Birthday Success!

http://limecolony.com/2009/05/15/happy-birthday-website/

Our Birthday Party was a HUGE success! 

As you know from our previous post, we celebrated our second year of serving the homeless and hungry in Yakima. 

We fed 365 people.


Love, INC. joined us and provided services to many.


Dave Brown, a representative from the Veteran's Administration, was present to assist 8 veterans in obtaining services.

Neighborhood Health joined us as well, giving out blankets, hats and gloves as well as checking blood pressures, blood sugar and assisting with prescription issues. 


We had two hair stylists, Shelly Rose & Karen Garcia from Hair Razors, were present to cut hair. Forty people were served!


And we gave away clothes, vegetables, fruit and snack foods!



Our HEARTFELT APPRECIATION to those who made such a difference in so many lives!


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Most of us have homes we go to at the end of the day. Most of us have closets where we store our coats, gloves and hats. For most of us our concern about dinner only involves what will we prepare or where we will eat out.

http://www.streetgangs.com/news/040710_skid_row

People with homes, warm clothing and the food to eat shouldn't feel guilty for what they have and I certainly don't want this post to be guilt-inducing. But I would like to ask you to take a moment and consider what you might do if you found yourself in a situation where you had no home and no money for provisions.   

What would you do if you had to walk the cold streets during the day and hope for a hot meal at the mission and perhaps a place to lay your head for the night?


It's hard for us to imagine. We don't want to think about it. But, the reality is there are many, many people out there in dire straights. They have little or no resources. They are truly desperate.

http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/article/11/winter_chill/

The nights are getting colder. The rains are coming. A blanket will no longer suffice to keep Sam warm at night. Lena doesn't have a coat or gloves. Evan only has holey tennis shoes to walk the streets of winter.  




It's easy to judge the guy begging at the intersection. Go get a job, we think to ourselves. Find a relative to live with, we may add. You're just going to use this money to buy alcohol or drugs, we conclude, justifying our averted eyes and our closed pockets. 


The economy is putting the squeeze on many Americans. We can reduce the plight of the homeless to an annoying reality as we face our own budget deficits. We want to blink them off the streets and out of our thoughts.


So, what do we do?  Do we ignore them? Do we throw money at them? Do we invite them home with us? (Now there's a scary thought.)

http://bernard-greentea.blogspot.com/2009/01/gong-xi-fa-cai-with-tea-lattes.html

For the price of a latte, we can feed a homeless person one hot and nutritious meal with dessert and beverage!

For the price of a movie ticket we can feed THREE people.



If you'd like to help us give a hot meal to a homeless person, please make your contribution by clicking this  LINK or by using the Paypal button in the upper right column of this blog.

We are also collecting small tents, coats, hats and gloves. If you would like to help, please call us to make arrangements for pick up. (See our contact information.)

If we each make a small sacrifice now and then, we can make a difference. 

We can give hope.