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Time and location change for Sat 12/24 AM breakfast for homeless in Greensboro

Michele (CM) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:07:35 +0000

On Christmas Eve Day, there will a time and location change for the Saturday morning breakfast for the homeless and hungry that is usually served by Burrito Bikers at 8:00am at Center City Park. The December 24th Saturday breakfast downtown will be served at 10:00am at West Market Street Methodist Church. The church is a few blocks away from the park. Burrito Bikers, Awaken City Church* and other volunteers will join together to provide a special inside, seated breakfast, and I hear that Santa may show up. Pass it on…

Walking directions from Center City Park to West Market Street United Methodist Church:

*Awaken Church members will also serve their regularly scheduled breakfast at the usual time and location on Sunday morning the 25th, which is Christmas Day.

Christmas Day meal for the needy at Bender’s Tavern

Michele (CM) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:08:18 +0000

A traditional Christmas meal will be served to the needy at Bender’s Tavern, 4517-A W. Market St. in Greensboro, on Christmas Day, December 25th, from 10am until 3pm.

On the menu: turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, cranberry sauce and a dinner roll.

Shuttles will provide transportation for dinner guests. Shuttles will run every 15 minutes, picking up from the Interactive Resource Center, Greensboro Urban Ministry and Center City Park, beginning at 10:45am and ending at 2:45pm. The last shuttle will return guests to those locations at 3:15pm.

Anna Freiberg, co-owner of Bender’s Tavern, is continuing a tradition started by her parents in 1981. They owned the original Ham’s on Friendly Avenue, now closed, which previously served the annual Christmas meal.

Frieberg has plenty of volunteers lined up for the Christmas meal, but if you’d like to help, here are some other ways to be involved:

Make a financial donation through the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro. (Write a check or give securely online.)
Donate an item to be given to a dinner guest on Christmas Day. Items needed: new, unused toiletries; new or gently used hats, gloves, scarves and toys. Please bring your donation to Bender’s Tavern.

Homeless in Greensboro: State of the street, 11/21/11

Michele (CM) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:28:24 +0000

Doing street outreach the past couple of weeks at homeless camps in Greensboro (and at a tent city with multiple homeless camps), I’ve seen long-familiar faces and lots of new faces. I’ve seen homeless camps spring back up in places that had emptied out for a while. I’ve seen homeless seniors and homeless teens. Homeless men and homeless women. Multiple races and ethnicities. On everyone’s wish list: jobs and housing.

But there’s the unspoken: mental illness, alcoholism, addiction, trauma, family dysfunction. Obtaining or maintaining a job or housing is difficult (and out of reach for some). A number of folks I’ve seen just this week are newly released from jail or prison. Their chances for jobs and housing seem to rise and fall with the economy.

I think of the words a homeless friend once said to me, “If we could get a job, we’d have one.” And another, referencing Greensboro’s wealth of free meal sites and dearth of affordable housing, “We appreciate the food. But you can’t cover up with a chicken wing.” True word.