It was a SPECTACULAR day of outreach in Detroit. Lots of people helped us out this week, so we were able to truly meet the needs of a lot of people. As a matter of fact, we were helping homeless people in Detroit before we even arrived at Fort St. Church!
We needed to make a stop along the way. I pulled over on a side street downtown to search my phone. There were several concerts last night, so traffic and people were more chaotic than usual. As I was pulled over, a tall man came over and asked us if we were the ones who had those hygiene kits. Yes, we are! We flipped the van around the block and found a safe parking space. Traci jumped out and asked him if he was hungry. Indeed, he was. He was so thrilled we found him. The food still already warm, and ready to serve. I had a few hygiene kits, and some socks, hats and gloves still in the back of the van.
“God is so good!” he kept saying. His luck was turning around! He had been homeless for a while, but he was staying in a shelter now. He just got the job working as a parking lot attendant for events. We had clean clothes, a warmer jacket, and a kit to help keep him looking sharp. Best of all, a warm, homemade meal to make it through his first shift.
If God can lead them, I can feed them.
Winning the Channel 4 Go For It Award on TV last week has really gotten us a lot of attention. As far as I know, all of it good. Keep the wipes, bags, pepper-spray and flashlights coming!
That Springtime joie de vivre had everyone in top spirits. The sun was glad to have us back, too. The first person we approached as a team wasn’t homeless. Awkward. But she did asks Traci and I if we could help her. She asked us if we could give her a ride to the rehab where her brother was living. She had come a long way by bus, and according to her map, it was going to be another 3 miles to reach her destination. She was carrying all these bags of clothes and food for him. I told the other teams we would catch up with them.
She was a nice younger lady. You could tell that her brother had gotten on her last nerve, but it was her brother so had to help him or no one would. We took her to where her brother was. I offered to wait for her and give her a ride back to the bus station.
She wasn’t allowed to see him, so it was just a quick drop off. That turned into a 20-minute wait. She had to wait while the nurse individually inspected each and every item she brought in for him. I walked in just as she was inspecting the items in the hygiene kit I gave her. I tried to tell them what stuff was, but they were not interested in who I was, or what I was doing there.
It was going to be another hour until the next bus was coming to the side of town she lived on. So, Traci and I offered to take her back downtown to the Rosa parks station. She was a nice lady. She really appreciated the big black bag and hygiene kit. She tried to give us money for gas, but of course, we wouldn’t hear of it.
We met some new friends. One of them was an amputee. The girl looked new. She was so young, and shocked by all the generosity and kindness we had for her. The other guy carried himself as though he had been there a long time. The open sores on his face proved it.
We drove around and found a couple of elderly men curled up against a fence together. As they were being helped, a few more people came up and looked at us with huge eyes, and we benevolently offered them food as well.
Traci and I fed and provided warmth for people living on every side of Detroit last night. We saw our favorite couple from the eastside! We’re out of women’s tiny pants (size 00) or leggings but we were able to supply them with just about everything else.
We parked in a bust area and waited for a while. It didn’t take but a few minutes for a woman to come scurrying along the sidewalk and making a beeline for Maggie, our Magdalene’s Mission van.
After we gave out the last of the food, we called it a night. We drove back to Fort St Church. We helped one more person with a couple of extra blankets on the way back. We unloaded our wares, then headed home. Traci saw a stray dog running through traffic. I just so happened to have a gallon size zip-lock baggie left in my van that I forgot to unload. He was afraid of me, but curious. I got his attention and then emptied the dog food along the edge of the sidewalk.
And that was our last homeless encounter of the night.
Venimus, vidimus, amavimus. We came. We saw. We loved.
Because that’s how we do it in Detroit.
Amen.
