now and know the Lord will pick out just the right one.

Other needs:
A generator or money towards it.
Camping equipment, especially tents
Bag chairs
5 or 6 foot folding tables
Good tennis shoes or work boots
Jeans and tee shirts, socks and underwear
We regret that we do not have space to take other types of clothes at this time.

Also:
Pray that a church or person will rent us a storage unit. My house is overflowing.

Spanish speaking people to minister with us at three new Hispanic meetings. We are believing God for a great revival among the Hispanics.

Bible Study leaders to disciple in small groups.

Finances to run the vehicles

Finances to get a full time person to co-ordinate volunteers, do paperwork for housing applications, work with our partner agencies, faith based groups, and churches

Finances to support a full time missionary into the streets.

Finances to help with our intercessory and teaching trips to other states and countries. We love to go out as the Lord leads to inspire others to works of service. Many US cities now have ministries modeled after Church in the Woods, and our teams have gone to Paraguay, Switzerland, Italy, Israel, France, Latvia, Finland, and 3 countries in Africa.

In the USA, we have done extensive, on site prayer for Harrisburg, PA, the birthplace of our freedoms, the constitution and the foundations of one nation under God. From that place, we lifted up the nation to come back to God and his holy principles.

Then He sent us to Las Vegas to lift up the Banner of Christ and His righteousness there, renaming it Holy City for Sin City. We prayed inside most of the casinos, dedicating them as temples to the true God and not to the Goddess of Luck. It was hard to see all the old people spending their SS checks on slots. They were like Zombies feeding their addiction. There was no fun, no joy in what they were doing. Others were so addicted to the porn and other sex stuff.

Later, we went to Chicago to lift up God's Truth, Freedom, Wisdom, humility, and submission to the will and ways of the Lord. The Lord thwarts all the plans of the evil one so we prayed that the signs and publications there calling themselves "Red Chicago" would come down. This is the birthplace of communism and the communist organizations in the US and abroad. Also this is a very violent city and the only solution is a revival.

In San Francisco, last month, the Lord broke our hearts for this beautiful city on the ocean and bay. It has such a strong antichrist focus.Missions and churches shut down, the name of the Lord is profaned, Satan and all evil is lifted up. Morals and godly behavior is disdained. In some sections of town a christian is in mortal danger. The City/County has put up a monument to Harvey Milk and proclaimed an annual holiday to celebrate him a a hero and a liberator--because he organized and fought for homosexual rights and for the release of people from any moral code. He and his followers have sent this influence all across the country and world. He liberates people from the constraints of God's word and mandates. We prayed throughout all of the city including the areas people said not to go in. But those needed the light of God the most.

Interestingly, although I did not know anything about Harvey Milk before I came, our last day to pray was May 22nd, which turned out to be Harvey Milk Day. Boy, the Lord really knows how to plan a trip! The breakthrough came when we went up to the top of Twin Peaks. Jesus said "Sing over the city". We sang and worshiped openly with all our hearts. The open, public worship and praise must have been kind of an antidote to the restriction of Christianity there because the heavens opened. I saw a golden rain falling upon the city. We felt a victory and the Lord continued to pour it out even at the airport the next day.

It's so important for us all to go wherever the Lord leads us--to proclaim that He is God--to lift up his holiness, and to submit our own lives to Him. We also have been influenced to compromise the gospel and have slipped from His standards. Let us also repent so that we may better intercede for others.

Our next trip will be in September to France and Belgium.

Love and blessings!!!
Alice McGee, Church in the Woods
4701 Forestdale Rd. Raleigh, NC 27603
919-772-7050

 

The kids and I visited Camp Hope today, off of Poole Rd, and handed out some new bags filled with food, first aid supplies and miscellaneous other necessities (thanks to generous donations from family and friends). Mr. Catfish was very thankful for the blessings. He is disabled and looks a little rough, but he still has a smile on his face and happy demeanor.

I am very thankful for my blessings today, I hope you all are as well.

