From the News & Record, 01/15/2009:
Kenneth Brown keeps the small, red book in his small, cluttered office at the Salvation Army Family Store.
He and Nicole “Nikky” Slaughter, his assistant manager, use it to record the names of any new student who comes in for community service after getting suspended from school or popped by the law.
Flip through it and you’ll see hundreds of names and phone numbers. And every one has a story, a story about a broken kid in need.
Kenneth was one of the original members of the NightWatch street outreach team. Now married with a new baby, he doesn’t hit the street with us anymore, but the street still comes to him. Every day, Kenneth reaches out to the homeless people who come to the Salvation Army thrift store he manages on Lee Store. He gives them clothes, blankets, snack food, Bibles — but most important, he listens to them, he laughs with them, he cares about them, he knows their names.
Kenneth is one of the biggest supporters of the NightWatch ministry, providing us with warehouse space in the back of the store, taking donations for us (along with his staff), and even diverting to NightWatch some of the donations that come into the store. Kenneth supports outreach ministries at Grace Community Church and Family Service’s Housing Support Team (housing chronically homeless people), by providing household items, furniture, blankets, etc. from the store at no charge.
I see Jesus in Kenneth. He is a kind, loving, thoughtful, generous man, and it’s a gift and an honor to do ministry with him. I’m happy to see him profiled in the newspaper. More people should know Kenneth Brown.
» PDF of article, “His calling was to a thrift store on Lee Street”
