“Praise the Lord” is a phrase that frequently comes out of Jewel’s mouth. As famished individuals walk through the food line, she puts a scoop of nutritious vegetables on their plates and greets each of them. It was not too long ago that she was facing similar situations as the people that she serves. Even now, she is dealing with her own set of unfavorable circumstances.
Jewel grew up in Los Angeles not too far from the Dream Center, where she comes to help serve each week. One of her four sisters told her about Angelus Temple, where she started attending a couple of months ago, and as a result, found out about the outreaches and ministries of the Dream Center. She felt in her heart that God was telling her to reach out to those in need in her community, and her past church did not give her that opportunity.
For about five years now, Jewel has suffered with a chronic muscular disease as well as a mental illness, which have disabled her from working. Not only has this affected her financial condition, but she does not have the means to properly take care of her children, who have been placed in foster care. She is hoping to be able to relocate into a new place so as to make a home for her children. Nevertheless, Jewel continues to depend on Jesus “1,000 percent”, and trusts Him to meet her needs as she meets the tangible needs of others.
“The homeless and hopeless need more attention at this time than I do,” comments Jewel. She does not allow her own struggles to deter her from giving others a helping hand. In addition to the Under the Bridge outreach, which goes to Skid Row and Rampart every week to distribute plates of hot food, Jewel also wants to get involved with Project Prevention. The Project Prevention ministry of the Dream Center visits families who have been impacted by the foster care system, and gives them the opportunity to restore their family unit. Though Jewel faces hardships of her own daily, she has chosen to serve rather than seek to be served, and as a result, has blessed many hungry people in Los Angeles.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Skid Row Streets
It’s only a short drive from the Dream Center to the streets of Skid Row, but a world of difference. These streets are lined with clumps of people, either sitting along the dirty walls or pushing all they own in makeshift carts. Unlike many of the surrounding areas, cars don’t travel these blocks as much. Instead the people roam the streets, looking for food, looking for drugs. The government and a fair share of charity organizations have tried to help out this hopeless community. But even with the homeless shelters and government housing, the hopelessness is still visible, and it covers everything.
In one particular homeless shelter, the women and men’s sleeping quarters are divided. It may not be what any socialized person would consider “sleepable”, seeing as it consists of a concrete floor and concrete roof. But to these folks, it is the most comfort and coverage they’ve gotten all week. A frail, middle-aged woman named Don had been one of the many making use of this shelter on Skid Row this week.
“I’d really like some prayer,” she said, slumped over the food we had just given her. Her eyes were heavy, red and watery and they very scarcely made eye contact. She looked down in shame as she told her story, her reason for wanting prayer. “I just want him to come back, my husband of 14 years won’t talk to me.” She had suffered all kinds of abuse from him and other men in her life, along with being used as a prostitute. But this life only left her lonely and desperate in search of what would truly make her happy.
I grabbed her dirt-covered hand as we talked and prayed of that true happiness. We cried, and she held my hand even tighter. “Thank you, you guys are heaven-sent.” Her desire to leave this hopeless life and put God first was very evident. In the midst of these other weary, sleeping women, she raised one hand and prayed aloud God’s intervention in her life.
The food we brought along was the gateway to interactions like this. The funds you provide when adopting this block change lives one prayer at a time. Don’s life was changed by one of those prayers. It is through friends like you making it possible for us to take the food and love she and others like her need right to where they are on the streets of Skid Row. We will keep going back each week to others like her with your help. May we all be ready and willing to always provide the help and hope that this world needs.
Changing the world together, one block at a time,
The Adopt-A-Block Team
In one particular homeless shelter, the women and men’s sleeping quarters are divided. It may not be what any socialized person would consider “sleepable”, seeing as it consists of a concrete floor and concrete roof. But to these folks, it is the most comfort and coverage they’ve gotten all week. A frail, middle-aged woman named Don had been one of the many making use of this shelter on Skid Row this week.
“I’d really like some prayer,” she said, slumped over the food we had just given her. Her eyes were heavy, red and watery and they very scarcely made eye contact. She looked down in shame as she told her story, her reason for wanting prayer. “I just want him to come back, my husband of 14 years won’t talk to me.” She had suffered all kinds of abuse from him and other men in her life, along with being used as a prostitute. But this life only left her lonely and desperate in search of what would truly make her happy.
I grabbed her dirt-covered hand as we talked and prayed of that true happiness. We cried, and she held my hand even tighter. “Thank you, you guys are heaven-sent.” Her desire to leave this hopeless life and put God first was very evident. In the midst of these other weary, sleeping women, she raised one hand and prayed aloud God’s intervention in her life.
The food we brought along was the gateway to interactions like this. The funds you provide when adopting this block change lives one prayer at a time. Don’s life was changed by one of those prayers. It is through friends like you making it possible for us to take the food and love she and others like her need right to where they are on the streets of Skid Row. We will keep going back each week to others like her with your help. May we all be ready and willing to always provide the help and hope that this world needs.
Changing the world together, one block at a time,
The Adopt-A-Block Team
Single-Room-Occupancy- Hotels
I love it when we have a new person come from across the country to be a part of what we are doing at the Dream Center! Many people come and volunteer 6 months or a year of their life to be a part of helping others. It is always amazing to get their new perspectives as they start doing outreach. Here is a special letter I wanted to share from one of those young women who had committed to come help us for a time. This was her first time out to the SRO outreach and as part of our AAB team, she wrote about what she experienced and was able to do thanks to your help. Together with you, our team is bringing life changing help and hope to so many. Here is her letter.