Thank you to Ms. Alice for looking out for these lost souls.

And thank you again Kent for bringing this ministry to my families attention.

 

Great story - take time to watch

http://www.wimp.com/wecould/

 

That about made me cry, thank you for sharing.

 

Forwarding an email from Alice McGee - Church in the Woods

Link: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7842072

Rebecca is Home with the Lord

Our hearts go out today to the family of Rebecca Vazquez. Last night she was hit by a train while going to her camp in the woods.

It was extremely cold, in the twenties and heading toward 18 degrees. The wind chill made it seem even colder. She had been outside for hours when she headed home between 9:30 and 10pm. A kind lady near the trail to the tracks let her sit on her porch and use her phone. She had been there from the afternoon into the evening. Rebecca had a drinking problem and so did not enter the home.

The Conductor said that she was sitting on the tracks in the dark. It was a long walk to her little unheated shed where she lived. She frequently sat on the tracks to rest. There was no other way to get there. We don't know all the details for this particular night. Had she passed out while hunched up trying to keep a little warmer? Did the freezing cold in combination with medical problems cause her to be unable to move out of the way? We may never know for sure.

What we do know is that we will miss her. She attended our meetings for many years. She would come over sometimes and clean my kitchen so that I would have more time to work on Church in the Woods stuff.

Please pray for her family and friends, and for all those sleeping out in the cold .

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS:

Bryan Lee Funeral Home
1200 Benson Road
Garner, NC 27529
(919) 772-8225

Sunday, 12/19/2010
3-5pm - Visitation
5pm - Memorial Service

Serving Him,
Alice McGee

 

Follow up story on Rebecca Vazquez

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/12/18/869093/woman-led-troubled-life-but-had.html

RALEIGH -- Rebecca "Bekki" Vazquez had been described as homeless, one of the many people seen on the streets of the Triangle's cities and towns.

Like many of those people, Vazquez sometimes drank too much and had difficult relationships with those who loved her.

But her friends and family say the 51-year-old woman, who lived in a camp in the woods, was so much more than a "homeless woman": a mother and grandmother who loved children, and a wife who never divorced her husband.

She was struck and killed by a train late Monday, hours after a judge responded to her handwritten plea to be let out of jail to spend Christmas with family. She had spent nine days in jail on a minor trespassing charge and her next court date was Jan. 11.

As her family and friends prepared for a Sunday funeral, they remembered how Vazquez, with her deep-blue eyes, had a kindly way that attracted children to her.

They recalled, too, how Vazquez, when she drank, even one beer, became volatile and those closest to her had to love her from a distance.

"She would go from night to day. It only took one beer," Vazquez's brother, William Smith of Garner, said. "It was like a light switch going from on to off."

Bonita Dunlow, Vazquez's sister in Garner, refuses to describe her as "homeless."

"Your home is not where you [lay] your head, but where your heart is," Dunlow said Friday. "Her heart was with the Lord."

Police think Vazquez was sitting on tracks at Granite Street and Carolina Pines Avenue when she was struck.

"I think she fell down," said her brother William Smith, 49.

Vazquez was born in Norris City, Ill., one of six children. Her parents split up when she was about 9 years old. Her mother took four of her siblings, while she and her brother William stayed with their father.

Their father, Gene Smith, was a welder who eked out a living while moving with his children to Indiana, Florida and Kentucky, before settling in North Carolina.

Vazquez chipped in by taking care of her little brother. She cooked his meals and made sure he was ready for school each morning.

William Smith said his sister didn't have much of a childhood.

"She never had time to be that way. She was busy taking care of me for a long time," he said.

Smith remembers his sister as outgoing, "with a whole bunch of friends, people who loved her to death" when she was at Garner High School.

Shot at age 18

But things started to fall apart in 1977. A friend found her in a van in the Carolina Pines community, suffering from a gunshot wound at age 18, not far from where she died Monday night.

"After she got shot, it seemed like she started struggling with life," Smith said. "She felt like she had been shortchanged."

