I want to start off this newsletter today with a story of a young family in need. They are in the picture above, the father's name is Patrick, the mother's name is Candice and the precious little girl's name is Bonnie. Saturday morning HOPE pulled up to the Restart building and was feeding and hanging out with Nicki, when all of a sudden this family came around the corner of the van. Patrick didn't have a coat on and neither did Candice, nor Bonnie. The coat you see Patrick wearing is from you. Little Bonnie had a short sleeve shirt on and a pair of shorts on, if you remember Saturday morning it was very cold and the wind was like a knife. Bonnie's little legs and arms were exposed to the harsh wind and cold.
We served them up some hotdogs and water, Dan hooked little Bonnie up with a Barbie and then I began to talk with Patrick. I found out a lot of information about who they are and what has happened to get them where they are. Patrick was born with a birth defect, he only has a piece of his kidney, and is very sickly. He is collecting disability, and they are just down on their luck and trying to find an apartment they can afford. Candice is pregnant and both of these kids, Candice 20, Patrick 24, are alone and scared with a three year old child and one on the way, living in an emergency shelter.
I gave Patrick my card with my contact information on it and told him to call me today ( Monday) and I would have Bonnie a coat and some clothes ( she had nothing except what you see) and I would see about talking with the director of HillCrest Ministry and see what direction he could lead me in. He said okay and we loaded in the van and headed down the street. I have not been able to get this little girls face out of my mind all weekend. I couldn't wait until Monday.
Well Monday is finally here and I have just gotten back from being with this family. I waited around for a phone call from Patrick until around 10 am and then decided to just head down to Restart. I pulled up along the “No Parking” curb side and prayed for awhile. I had no idea how I was going to get into the building, it is secured by a buzzer that lets you in the front door with a camera and intercom. I heard a voice say ,”Just go.” I got out of the van and went to the front door, doubting the whole way that I would be able to enter the building. I stepped inside the entry way and a young man was in there, I don't know if he lived there or what, but he said, “ Do you want to go in?” I said, “Yes.” and so he reached over and pushed in a code and let me in, I felt almost in shock as I walked through the doors. I walked up about six marble stairs and as I reached the top, my eyes reached out and saw at the right hand side of the room was Patrick holding Bonnie looking back at me. I couldn't walk to them fast enough. He looked at me in disbelief. I told him that I had set them up with an appointment with HillCrest and to get Candice and let's go. I think he was in shock, he said, “ Okay.” and I told him that I would meet him in my van in front of their car. I then turned and walked down the marble steps and the young man that had let me in the building was gone. I looked around and didn't see him anywhere. All I could do is thank my Jesus, I felt like I just wanted to cry out in joy but held my composer until later, I didn't want to freak these poor kids out! :o)
A few minutes went by and here they came around the corner of the building. I immediately grabbed the beautiful brand new coat that was donated and hurried over to little Bonnie and helped Patrick put it on her. I then began taking all of the donations that I have been getting since Saturday and I started loading their car. We loaded the van and headed to HillCrest and met with the manager there and was given some great information and also told that there will be an opening in one to two weeks. This news gave this young family some hope, and made them very happy. I took them to McDonalds for lunch and then we headed back to Restart. I left them praising the Lord and knowing that God will do what he does, it's just a matter of time.
Well, I am sitting here writing this Newsletter and I got a phone call. It's Patrick, and he wanted to let me know, that Candice's grandma had asked them to come over and handed them the money they needed to get into an apartment. Just out of thin air!!!!! He didn't say where she got the money from or nothing , but that he has it and is heading to the complex to get his apartment! I asked if there is anything I can do. He asked if it would be possible for me to use my van to get them from Restart to their new home. Holding my tears back I told him yes. I told him that Jesus is all around him and his family and I said to him, “ God bless you and your family my brother.” he said, “ God bless you Brian.” He said he is going to call me just as soon as he is headed back to Restart and then I will head his way to help them. I hung the phone up and began to cry out with joy to God! Oh, Praise you Jesus! Praise you my love! My King! My Everything! My love, My love, My love, My love!! WOW!!!!
This week we served hot dogs and we made up ten or so brown bag lunches. We loaded the van, prayed and headed down the road. Marvin and Paula was going to be the first stop, but I made a right instead because I saw Whiskey walking down by the road. I yelled at him and told him to meet us in the bank parking lot. We pulled in and he came over and got some food and some candles and a few other things. I asked him if he still would like to go to church service on Sunday and he said, “Yes” and I told him I would pick him up at 8:30am, he said he would be ready. We jumped back in the van and headed to Marvin and Paula's. We pulled up and noticed a new young man hanging with them. His name was Shaun and he was from Minnesota. That's where he was heading back to. He came over to talk to us with a MD 20/20 bottle in his hand. He didn't want a hotdog, but he asked if he could have a couple of candles. I asked him if he would mind playing a song for us and so he went and got his guitar and started playing and singing for us. His song was about his life and his pain, I stood there with my mouth open and fighting back the tears. This guy is a natural poet, he sang out of tune, his guitar playing was rough, but his heart, his heart was beautiful. He could really express truth through his words! WOW!! Tammy shot some video and I hope to get that up and running on the website soon so you can see this brother play.
