Over the last three years we have taken burritos downtown to the homeless who live in shelters just south of the State Capitol area. We started this ministry through a couple of teens that were home schooled and didn’t fit in their youth group. They had taken burritos on Friday nights to the homeless for six months and then we connected with them and took over. Both of these teens left the area and I started to do this after we painted houses. During the summer we have taken cold bottled water on a weekly basis to these homeless that live on the street. My desire in doing this is to help our youth and partners see that homeless are people with names and deserve to be given respect. The reality is that most, even in the church, view homeless as being sub-human and have something wrong with them. (Why would they choose to live on the street and not get jobs.)?
Over the last two years we have made many trips to the downtown and handed out food. We have done this on Christmas Eve and given out hundreds of blankets and clothing items. One of my prayers has been to actually connect with a group that is working with the homeless. I could honestly say that after handing out thousands of burros and bottles of cold water I didn’t have even one real contact. So I was thrilled when Running Deer called me after a Central Corridor Meeting at Neighborhood Ministry that I was unable to attend. I met a few times with him and the key organizing leader, Bill, who is not homeless but a staff person for this new non-profit, Arizona Organizing Project. I am excited to partner with a great group that has vision to use peer groups as a vehicle to help the homeless get their lives back together.
This last week we have had a college group from Virginia Tech partner with us to do urban missions. I don’t think that the leader had any idea of what they would really be doing. I was also somewhat suspicious what someone with a name like Mary Katherine would be like, but she has turned out to be an amazing leader who is sold out to Jesus. So this group arrives on a Thursday night about two hours later than expected. I have them rise a few hours after they get in to begin their homeless for a day experience. We drive off around 6:15 AM to meet up with the AZ Org Project group to do breakfast with other homeless at St. Vincent de Paul center, which is located adjacent to many of the other downtown homeless shelters. As we get in line it is clear that we are in for a rather surprising morning and day. We have a breakfast of cereal, bagels, rice and some meat dish.
As we are sitting and eating it is interesting to just watch who walks in for breakfast and how they react to my group of college students. I was so impressed with our special friends to help us better understand the circumstances of the homeless. As we are finishing up we get an opportunity to talk to a few of our new friends. The breakfast was ok but obviously not something you would brag about unless you didn’t have anything to eat at all. It was freezing outside so I really wasn’t interested in rushing out but our time was up and we didn’t to go to free up space. There must have been over 500 eating here.
Our special friends took us next to the job resource center to see what it would be like to use the CASS campus to start putting our lives together. They actually had a place where you can store all of your ‘stuff’. This is a real challenge for most homeless because either you leave your bags on the street hidden with the potential of them being stolen or you take everything with you. So being able to leave your personal belongings safely somewhere is a great blessing. It was amazing to see the thousand or so that live in this area up and moving by 6:00 AM.
We go back to the little house that AZ Org Project Group is fortunate to have as a means to have a center to help people and also house a few that are interns. We sat and listened as Bill Black, the director, explained what they are all about. We also read a statement written by them and their partners to better understand the impact that homelessness and poverty have on people. Each person in my group shares about their experiences with homelessness. After sitting for an hour or so we are ready to hit the streets and start handing out flyers that explain the ministry of Street Life which is to help homeless individuals get help, find a friend and get to know God.
We walked around the downtown area of Phoenix for over 2.5 hours. We handed out probably a 100 flyers during our time and talked to some homeless and also people who work downtown. Some of friends on the street were very interested in talking about this new ministry and others could have cared less. It was a good experience for my group to see people actually living, panhandling and doing street acting. As we got back to the house we had to wait a little while for one of the groups that had gotten something to eat.
We went to Ranch Market to get some lunch and be exposed to living in the Hispanic Community in Phoenix. The group loved the fruit drinks and definitely loved the food. As always I love Ranch Markets where I can be spoiled with awesome food and breathe in the surroundings. The group was dragging a little so we went back to my house where they had a couple of hours to nap and unwind before the big event – sleeping on the streets.
We meet up with our urban camping guides, Cowboy and Richard, who are part of the AZ Org Project Groups. Cowboy is very concerned that my group have the best experience possible while we sleep out. We wait for it to get dark and then make our way to the empty lot adjacent to a WhataBurger and empty warehouses. Cowboy gives us a couple more lectures on how to do this, be safe and not have the Phoenix PD kick us out.
As we slept out under the stars on rocky dirt next to a cement parking area we were kept awake for several hours with Police Helicopters flying overhead obviously looking for someone. Our group talked a little but eventually everyone fell asleep. As our camping guide began to wake us up I noticed that it was only 4AM. Why in the world do we have to get up so early? Cowboy was quick to re-explain that we didn’t want to bring attention to ourselves. It was cold and our sleeping bags were actually wet from the dew of the morning. We slowly packed everything up and Anne drove up in the van. We loaded everything and went back to house where the group still had an hour or so to sleep before waking up again to start our painting project.
I know what struck me was the fact that Cowboy had to get up every morning early to stow his stuff and get back to the shelter areas where there was free food each day. I can’t fathom the fear that did exist in always being concerned that someone would either take your belongings, beat you up for any money you had or the police would come and escort you off of your camping area. As I drove Cowboy and Richard back to the shelters it was still dark and very cold. Lots of the overflow areas were full of people who were beginning to awake and move towards the St. Vincent de Paul Center for a free breakfast.
I know that even though we spent the day with our new friends I couldn’t really relate to what it is really like to be homeless. I still had a home to return and a warm bed and food in the frig. This has helped appreciate the fact that there is a lot more thought and energy that goes into figuring out how to survive in the urban jungles of the city. I am thankful that this group from Virginia and one of my college students was able to learn from our older friends.
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