For not being able to see anyone through the rain, we sure saw a lot of people. The very first couple we met had the biggest impact on me.
I asked the young man how long he and his girlfriend had been living on the street.
“It’s been a really long time man. Like 4 or 5 months!”
Aw! He and his girlfriend have been together for more than 2 years. He’s going to marry her, he promises me. They were doing fine until he lost his job, and then the apartment and everything they owned disappeared behind it. He asked for clothes for his fiancé. She really needed pants. She had just had a miscarriage, and all her pants and clothes were soaked in blood. I told him I was praying for her, for them both. He thanked me with genuinely grateful eyes. He was so polite. He looked like a very normal person in a cruel, abnormal situation.
Traci tried had to get them both enough clothes, blankets, etc., to make it through the cold wet night. They gave some of it back because it was too much to carry back to the abandoned building they lived in.
We went to that abandoned building next. I wish we could have given them a ride, but I didn’t know. When we first found the spot a few months ago, we could tell people were living there, but we never saw anyone. Traci and I don’t go into abandoned buildings anymore. (Because neither of us have health insurance. That’s why.) The other volunteers send them outside to us. Last time was 2 or 3 old men. This time, probably because it was raining, a lot of people were there inside. We brought a lot of food, blankets, and hygiene to an open window on the side of the building. A swarm of hands reached out and grabbed whatever bags we passed to them. It looked like a haunted drive through window. Except instead of ghostly moaning, we heard lots of cheering, laughing, and praise to God coming from inside. This job can be so weird.
Our next busy stop was in an alley. A trickle of tiny people turned into a small swarm, then back to a trickle of desperate, wet, starving people. We packed extra coats and blankets. That was appreciated.
I got nervous when a man came out the back door of one of the businesses and was watching the outreach vehicles and the people who were making the rounds between our vehicles to acquire free services from the array of volunteers. I hoped he wasn’t going to call the cops on us or insist that we leave.
Instead, he began talking to one of the young men as he was getting dry, clean, clothes from the back of the van. He told him that he owned a construction company that works in the neighborhood. If he wanted a job, and to learn a trade, he just had to show up at the worksite. He told him he would not judge his past, but he would offer him a chance at a new future.
How beautiful is that? Angels in the alleys.
We found a few more people, somehow. Then we went to a fort behind some factories. There are three people who live there; two men and one lady. There was just enough food left for them.
It was a long day, and a long, wet night, so Traci and I called it a wrap after we were out of food, coats and blankets anyway. We made the journey home through the storm.
It reminded me of the first couple we met tonight. There was a nasty storm between us and making it home. I had to focus on the road ahead. I said my prayers to Jesus on the dashboard. But I couldn’t stop moving. I had to keep going.
Just like the great Maya Angelou once said: “Every storm runs out of rain.”
And we learned from Brandon Lee in the movie The Crow, “It can’t rain all the time.”
Once we made it home again, the night was peaceful and calm.
So-
That’s how we’ll do it in Detroit.
Amen.
P.S. I can take all the donations!!! Fort Street Church has given Magdalene’s Mission a HUGE area to store and process donations! Wednesday, June 4th will be a non-profit blitz in Detroit. A bunch of nonprofits are traveling through Detroit together. Magdalene’s Mission will be able to being 2 VEHICLES worth of everything. We’re committed to 9 hours of street outreach to the homeless. We’re packing for 100 instead of 50 this time. I am also opening up office hours for myself at Fort Street. I’ll be down there every Monday from 9 am – 3pm. If you’re still Spring cleaning, I am still taking everything. I’ve got enough volunteers and storage space to handle it now! Just remember, our homeless friends are starving, malnourished, and weigh about as much as an African refugee. It will be an incredible impact on Detroit, and I’m excited that we can all be a part of it. You know how to find me if you’re interested. Peace, Love & Hygiene for all!
~Kayla D.