We got back in the van and headed down the street, we didn't see Will's shopping cart so we kept going. We headed to the west bottoms and found no one around by Camp Hobo so we continued on towards the city. As we just passed over the 12th street bridge, we saw this brother walking down the side walk, and of course there is nowhere to turn around, so I flipped the van into a parking lot and came around on the street where this brother was getting ready to dig through an apartment complex dumpster. I rolled the window down and asked him if he would like something hot to eat, he said yes and Tammy asked him if he would like ketchup, mustard or both on his hotdog and then Tammy handed him a bag of chips, a bottle of water and his hotdog. We said,”God bless you” and off we went. We got back out on 12th street and down towards Troost we went.
We made it all the way down to Nicki and there she was standing on the corner. She always greets us with a high pitch greeting. She is always so excited to see us and loves to hear what we brought for the day. While we were talking to Nicki, we met Lillipop and Righteous, and of course that is when we met little Bonnie and her mommy and daddy. Praise God!!!!!!
We headed down the street towards Crown Center and seen a brother walking with a crutch so we pulled into a parking lot and I screamed across the street and asked him if he would like something hot to eat. He came across the street and Tammy hooked him up with some food and water. Just to let you know, that the whole time, Dan and Michael are in the back of the van preparing the food and everything on the fly. We are like a mobile fast food place!!!!lol That brother walked back across the street and then another brother seen him eating a hotdog and then here he came and we hooked him up. AWESOME!! We headed down the street and seen an older man standing on the side of the road, I pulled over at the curb, I think it was a curb, and Tammy jumped out and hooked him up with some food, he seemed a little scared at first and then saw that we were there to serve him and not hurt him. It's really sad that our world has made people afraid of each other first before anything else.
I pulled back out into traffic and off we went toward the Westport/Plaza area. There were four or five guys flying at this one intersection, so Michael and Dan were preparing the food, loading up a brown bag, handing them to Tammy, I drive up along side the brother, roll my window down, Tammy hands it to me, I hand it to the brother with a God Bless You and off we go. LOL This is AWESOME!!
I couldn't remember where we ran into the Mexican brothers from last week, but I knew God would lead us to them if that's where we were suppose to be. Sure enough we are driving from the Plaza and I saw there is the road, so I turned on it and on the corner there was a brother flying and about six of his buddies sitting along side a building. We pulled down a side street and I walked across the street and invited them over for some food, they all came over and Tammy hooked them up with food and drink, they had a pretty good sense of humor. We hoped back in the van, went right and there we were, right were our Mexican brothers are hanging out. We pulled into the underground parking and I waved for them to come over and here came a bunch of them. We fed them and I talked to a couple of them and found out that there are several that have children and are having a really hard time providing food for them. The Lord is preparing us for the Not-For-Profit number, because now we have need for food in bulk and larger quantities. We were now out of hotdogs, brown bag lunches and Dan and Michael were making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the fly. We hoped in the van and headed toward home with such a wonderful joy.
Sunday morning I picked Whiskey, Marvin and Paula up for church service. We got Marvin's military paperwork I send off for about thirty days ago. I pray that he does the right thing with it. They really enjoyed the service. After service, we went and picked up Speedy at Scotts and headed toward their camp.
We dropped Marvin and Paula off at their camp and Michael, Whiskey and I headed toward Denny's. Whiskey really enjoyed his lunch. Tammy and her daughter joined us and all of us had some great conversation and some good laughs. Fellow-shipping and Denny's!!! After lunch Michael and I took Whiskey back to his camp and told him that we will see him next Saturday. I gave Whiskey a phone card and told him to call me if he needs anything.
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
Patrick gave me a call around 7pm and Rick and I headed down to Restart to help Patrick and his family move into their new apartment. We loaded up their stuff in the van and then Rick and I followed them toward Nolan Road. As we turned onto a road there was a person stranded. There car was dead it looked like. Rick and I watched Patrick turn his car around and pull his front end up to this persons car to help them by jumping their car. I figured he knew them. Rick got out of the van to see if he could help out, they got the people's car going and then Rick came back inside the van. He said that Patrick didn't know those people, but he said since God had done so much for him, that stopping for these people and helping him was the least he could do. WOW!!!!!!!!!
We got to their new apartment and unloaded the van. Bonnie was in her new home. She seemed very content and happy. We talked for a little while and then I told Patrick and Rick that we need to head to the store and get some groceries for their house. So Rick, Patrick and I headed out of the apartment and into the van and off we went down the road to the grocery store.
We walked around the grocery store and ended up filling up a shopping cart with food. Praise God for the money that he has allowed to be able to buy food for this family! As you can see we got a lot of food, and Rick was looking for deals so we could get more for less. So we loaded the van and headed back to their apartment.
We headed down the street and I told Patrick to let me know where I need to turn, because I didn't know where we were. He said go down here, past the stop light and take a right after Jesus. Rick and I looked at each other and cracked up. We made it back to the apartment, unloaded the groceries and began putting the food up in the cabinets and refrigerator. Little Bonnie looked so cute in her new coat, she has plenty of room to grow in it. She is warm. I asked everyone to gather around and we prayed and then Rick and I said goodbyes and out the door we went. We praised God all the way home, and I am still amazed at his love!!
This has been an amazing day! I asked Patrick and Candice if there was anything they needed and
they gave me a list, so I am passing it on to my friends. If you have one or more of these things lying
around your house, please help us, help them.
If you don't know how to get ahold of me in person, contact me here.