Downtown 6/6/2011

Although I made a trip downtown last week, I was unable to do a write-up about it. There were two or three encounters that are worth mentioning from that week. The first one was with a woman by the name of Jackie. She was near the Lincoln Park area. She was sitting on a milk crate and looked like she was sleeping, it was about 9 a.m. in the morning. I thought she might be Ricky whom I've helped several times before in this area. She was wearing a heavy army green coat with a knit hat on. When I first walked up and asked how she was doing she answered in a way I'll never forget. She looked up at me and in a voice barely above a whisper said, "I'm tired and hungry." There is something about a response from a homeless and desperate person who's only request is for the essentials of existance. I was glad to be there at just the right time. After a few more questions about her needs I was able to give her water and probably the number one request after food and water....socks! Luckily, I had some pants that fit her and gave her a couple of shirts too. She knew Ricky and told me that he usually hangs out around Johnson St. which is useful information. After praying with her and receiving several thank you's, I received the most precious thing, a radiant smile. Despite her lack of front teeth, it was a beautiful smile and worth the trip all by itself. It was a privilege to bring this woman happiness if only for a day.
Around the corner from Jackie and on North Main St. there was a homeless man standing in the shade of a tree in a parking lot. His shopping cart was next to him. When I approached him with a bag of food in my hand I asked how he was doing. His response to this question (his name was Kenny) was the memorable thing about this man. He said, "Just short of wonderful." The obvious perfect sarcastic answer to this question. Just in case you're wondering....he took the bag of food.
One last encounter from last week ocurred on the corner of 14th Pl. and Towne Ave. There were three homeless men sitting together. One was in a wheel chair with a 'boot' on his foot. The other two men were sitting on a short brick retaining wall. As I drove by (I usually don't deal with groups of people that I don't recognize) I heard one of them call out to me. Now when I drove by initially I noticed two of the men, the one in the wheel chair and the one sitting on the brick wall next to him, looking at some magazines. They appeared to be hard core sex magazines. It was the other man who had called out to me. I felt the Spirit leading me to go back to these men. When I had turned around and pulled up along the curb next to them, it was this 'other' man who had recognized me. He came over to the car and we talked for 5 or 10 minutes. I gave them a couple bags of food and we talked about how things were going. While we were talking the other two men didn't say anything to me and continued to 'read' their magazines. Now these magazines have sex pictures on the front and back of the magazine, so as they held them up to read, they were in full view to me. So while I was talking to the one I knew, I kept trying to think of something to say to the other two men. I didn't want to sound condemning, but wanted them to know God cared about them. So I borrowed part of a line I used a couple of weeks ago with Jerry, down on 7th and Los Angeles St. I said to them, "I know you're feeding your loins, but don't forget to feed your soul." With that, I said goodbye and drove off.
Well, that was last week. To be brief about this week, during the time I spent on skid row I ended up giving out 3 bags of food (something I hadn't done before
down there). Two of the bags went to people, on opposite sides of the street, by the police station. The first one went to Stacy who was sleeping under a blanket on the porch of the police station and William who was under a blanket directly across the street. In fact, the blankets were probably acquired from the same place (mission) because they were identical. There was another woman who received a bag. She was on Wall St. I had stopped to watch a
city crew cleaning up the trash on the south side of Wall St from skid row. There was a bulldozer where around a dozen people swept the trash into the 'bucket" and then a truck was there for the bulldozer to dump it into. I commented to another
woman standing on the corner with me that I hadn't seen this down here before. She told me, "I haven't seen them do it in years. They used to do it everyday!"
The third person who received a bag was a woman by the name of Venus. She seemed troubled and distrustful of me. When I asked if she could use some food (I didn't have any with me at the time), she blurted out, "Can you buy me some food at the Food Mart?" I said, "I have a bag of food in my car and I'll come by here and give it to you after I walk around this block." I think she was pretty surprised when I came by about twenty minutes later and gave her the bag. In driving around a couple of blocks so I could pull up right next to her, I saw the old man with the
basket cart on the corner in the picture. He just looked so destitute and looked like the epitome of despair. Yes, God loves these people too. Until next week. --John