"I pray that your love will keep on growing and that you will fully know and understand how to make the right choices. Then you will still be pure and innocent when Christ returns. And until that day, Jesus Christ will keep you busy doing good deeds that bring glory and praise to God." --Philippians 1:9-11
When I began last week's trip I drove to a section of town I normally don't go to. It was just northeast of Soto and Washington Blvd. Thirty years ago I drove trucks out of a warehouse in this area so I am very familiar with the turf. I saw a homeless man that day in this area on a corner of a street off Grande Vista. He had a shopping cart with him and there was a red car parked at the corner that turned out to be his. His wife was sitting in the front seat on the passenger side. When I drove up I had to double-park by their car (very unsafe on the corner) and leaned over to ask him if he was hungry (that's when I saw his wife sitting in the car) the trunk to the car was up. I didn't have time to really find out their story as cars were coming behind me and turning down that little street. The man, I'm guessing he was in his sixties, came over to get the food. On his way towards me he leaned over, looked at me and said, "I don't know where you came from, but you are a blessing." Then I had to drive away. I didn't have time to ask him his name or even to pray for them. Well, you can imagine that this man and his situation stuck with me all week. So on yesterday's trip I started by going over there again. I didn't see them, but I saw what I think may be their car. I'll check again next week.
A couple of weeks ago I went downtown on a cold Sunday night. It had rained during the day and everyone down there was cold, hungry and miserable. I had seen Angel, a homeless woman on the corner of Pico and Olive streets. She had been forced to relocate from the alley around the corner due to some construction going on. I was out of blankets by the time I saw her at the time, so last week and again yesterday I tried to find her but she isn't there anymore.
Last week I ended up stopping on the little street where John Stokes lives. I only had enough food for him, but surprise surprise there were a half dozen others on that street that day. I'm always disappointed when there isn't enough food to go around. I let everyone go through the clothes in the back, but they're always disappointed if you don't have food too. Yesterday, the first thing that one of the women living there said as I pulled up was, "You got food today?". Oddly enough, this weekend had record heat for this time of year. It's the last week of winter and temperatures reached the low 90's the last few days. However, I gave out very few bottles of water, like maybe only a half dozen. Maybe, everyone already had gotten some I don't know. I'll save what I have for the next trip. Anyway, between the people on that little street (5) and the three others around the corner I gave out all the food I had in the one stop. It ended up being a pretty short trip time-wise. --Until next time. John
Monday, March 16, 2015
Monday, March 2, 2015
Downtown 3/1/15
"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men." Saint Augustine
I ended up having to work Sunday (an extra day) and finished at 7 pm. It has been cold and rainy here the last couple of days and I knew that my homeless friends would be cold and hungry. The problem was going to be finding them. When it rains, they tend to be harder to find. I arrived a little after 8 pm from San Bernardino. I got off the freeway at Alameda and went to Channing St, where I had the BBQ last summer. No one was there. It looked like no one had been there for a couple of days and the shelters were half gone and kind of dismantled. I turned around to head back out to Alameda St and as I was crossing the intersection a woman was pushing a shopping cart across the street rather quickly in shorts!!! Needless to say, it was way too cold for shorts, but I couldn't stop to help her just then. I drove on over to San Pedro St and 25th. not too hopeful that anyone would be sitting out there due to the rain. Now about the rain, during the whole trip into downtown from San Bernardino I only ran into a little bit of rain although the news reports had said there were quite a few spots where downpours had occurred including part of the freeway I was travelling on. However, there were no traffic problems due to water build-up or accidents, so my timing going downtown was about as perfect as I could hope for under the weather circumstances. When I got to San Pedro St, my friends were mostly all there! I saw Hiram, Dave, another Dave, Pete and a couple of others. I gave out two blankets, over half the food, water and before I left, Dave Parker asked me to pray with everyone. We all gathered around together arms around each others shoulders and I prayed for them. It was awesome! Just then someone drove up who wanted to drive into the driveway I was blocking so I had to leave then. (Once again-perfect timing).
