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 a brief exchange of kind words or as involved as a friendship that lasts for years.
The conversations that happen on the walkabouts are all over the board. Some are lighthearted and funny. At other times our youth volunteers get lessons in life, especially about avoiding mistakes. But the ones that live in my memories are the deep conversations and life-changing encounters.
Katt had schizophrenia and grandiose delusions. For reasons I never discovered, she didn’t get along with other homeless women. But when we came out to serve, she took great delight in the company and attention of the girls and women from our groups. She told me several times how much they brightened her world.
On another day, I was walking from the subway station near Franklin Park in DC when I saw a group of our volunteers, mostly middle school girls, gathered around a homeless man. Many of them were crying. My first thought was, “Oh, no! What’s wrong?” I made a bee line to them. It turned out that nothing was wrong. The man shared his struggles on the street and how he was ready to give up. One of the girls shared the story of big struggles in her young life and how her relationship with Jesus got her through. The man asked Jesus into his heart right before I got there.
Norman was mentally sharp, respected by everyone, and a godly man. We wondered why he was out there. We helped him try to find a job when he was in his late 50s. He had worked in construction, so we helped him get some tools and work clothes. After more than a year of applying, the job never materialized.
Norman was disappointed but never lost his faith. He always wanted to pray with the teens. Just before he turned 65, we prayed for Norman to get into subsidized senior housing and have a smooth path to getting his Social Security. The last time I saw him, he was getting ready to move into his apartment. He told me how much our TOP Teens meant to him. There were times he wanted to give up, but they motivated him to persevere.
During his 12+ years on the street, William Daniels (TOP’s DC Director) formed a special friendship with Nick, one of our youth. William said that relationship motivated him to clean up his act and move toward a better life.
David had a similar experience with a group of middle school girls. A connection that began with jokes and laughter grew into times of discussing deeper issues. That relationship motivated him to kick his crack cocaine habit and led him to a new life. He and his wife now have their own apartment and are living a dream.
Conversations on the walkabout also serve a practical purpose. There have been many instances where we discovered a special need that we were later able to meet. Work boots, transportation, cell phone time, McDonald’s gift cards, and special hygiene needs are just a few of the special things we have been able to provide people. And it all started with “Hi, would you like some food?”