******
I had heard things about the SRO Hotels. I had heard, next to Skid Row, this area was “pretty bad… lots of messed up people there.” Contrary to the sense of fear or unsureness most people may feel after being told something like that, it provoked in me a special love for the people I was about to meet, though I knew that that was solely God’s special love shining through me.
We all filed into the white school bus and headed out. Soon arriving to our destination, we unloaded the boxes of food in front of one of the SRO Hotels. I could immediately see why these places had been given such a bad name. It looked nothing like the hotels I was used to back home in Ohio. This only further reminded me of their desperate physical and spiritual need for Jesus.
Passing out food in three of the hotels, we were able to touch many people that day. Hurting people, hungry people, grateful people; the smiles and ‘thank yous’ made that clear. A couple of us were able to talk one-on-one with a man named Dean. Dean is 54 years old and has been living by himself in the hotel for ten years now. He told us of his more thriving days, when he had a well-paying job, and his family was near. He grinned when he told us of those days, “Things were good. Had money coming in every week. Had a woman by my side, things were good.”
But things didn’t stay good for Dean. The job he had at Ford Motor Company moved locations and Dean was laid off. Scrambling to find work, he took whatever he could find. During his work at a local grocery store, Dean got sick.. “I’ve been sick ever since,” he told us. He went on to say how he’s spent years in and out of hospitals and gone through a numerous amount of testing. “They just don’t know what’s wrong with me.” His sickness not only effects his financial situation but social, as well. He told us he was hardly able to go anywhere because of his weak body. This included long trips to visit family, and even, not so long trips to the grocery store or church.. “But I have my good days.”
He seemed to smile a lot during our visit, and I could tell that this had been one of those good days and it was a good feeling to know I had been apart of one.
As we started saying our goodbyes, Dean said almost nervously, “But I don’t do drugs, or drink, or nothing.” Responses like this were common during visits due to the extreme and popular misconception about how our salvation is dependent on our daily actions. We were about to leave, but knew we had more to talk about with Dean.
We told him about God’s saving grace in our life. He looked at us as if that idea was completely foreign. But after further talk with him about the matter, his face changed to a sense of comfort and understanding.
We are out in communities to do this very thing, every day. The Dream Center
conveys the Gospel to a blinded world. The Gospel of salvation, of deliverance. We were able to share that good news with Dean. He thought his salvation was up to him, but thankfully we have a God that has so much grace for us!
*****
Thank you, for not only helping reach people like Dean, but for sharing in the experience like our new Adopt-A-Block team member was sharing. Each time we go out, you are there with us in making it possible.
Now, Dean knows it is not about works, but about God’s grace that we can be saved. With the aid of people like you, Dean's story can be written to share. It would have never taken place though, if it weren't for your helping hand, making encounters like this possible. Encounters that change the course of people’s lives.
Changing the world together, one block at a time,
Pastor Matthew Barnett & The Adopt-a-Block Team
******
I had heard things about the SRO Hotels. I had heard, next to Skid Row, this area was “pretty bad… lots of messed up people there.” Contrary to the sense of fear or unsureness most people may feel after being told something like that, it provoked in me a special love for the people I was about to meet, though I knew that that was solely God’s special love shining through me.
We all filed into the white school bus and headed out. Soon arriving to our destination, we unloaded the boxes of food in front of one of the SRO Hotels. I could immediately see why these places had been given such a bad name. It looked nothing like the hotels I was used to back home in Ohio. This only further reminded me of their desperate physical and spiritual need for Jesus.
Passing out food in three of the hotels, we were able to touch many people that day. Hurting people, hungry people, grateful people; the smiles and ‘thank yous’ made that clear. A couple of us were able to talk one-on-one with a man named Dean. Dean is 54 years old and has been living by himself in the hotel for ten years now. He told us of his more thriving days, when he had a well-paying job, and his family was near. He grinned when he told us of those days, “Things were good. Had money coming in every week. Had a woman by my side, things were good.”
But things didn’t stay good for Dean. The job he had at Ford Motor Company moved locations and Dean was laid off. Scrambling to find work, he took whatever he could find. During his work at a local grocery store, Dean got sick.. “I’ve been sick ever since,” he told us. He went on to say how he’s spent years in and out of hospitals and gone through a numerous amount of testing. “They just don’t know what’s wrong with me.” His sickness not only effects his financial situation but social, as well. He told us he was hardly able to go anywhere because of his weak body. This included long trips to visit family, and even, not so long trips to the grocery store or church.. “But I have my good days.”
He seemed to smile a lot during our visit, and I could tell that this had been one of those good days and it was a good feeling to know I had been apart of one.
As we started saying our goodbyes, Dean said almost nervously, “But I don’t do drugs, or drink, or nothing.” Responses like this were common during visits due to the extreme and popular misconception about how our salvation is dependent on our daily actions. We were about to leave, but knew we had more to talk about with Dean.
We told him about God’s saving grace in our life. He looked at us as if that idea was completely foreign. But after further talk with him about the matter, his face changed to a sense of comfort and understanding.
We are out in communities to do this very thing, every day. The Dream Center
conveys the Gospel to a blinded world. The Gospel of salvation, of deliverance. We were able to share that good news with Dean. He thought his salvation was up to him, but thankfully we have a God that has so much grace for us!
*****
Thank you, for not only helping reach people like Dean, but for sharing in the experience like our new Adopt-A-Block team member was sharing. Each time we go out, you are there with us in making it possible.
Now, Dean knows it is not about works, but about God’s grace that we can be saved. With the aid of people like you, Dean's story can be written to share. It would have never taken place though, if it weren't for your helping hand, making encounters like this possible. Encounters that change the course of people’s lives.
Changing the world together, one block at a time,
Pastor Matthew Barnett & The Adopt-a-Block Team
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