Al Boyce, who met Vazquez five years ago through his church's homeless ministry, said she never got over the shooting.

"That was part of her anger," Al Boyce said. "She never forgave the woman that shot her, and she was angry with the police for never putting the woman in jail for shooting her."

Friends who opened their homes to Vazquez over the years would ask her to leave because of her drinking.

On Monday, Wake County District Court Judge Anne Salisbury sentenced Vazquez to the time she had served in jail and ordered her release.

When Vazquez got out of jail, she went to Delphine Turner's home in the 500 block of Granite Street.

Vazquez was a fixture on Granite Street, and the residents, including Turner, looked out for her. She would often visit Turner's house to use the phone. On Monday, Vazquez called her sister and another friend; she needed a ride to a coin laundry and to a grocery store.

Vazquez had at least one can of beer before she got to Turner's house and another while there.

A little over an hour later, a friend took her to the laundry and grocery shopping. When Vazquez returned to Turner's home it was dark outside.

It was about 6:30 p.m. when Vazquez called Al Boyce and his wife Cindy from Turner's home. The Boyces met Vazquez about five years ago through the homeless ministry at Garner United Methodist Church. Vazquez's funeral will be held there.

Bond with a special child

"We have a special-needs son, and he adored Rebecca," Cindy Boyce said. "We were visiting another homeless person in the hospital and she happened to be there in the next room. He sat on the side of her bed and just stroked her hand."

Cindy Boyce also recalled that if Vazquez had been drinking "she would not come anywhere near [the Boyces' son] until she sobered up."

When Vazquez called the Boyces on Monday, they told her a prepaid cell phone she had applied for had arrived in the mail.

"We were going to meet around lunchtime the next day so that she could get the phone," Al Boyce said.

Vazquez put on a coat, gloves and hat, arranged the groceries in the backpack she was carrying and headed toward a patch of woods near the end of Granite Street that led to her hut. A homeowner at the end of the street regularly left a porch light on at night so that Vazquez could make her way through the woods.

On Thursday, a thin cloud of blue smoke hovered above the campsite Vazquez had called home. Someone had used cast-off lumber and sheets of plywood to build a dwelling that stood about 10 feet high and 12 feet wide. A heavy green tarp had been wrapped around the structure to keep wind, cold, rain, wild animals and other outdoor elements from getting inside.

Police say they don't know why Vazquez was immobile on the tracks but think her death was an accident.

Turner said she thinks her friend had been drinking all day, fell down and was unable to get up.

"Bekki liked living too much."

 

How about 1,100 pounds fo coats or winter clothes for $55?

I received a call a while back from a broker with a warehouse holding perhaps 150,000 pounds of baled clothing waiting to be sold. He offered to sell 1,100 pound bales of winter clothing to me at $55 each. That is a lot of coats or winter clothing and he was about 3 miles from Tryon Road and Rts. 70/401. If he is out of business, perhaps one of our other brokers would help you find reasonable priced clothing in bulk. The state maintains a listing of several:
http://www.p2pays.org/dmrm/start.aspx

 

homeless

imm homeless mysef n need shelter asap i moved here from indiana to move n with someone but she has desereted me. i have no phone n i ask taht u meet me at the smithfield library or meet me there to pik me up im very tired hungry n need clothes socks shoes boots n a shower. my email is thementalist72@yahoo.com plz help me.

 

homeless

i need someone to come pik me up today im very tired n need of clothes shoe sower everything jut moved here from south bend ill b at the library later todayi need shelter i cant do this ne more for i am scared to try n go forth. plz come get me today n meet me at the library. sincerely jim ippolito im the homeless guy that wrote the first article thementalist72@yahoo.com

 

im n smithville n will meet u at teh library

 

Church in the Woods - Year End Message

Greetings!

Church in the Woods has been invited to do a series of talks in January on WAUG Radio 750AM, The programs will on Tuesdays at 8:00am. Dates are Jan 3,10,17, 24, and 31. You are invited to tune in and tell others about it. We will mix spiritual/biblical things into current events and needs. Please pray for this that the thinking of the community will change to godly thinking, and that listeners will be changed! Lifting up the truth in love.

