Greetings supporters and encouragers!! It has been a while since we posted a blog, but let me assure you this is NOT a result of us twiddling our thumbs. In fact, the last few months have perhaps been the busiest we have had as we near our 1 year anniversary as a God-focused, feet on the streets, Bible-sharing, biscuit-providing crusade to reach the physical and spiritual needs of the homeless folks in our downtown community. I thought I would just update you on what we’ve been doing.
It seems that each time we make a trip (every other Wednesday) we are learning some new way to be more efficient, more effective, and more impactful. We have had more “first timers” in the past 2 months, and I am sure I will leave someone out so I apologize: Tim Smith, Alan Smith, Drake Carter, Pastor David McKinley, Don Brandenburg (Beau’s pop,) Sean Allen, some youth from WBC, Wade McNeil. These folks give us great encouragement…we usually have a “de-brief” after our trips, and when newcomers share their experiences and thoughts it really means a lot to us and gives us more motivation to keep on keeping on!
We have also been working (in coordination with our ministry partner Fireside Ministries and Industries) on some video clips to better share our story with a larger audience. You can check those out
here and
here and let us know what you think. Another thing we have done a little differently to better serve and keep some inventory is to focus on 1-2 clothing items and 1-2 hygiene items per trip. This has worked very well on many levels, and helps us monitor inventories and requests much better. For example, we may bring just toothbrushes and toothpaste for hygiene, and just socks and underwear for clothing. We will always have breakfast and juice and water (thank you for you consistent support Mrs. Lynn Winters), and Bibles. One of the most exciting days is what we call Shoe Wednesday. We do this once a quarter, and our next day to bring shoes is Nov. 16, so if you have some softly worn or decent shape used shoes, we’d love to have them! Our last Shoe Wednesday was August 10th (huge thanks to Hitch-n-Post for their help,) and it just warms our hearts to see these folks putting on their new shoes. They show them off to other folks and they are so proud of their new kicks! Also, we would like to extend a big thank you to Drs. Will Anderson and Adam Scott for donating a ton of toothbrushes and toothpaste recently—that was awesome! They will go to great use soon.
We have shared some very applicable and powerful scripture lately as well. This is another fairly new adjustment we have made—having a Bible Study/Devotional time. They last few weeks we’ve read from Heb 4:12-13, Col 3:23-24, and 1 Peter 2. We start at each location (Salvation Army and Mercy Ministries) with the devotion, then we ask one of our friends to say the blessing, and then we hand out the food and clothes. Actually, our friend Donnell (who was baptized a few months back) won’t let us start the devotional without praying first!! Is that awesome or what?!?! I can’t tell you how good it feels when these guys pray for our group, the ones physically there and the folks supporting us. They do appreciate what is happening what we’re all doing.
We continue to meet new folks and learn their stories each week. Just this past week, we met a sharp gentleman. His name is Porter, and he gave me a copy of his resume! He has a college education, is well spoken, and seems to be the type of guy who just needs a break. This is actually one of the goals of our group; of course to reach them spiritually, but also line them up with work and folks who can give them work. That is one of the many reasons we partnered with Fireside and Phin Hitchcock—someone who is actively rebuilding and reclaiming downtown, Harrisburg, etc…one block at a time!
As you can see, things are going well, but we are always looking to share our story with new folks, so please pass this blog along. There a many ways to help us: pray for our visits and that these folks would be open to what we have to share, donate anything you are getting rid of—clothes, shoes, etc.., ask folks you know who may be able to make similar donations, make a financial (tax deductible) contribution, or simply join us one Wednesday morning. Thank you for all you do, and we’re making a difference!!!
Graham for KH
