‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:40
Chances are you have walked by or given alms to someone homeless, at least once in your life. We did too until it became no longer enough. Our outreach for the homeless started with a desire to show the love of Jesus to the least and the lost.
Our mission, to end homelessness, one person at a time.
We started reaching out to men, women and children in our neighbourhood, caught in the cycles of poverty, hopelessness and dependencies of many kinds. Brothers and sisters of Christ, longing for love, acceptance and a hand up from their desperate situations. Many were victims of abuse, addiction and abandonment, resulting in lost livelihood, eviction and trauma.
Two teams of volunteers go out – one team in the morning on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the other team in the evening on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
We began with meeting their immediate needs – a hot meal, water, clothes, tarpaulins, bedsheets, medicines etc. Soon we were able to meet specific needs of individuals – admission in old age homes for abandoned elderly people, entry into a mental health programme for those suffering from mental illnesses, a loan to buy a tricycle, arranging for a job for an acid attack victim, enrolling homeless kids in a sports program, etc.
In time we came to realise that although they welcomed the food and the other support we rendered, what they all desired, very deeply, was for someone to acknowledge them, pray for them, speak to them, treat them with the respect and dignity they deserved, being created in the image of God. We experienced first hand the truth of this statement by Mother Teresa,
“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.” – Mother Teresa
What started in June 2019 with tentative approaches, both sides wary of each other, ended up with us sitting on dirty roadside platforms, chatting with our new-found friends, becoming a part of their lives and their families.