Seek Help Immediately

by Susan Redner

Typically, there are a multitude of issues causing families or individuals to become homeless. For people who are earning minimum wage it’s much easier to fall into homelessness than it is for people who earn more, and much more difficult to get out. According to a report done in June by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, an individual needs to make $15.50 an hour to rent a two-bedroom apartment in Guilford County. Minimum wage is $7.25 an hour which is only $290 a week before taxes. For a person who is homeless and trying to stay in a hotel room, it’s almost impossible to afford on minimum wage. A cheap room in Greensboro is $40 a night or $280 a week.

I met Jim 6 months ago. He had recently started a new job and he was relieved to be working. Jim had gotten out of the hospital a few months earlier and only had enough money saved to stay in a hotel for a few months.

His new employer promised Jim he’d make over 40K a year in commission. Jim’s abilities were limited because of poor health, plus the hiring manager was not being completely honest, resulting in Jim making minimum wage.

Before long Jim had to move to a less expensive hotel with a room and amenities that were not as pleasant. He kept working though, hoping to make more money, but within just a few months, Jim ran out of money and was evicted. He refused to go to a shelter, and instead, Jim moved into his car.

Jim goes back and forth between living in his car and staying a room. During those times when he’s living in his car, he washes up in rest stops and gets his clothes cleaned at the cleaners. After work he drives around town for hours trying to find a safe place to park for the night. He likes to watch old TV shows on YouTube to occupy himself but he has trouble keeping his phone charged. Recently his car  began having a mechanical issue that might require repairs Jim can’t afford.

Jim is convinced he’ll be okay, especially since he can stay at a hotel intermittently. Unfortunately, many times, the situation Jim is in leads to that individual losing everything and ending up on the street.

Cheryl is a good example of what happens to people when they start down the road to homelessness. After years of working, Cheryl lost her job. She left her family and moved to Greensboro hoping to find work.  She had a little money and was able to stay in a hotel room and she had a car so she could get around. Because she parked in the wrong place at the wrong time her car was impounded. At that point she didn’t have enough money to get it out and had to give up on it. Most of Cheryl’s belongings were in the car including her laptop. After she lost her car she stayed in a shelter for a while but when that didn’t work out, she ended up living on the street. Once someone starts trying to survive outside it isn’t long before they are arrested, and that’s exactly what happens to Cheryl. She was arrested for trespassing. Now, with a police record, not place to live, no car and no job, her prospects are grim. It was painful to watch Cheryl fall so hard I hope  the same thing doesn’t happen to Jim.

It’s hard to convince someone who is still working and has reliable transportation that the path they’re on is perilous. Reaching out for help the moment you begin to lose ground is the best chance you have to save yourself. It’s easier to get help when you are still in your home. It’s easier to get help when you still have a job. It’s easier to get help when you still have a car.

If you find yourself moving towards the edge of possible homelessness, seek help immediately. Don’t take a chance on falling so far down you can’t make it back up.

Two Paths

“There were two paths that I could have taken many years ago.  There are two paths that I can now take years later.  Those two paths are always before me on a daily basis.”

KD Frank

photo by KD Frank

Westover Serving at Grace

Continued Series on Volunteerism
by Stephanie Thomas

Between 5:30 and 7:00 pm on the 2nd Wednesday of each month you will find over 20 volunteers from Westover Church serving meals at Grace Community Church. They have come to serve the homeless and the less fortunate, people who are hungry. They serve from the heart. From the youngest volunteer to the oldest, each person happily pitches in.

Before the first volunteer or guest walks through church the door at Grace Community, Brenda Hancock, a member of Westover Church has been working tirelessly for weeks to make sure there will be enough food and volunteers to make the meal go off without a hitch.

It’s 5:30 and mostly quiet as the volunteers and the food begins to come in through the side door. The tables for around 250 dinner guests and the preparation tables are already set up. The volunteers greet each other and do a bit of catching up. Then everyone goes into the dinning room to bless the food and pray for the guests who are at that point lining up at the front door. Inspirational music plays in the background as the volunteers respectfully move around the room stopping to pray at each table for the guests who will be sitting there. Next the group of volunteers gathers for directions, one more prayer is said, and just before the guests are allowed in, the volunteers retreat to a large hall adjacent to the dinning room.

This is when the excitement begins. There are four stations set up in the hall with 4 people at each station. In assembly line fashion they fill the plates with chicken, mashed potatoes, bread and green beans. Then there are other volunteers who take the filled trays and place them on a long table in preparation for serving, plus there are those who clean up spills, fill drinks, and put peach cobbler in the desert bowels.

The guests participate in a short service in the dinning area before the meal is served which includes gospel music, a message and a prayer.

Once the service is over the food is served. Each volunteer takes their responsibility seriously, carrying trays, pouring drinks, passing out food, cleaning, and taking care of issues that might come up like someone missing a fork or a special plate needed for a child. And Brenda is there giving direction and making sure all is running smoothly.

As soon as the meal is served, the desert comes out, people finish eating, and then in a flash the cleaning begins. Everyone helps out, clearing plates, washing tables, putting away the chairs and tables, throwing away the trash and taking it out, and making food bags for the little ones. Within an hours time 250 men, women and children are fed, everything is cleaned up, and at 7:00 pm you’d never know anyone was there. It’s pretty amazing.

Why do these volunteers come back month after month after month to help people they don’t know and in some cases won’t see again? Some have told me they come because they want to live as they believe Christ would have them live, others feeling blessed by God simply want to give back, and one young man told me he came because he knew if he didn’t have the love and support of his family he might have found himself in this kind of need.

It was a joy to serve with these caring and generous individuals.

Please consider volunteering in your community to help the homeless and those in need. Together we can make a real difference in people’s lives. To volunteer for serving meals at Grace Community Church contact Virginia Cornell at the church email address: thecity@gracegso.org.

“Working with Meals at Grace is always a humbling reminder that any one of us could lose a job and lose a place to live,” continued Brenda Hancock. “Even though some weeks are more difficult than others to serve in this ministry, it is important to me to extend God’s grace and love to a group of people in our community who really need it.”

Condemned