In Memoriam: May 29, 2006
In honor of those who have died in the service of the United States of America:
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13
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Things are not always as they seem. My first impression of Jeff Phillips was that he was born on third base. Tall, blond, healthy, athletic, happily married, involved father, intelligent, educated, successful businessman, charming, funny, dedicated to serving others, and a committed Christian. But his all-American, affluent, happy, “together” life belied the childhood behind him, as he later shared with me, and which he shared publicly in today’s News & Record:
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Weary of warring opinions, frowning and frustrated over the diametric conclusions reached by the audience of experts I’d consulted in the day’s study of homelessness and poverty, I dropped the offending texts on the cold metal cart and escaped to the sanctuary of the library coffee shop with a bookish friend, to whom I bared my grrrr-ridden soul.
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From CNN:
“The ties between two elderly women and a homeless man killed in a hit-and-run were strong enough to raise police suspicions five years ago, but it took a second death with eerie similarities for police to make arrests. Helen Golay, 75, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 73, were charged last week with eight counts of federal mail fraud for collecting more than $2 million from policies they held on the two homeless men, Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid.”
Hearts of darkness.
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– from Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America, Ronald Sider, pp. 56-59, see text for more Scriptural references
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God’s special concern for the poor:
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For the past eight months, Montreat College student Adam Ripley, 21, rose at 5:30 a.m. every Saturday morning to cook breakfast for hundreds of homeless folks in Asheville’s Pritchard Park. Ripley was motivated by his own battle with depression, and helping others brought him joy and “a sense of giving.” But the City of Asheville ended Ripley’s ministry, for now at least, by ordering Ripley and his fellow volunteers out of the park. City officials said that the space was not large enough to accomodate the number of homeless folks who showed up to eat. (Read the article. See the photos.)
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“Surveillance conducted by the [GPD Community] Resource Teams showed that by and large once a panhandler had received sufficient funds, a trip was made to the nearest convenience store where alcohol was purchased and, shortly there after, consumed. Through surveillance and investigative encounters the Resource Teams learned that the majority of the chronic panhandlers were abusers of alcohol, however the abuse and addiction to other drugs was also noted. To compound the problem, many of the panhandlers are homeless, living in nearby woods, underpasses and abandoned buildings.”
– Asst. Chief Annie Stevenson
Read the rest of Stevenson’s article (GCSAC newsletter, online) to learn how CRTs are responding.
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One of my favorite things about the change from case management to street outreach is replacing “client” with “friend.” And not just the verbiage, but the relationship. When a client is in trouble, they come to you. When a friend is in trouble, you go to them. So it was that I was out this afternoon, looking for a friend who hadn’t checked in for a few days.
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This morning’s paper has a story about a developer’s plans for the old flour mill on South Eugene. I knew it was coming, eventually. My first visit to the mill was during a homeless count a couple of years ago, and we found lots of folks “at home” then, sleeping in the abandoned mill. But that was before Keith got killed.
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Sorry, I forgot to post this earlier! Today is Serving Greensboro Together Day, the annual Greensboro Urban Ministry event:
“Serving Greensboro Together is another highly successful, all day community event that supports our ministry. Participating restaurants throughout Greensboro agree to donate 10% of their total sales on a given day to help Greensboro Urban Ministry fight hunger. Last year, a total of 127 restaurants participated and $31,100 was raised.” — GUM
The list of participating restaurants is here. So go OUT to dinner — NOW!!! 
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