We left Portland in the morning and drove until late that
night, on my birthday. 10 miles from the
Idaho line, I got stopped and got a speeding ticket. Even though I had the cruise control on and
am very sure I was NOT speeding, I got a ticket anyway. For an hour before this, Kathy and I were
jamming to praise and worship music and having a great birthday party until . .
. Happy Birthday to me, courtesy of Officer Friendly. Oh well.
It was after midnight when we found a hotel in Boise.
The next day, we slept a little later than usual, but we
worked on setting up appointments at locations down the road. We did have an appointment at the Boise
Rescue Mission for the next day. We
rested and worked on the computer some.
It was a perfect day so we decided to go downtown and check out where
the homeless were. Oddly enough – we
couldn’t find them! This town is SO
CLEAN and so well laid out I couldn’t believe it. It has a small town feel, very laid back,
felt a bit like rural Texas. Everyone in this lovely state capital city was
exceptionally kind.
We went to eat lunch in downtown, and the manager came by
our table and started talking to us. His
name was Denton. He remarked, “You know,
just like your Denton Texas.” I was
surprised he knew there was a Denton, Texas, as he’d been raised in New
York. We chatted a bit telling him about
what we are doing. I asked how he got to
Boise. He said he’d been in a lot of
places in Oregon and spent some years in San Francisco but once he arrived in
Boise, he didn’t leave.
He told us while we were downtown, we should go to the Idaho
Ann Frank Human Rights Memorial Park which was just a few blocks away, in easy
walking distance and right by the green belt that ran along the river. So we decided to go there, (after all it was
a park and there are usually homeless at a park).
We walked down to this amazing spot. It was a small park but packed with
history. It had a full, life-size bronze
of Ann Frank and the walls surrounding the park had many quotes from her diary.
Very moving place. There were quotes from many world leaders and
other famous people through the years including Martin Luther King and Eleanor
Roosevelt. Idaho school children had
raised the money for this park. It is
really something to see.
One of my favorite quotes on the wall was “Never doubt that
a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed,
it’s the only thing that ever has.” This
quote was by Margaret Mead. When I read
that it took me back to what 5252 Ministries Project 2013 is all about (as I’m hoping that
what we are doing out here will rally citizens to do what they can for the
homeless in their own back yard.)
I
believe homelessness can end with the help of private citizens. I know we’re always going to have some
homeless, but I’m seeing more need for shelters for men, women and children all
across America but we CAN make a difference one person at a time.
Next morning we went to the Boise Rescue Mission where Kathy
and I served in the cafeteria. We helped
feed 125 homeless. They said it was a
slow day. After lunch Linette, the
volunteer coordinator, took us for a tour of the men’s facility where we had
served.
The place was extremely
clean. They house around 160 men at that
facility.
The third floor is for the service veterans. It’s called the VMP (Veterans Ministry
Program). They opened the doors for this
about 2 years ago in partnership with the Boise Veterans Affairs (VA.)
In the last two years, they’ve housed over 60 chronically homeless
veterans that have transitioned from the program into independent living.
I could go on and on about this mission, but I want to share
a story of a sweet homeless woman I met there.
Susan is from Louisiana and you can tell she can take care
of herself. She has been so fortunate to
have the opportunity to succeed in her life.
Susan was married and living in Alabama due to her husband’s job. He was an alcoholic and was involved in a
fatal accident killing the lady in the other car. He almost died but recovered and was sentenced
to 25 years in prison. He’s still
serving that time with 15 years left.
She went from place to place, just her and her daughter, barely making
it. She’d been living with friends that
had done things she didn’t want to be around, so for survival, she sent her
daughter to live in a safe place with a friend so she could go to school. It was a sigh of relief knowing her daughter
was taken care of and safe.
She continued to try to find a job and a safe place for her
to stay. People told her to go to the
mission. She kept saying “no” but
finally there came a point where she had no where else to turn and had to go to
the mission.
At first they would only
give her a bed for one night, but she heard if she volunteered in the kitchen
she could stay again so she did just that.
She volunteered every day while she was looking for work. She was such a good worker they wanted to
hire her, so they helped her find a place to live and hired her for the open
position. She’s worked hard and has
moved up to where now she is the Manager of both the Men’s and Women’s Shelter
kitchens.
When Susan got to the mission she noted,
“Everyone around me was a Christian. They showed me love, they inspired me, they lifted me up. I started going to church and women’s groups and finally I realized what I’d been missing all my life.”
It’s the realization that we are missing something in our
life that leads us all to Jesus. And at
the end of the day, we are all homeless here because this earth isn’t our home.
-Sammie