The show topic on Jan 3 will be: Criminalizing the Poor

I will talk about the current laws and regulations that discriminate and harm the poor.
The real effect of these things on our communities
What are the real solutions.
What you can do.
What are the real needs of the poor.

Future weeks will go more in depth into some wonderful personal stories and principals that we can all live by.

We want to THANK everyone in the community for the thousands of love gifts that were given out to the poor this Christmas season--warm sweatshirts, blankets, coats, tents, and sleeping bags. Also hundreds of toys for kids who had fallen through the cracks. Our Birthday Party for Jesus was a big success and a lot of kids came to the Lord! At Moore Square the Holy Spirit was moving and we had a lot a wonderful testimonies of CHANGED LIVES!

One man told me that when I had said "Get up and Dance for the Lord!" He got up by faith even though he had had a stroke, and as he took that step of faith, he was completely healed in his knees and legs, both of them, even though the stroke was only on one side. He started to jump up and down and dance again to show me so that I could rejoice with him.

On Christmas Eve we did our annual service at the South Wilmington St. Center. Van Langeland's music and Christmas story was great. The Lord had me speak on TREASURING the LORD and the things of GOD, like Mary did, and we were all convicted of not treasuring Him like we should. Out of about 150 men, about 100 of them grabbed a hold of the Lord and gave Him their burdens, sins and lives. It was when they took communion by faith, that they felt Him wash them clean. A new start for the new year. We also received the ability to treasure Him and things of His Kingdom much more deeply. I was so moved just looking at their faces! What a change! The sad, dark faces were now shining with the light of Christ! Jesus was in their eyes! One man that we had been ministering to for a long time, was sitting there looking like Jesus. Peace, gentleness, meekness, goodness, kindness, and a rock solid security was in him and radiating from him. I had never seen him look like this
! Also, there was so much LOVE in the room that no one left without feeling and knowing that God loved them.

THIS WAS CHRISTMAS!!!

Thank you also for all the support in 2011 that provided over 50,000 meals and tons of clothing and things for the needy. But most of all thank you for coming and putting your heart and hands to the task of loving your community.

Our CURRENT NEEDS are for people to scout out areas all over wake county looking for homeless persons who might have been missed by our teams. People who are not receiving any encouragement or help. We do not want anyone to go without help. If you want to help with this, COME TO A MEETING at 1725 Poole Rd. Raleigh, NC at 1pm on FRIDAY, Jan 6.

Donations of tents, bus passes, etc. can be left at 4701 Forestdale Rd, Raleigh, NC 27603. Financial help can also be mailed to this address and donations can be made safe and secure through our website.

We love you!

Blessings! Alice McGee
919-772-7050

link: http://www.churchinthewoods.net/

 

UPDATE to last week's Moore Square incident with RPD

I received this update from Alice McGee today

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Link: http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=49cffd79ef5ca4a440bcecd04&id=f6d4360886&e=608fd5dab1

Life takes a lot of unexpected turns. We had gotten into a nice routine of outreaches, discipleship groups and all that goes into an intensive care ministry. This in itself is quite exciting and rewarding as people are changed in the Lord.

But it's time for the Lord to shake up the world and speed things up. I've wondered, "How are you going to get the whole bride of Christ worldwide perfected and ready for your coming? How are you going to bring everyone together, raise up your great army and impact the whole world with salvation?". It seemed like it would take a very long time. But then there are verses like-- A Nation can change in a day. and "don't think that i am slow, when I move, I move quickly." The shakings get our attention, and throw us out of our comfort zones, forcing us to Look to the Lord for new answers, new understandings, new behaviors, and we change quickly.

Now, it's Raleigh's time to shake. You have probably heard about the Good Samaritan Groups including Church in the Woods who were forced out of Moore Square and all other city vacant lots around town.

