Just Surviving
An icy wind is blowing the dusting of snow that fell last night. I was outside earlier, but I didn’t stay long. Now I’m sitting in front of the woodstove, soaking in that radiant heat that warms you to your bones. I’m always grateful for the warmth. Years of working with homeless people in all […]
Inappropriate
John’s dark, pain-filled eyes pierced my heart. He stood on Lafayette Square facing the White House. His back was to St. John’s Episcopal Church, a quaint but elegant yellow building. He asked the usual questions homeless people ask us when we start conversations with them. Where are you from? How long does it take […]
Adventure!
I’m getting long in the tooth. Every year the age gap between me and the youth we serve grows. I realized this even more at Impact the Valley this year. I’m staring down the barrel at my 70th birthday in a few months. Most of the youth were middle schoolers. As I gave the message […]
Dignity and Respect
I hadn’t been to Washington, DC for our Street Ministry with homeless people for a while. It’s not necessary because William Daniels, our DC director, does an outstanding job of leading groups. But on March 8th, I took Dave Thompson, our Program Director, on his first trip to see the Street Ministry in action. We […]
In the Beginning
Everything he had was in a shopping cart. I watched as the old man shuffled across the plaza at the Kennedy Center to a place where he could sit in the sun on a cool September day in 1987. His unbuttoned coat exposed his bib overalls. He watched me as I crossed the plaza and […]
The Walkabout
After our youth groups with The Street (our homeless ministry in DC) serve everyone who lines up for food, volunteers walk around the park handing out the food that’s left. I call it “The Walkabout”. It’s where most of the impactful relationships between teens and homeless people take place. It can be as simple as […]
Don’t Worry
One heart attack. Two strokes. Five stents. Advanced diabetes. Limited mobility. Ricky’s life isn’t easy. Home is a trailer with a deck and a ramp. The ramp has no rails, so he and his mobility scooter fell off of it a few times. The need was great, and we had four days during Impact the […]