Good morning. We got this.
Traci and I were not able to go to Detroit to pass out our donations last Tuesday. Last Sunday, the van slid off the road and into a thick woods. Maggie de Van was wedged into trees twenty feet deep. The doors were forced shut by the trees. Crazy.
When I picked her up from the impound, the front fender is hanging off again, but she runs perfect. Even the alignment was perfect. I was stunned, but immensely grateful.
It will be 6 weeks until I can get her into the car doctors. At least I can definitely afford all the repairs to make her well again.
Until then, I have hundreds of hygiene kits prepared, and 20-30 prepacked survival bags. I have a steady donation for food, AND I have a group of angels who volunteered to prepare the sandwiches every week for a year! I have a plethora of warm blankets, coats, pepper spray and flashlights.
Hallelujah!
Now I need a way to get them to Detroit.
God’s got jokes, I always say.
We would take Traci’s car, even if it is the size of a matchbox car, (I’d felt safer in my nieces Tonka truck) but combine it with 3 bald tires, that’s just careless.
So, if you’ve been wanting to come to Detroit some Tuesday night with us, here is your chance! If you have an okay car we an borrow, hit me up! We won’t need a ton of room, but if we can at least bring food, blankets, and hand warmers, we can keep people from freezing to death outside while they are waiting to get into their homes.
The emergency housing specialist that comes out with us is a phenomenal asset to mankind. Detroit is not sweeping its homeless under rugs. It’s working, but it can takes weeks, sometimes months, to get off the list and into an apartment. There is a pregnant couple who I have mentioned that are staving off danger until their name comes up on the list. We pray it happens before the baby is born.
My Great Grandma Lady didn’t even know there was a housing specialist until I told her to talk to the medical team about it.
The survival donations are important. You already know that. There is also something else that you pass along through me that people can not survive without. The Unconditional Love. When Traci and I hold someone and their entire body weeps and shakes in our arms, we create a solemn space of peace, friendship, compassion, and empathy. The Bible refers to that sacred space as the Kingdom of God. We bring that peace with us to Detroit. We watch people want to heal. They do the work. They feel remembered. They know there are people, and maybe it’s just the weird lady with purple hair always talking about Jesus, but they know someone cares if they live or die. Their existence has merit. Their story isn’t finished yet.
Just please don’t ever give up. I won’t.
Even when it gets challenging like it is now. I’m waiting to hear from my fellow friends brave enough to be this weird with me.
As my literary hero, Hunter S. Thompson, once said:
“When the going gets tough, the weird turn pro.”
Because that’s how we do it in Detroit.
Amen.