I had a little food left and drove over to Olive and Pico. Angel lives in an alley between some buildings on one end and the other end of the lot is a pay parking lot. But as I was about to turn on to Pico to get to this alley, she called out to me from the corner of Pico and Olive. She had had to move out of the alley. She was standing there by her shelter in pants and a T-shirt because those were the only clothes she had left. People had stolen all her stuff, including the tarp that kept her things dry during the rain. I didn't have any blankets left with me, but I searched around in the back of the car for some warmer clothes for her to wear. I found a woman's jacket that I helped her put on. It wasn't exactly the warmest jacket, more of a coat really, but it was warmer than her T-shirt. As I was getting back in my car and was looking at her I felt like I should give her the long sleeve corduroy over-shirt I was wearing. I felt badly that I didn't have another blanket with me to give her, so I got back out and walked over and gave her my shirt. I'll see her again soon I'm sure.
I helped a couple of others before I ran out of food and left for home, The trip went pretty much as I figured it would. People were cold and people were hungry. When I left work I normally would have just called it a day and gone home after a 12 hour shift, but I knew there would be desperate people in need down there and I knew the Holy Spirit would not only help me find them, but make me feel uncomfortable if I didn't go. As I slept in my warm bed last night I woke up around 3 am and heard the heavy rain that was coming down at the time. Although I had done what I could earlier, my heart went out to those I had just seen and others as they struggle to cope during this kind of weather. --Until next time. John
I ended up having to work Sunday (an extra day) and finished at 7 pm. It has been cold and rainy here the last couple of days and I knew that my homeless friends would be cold and hungry. The problem was going to be finding them. When it rains, they tend to be harder to find. I arrived a little after 8 pm from San Bernardino. I got off the freeway at Alameda and went to Channing St, where I had the BBQ last summer. No one was there. It looked like no one had been there for a couple of days and the shelters were half gone and kind of dismantled. I turned around to head back out to Alameda St and as I was crossing the intersection a woman was pushing a shopping cart across the street rather quickly in shorts!!! Needless to say, it was way too cold for shorts, but I couldn't stop to help her just then. I drove on over to San Pedro St and 25th. not too hopeful that anyone would be sitting out there due to the rain. Now about the rain, during the whole trip into downtown from San Bernardino I only ran into a little bit of rain although the news reports had said there were quite a few spots where downpours had occurred including part of the freeway I was travelling on. However, there were no traffic problems due to water build-up or accidents, so my timing going downtown was about as perfect as I could hope for under the weather circumstances. When I got to San Pedro St, my friends were mostly all there! I saw Hiram, Dave, another Dave, Pete and a couple of others. I gave out two blankets, over half the food, water and before I left, Dave Parker asked me to pray with everyone. We all gathered around together arms around each others shoulders and I prayed for them. It was awesome! Just then someone drove up who wanted to drive into the driveway I was blocking so I had to leave then. (Once again-perfect timing).
I had a little food left and drove over to Olive and Pico. Angel lives in an alley between some buildings on one end and the other end of the lot is a pay parking lot. But as I was about to turn on to Pico to get to this alley, she called out to me from the corner of Pico and Olive. She had had to move out of the alley. She was standing there by her shelter in pants and a T-shirt because those were the only clothes she had left. People had stolen all her stuff, including the tarp that kept her things dry during the rain. I didn't have any blankets left with me, but I searched around in the back of the car for some warmer clothes for her to wear. I found a woman's jacket that I helped her put on. It wasn't exactly the warmest jacket, more of a coat really, but it was warmer than her T-shirt. As I was getting back in my car and was looking at her I felt like I should give her the long sleeve corduroy over-shirt I was wearing. I felt badly that I didn't have another blanket with me to give her, so I got back out and walked over and gave her my shirt. I'll see her again soon I'm sure.
I helped a couple of others before I ran out of food and left for home, The trip went pretty much as I figured it would. People were cold and people were hungry. When I left work I normally would have just called it a day and gone home after a 12 hour shift, but I knew there would be desperate people in need down there and I knew the Holy Spirit would not only help me find them, but make me feel uncomfortable if I didn't go. As I slept in my warm bed last night I woke up around 3 am and heard the heavy rain that was coming down at the time. Although I had done what I could earlier, my heart went out to those I had just seen and others as they struggle to cope during this kind of weather. --Until next time. John
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