The police, probably because they forcibly removed Occupy Raleigh, and Moral Mondays people from public areas recently, arresting many of them, they also threatened us with arrest to remove us from public land We however, were not protesting anything just serving others. None of us were arrested because we left peaceably.

This caused a firestorm from the community and the press followed. Hugh Hollowell of Love Wins Ministry put an account on their web page and it now has over 450,000 hits. People from churches contacted us that they and their churches were praying. They said that everyone at their workplaces were talking about it .I was interviewed by 2 tv stations and the N&O. These were picked up by CNN, Good Morning America, and a lot of other press, Even Al'Jazerra called me.

There was so much reaction that the City Website took off its email contact page and the city hall stopped taking calls into the Mayor and Council offices. Before they cut it off I had tried to get through to the Chief of Police and the Mayor and Public Safety council member, to get appointments so that we could work together to come up with a win-win solution.

Monday, August 26th, I feel led to go to the SE Raleigh Community Action Committee meeting. It turned out to be a divine appointment--they were having a Meet the Chief night! We had a really nice visit and I blessed her and we agreed to meet in a few days.

Tuesday, Aug. 27th, I went to the State of NC Facility office and got a permit to do a meeting at the Lane and Wilmington st Park

Wednesday, Aug. 28th
The city council convened a special meeting to hear from concerned citizens. The room was packed with over 250 people and I don't know how many were turned away. They gave a presentation denying all responsibility for the occurrence and the Police Chief said that it was just an information campaign to let us know they were going to enforce an ordinance against feeding the Homeless in the Park. but would not arrest anyone. If they are not going to arrest anyone, how are they going to enforce the ordinance.. Nothing made sense. People spoke for three hours until they cut it off. Everyone was for our being able to stay and for the city to help and not hinder us. It ended with a motion to suspend actions to clear the park until a future meeting when they have had more time to work on it. I was able to talk at the meeting and also to the Mayor and City council member in charge after the meeting. Pray that they will keep their word and meet with me. I want to bless them. I know that the Lord can give solutions that will be a blessing to all.

Coming out I was interviewed by Channel 11. I was surprised by the reporters first question asking me about the permit for State property. I said "How do know about that?" She said that the Governor had put out a press release about how he was glad to help Church in the Woods. It was all over the news for a couple of days about how the Governor was pledging to help us. So now I am going to call him on it by going to his office to see what kind of help he wants to give. I already had the permit.

This Saturday, Aug 31st, a lot of Good Sam Groups were back at Moore Square Park, but we went on to the State Property. I believe that we should be respectful of the authorities. Also, when we started there was no one else feeding them lunch in the Square. Since then the Lord has raised up many groups to come. I think that the Lord is saying that we are now needed in other neighborhoods more. Still, the other groups primarily just do food. For us, the food is also bait on the hook for some great fishing! We love to worship, and praise, and teach, and pray for all of them. We have been so blessed to see so many get off of the streets and receive Salvation and real life changes from addictions and traumas.

Two more TV trucks came. We got to pray with and for one of the reporters. She was very moved by it.

Why is the Lord doing so much press on this and sending the reports over the country? Because He is bringing attention to the needs of the poor. He is still saying "Feed My Sheep". He is giving an opportunity to everyone to choose who they will serve--Him, through the least of the brethren, or the world and themselves. Also, He is judging sin.

When the city treated others as trash to be cleared out of sight, valueless troublemakers, their own reputation and that of the city was trashed, and trouble came back to them. Please pray for all of the city leaders for compassion, wisdom and to lead well with Godly Principals. God can take it from here and turn it around. He can show mercy and forgiveness and restore the reputation of the city. Praise the Lord!

Please also pray for me as a strive to walk in Godliness and wisdom through all these things. That I will be able to impact lives in the Government, in the corporations, and everywhere. God is reviving the whole city and country!

Don't be disturbed by the shaking in your own life. God is busy doing great things in you and for you!!!

Alice McGee
919-772-7050
www.churchinthewoods.net