I have started collecting emails from the different street teams that go out for us every night. They shed a bit of light on a trip out with a Street Outreach Team. The following has had the names and locations changed to protect the identity of those discussed below.
“Greetings from the Sunday Night Team
Last night started unusually since we had to walk all the way to the Grocery store before meeting our first street friend. Then 29 more showed up as we remained there for well over an hour at that one spot. Last night was all about hearing their stories, as people are beginning to feel more comfortable opening up.
We met Gail, a newly homeless woman, and were able to provide her the OIM pamphlet, some food, as well as some size 2 jeans and a coat. Gail said that she had previously been a social worker and that she was interested in visiting OIM’s Door Outreach this week.
We also met a 30-something aged male named Jim who had been an addictions counsellor, and who was now on the street dealing with his own addictions.
We spoke with Paula; she sits in a wheelchair. Her health has been declining and she freely accepted our prayers and a Bible. Please provide her with a little extra TLC if you see her this week.
We also gave a Bible to Jim. He seems to want to get closer to God, saying he wanted to read something normal these days.
We gave Henry a sleeping bag. Henry has not been feeling well lately and so his friends are keeping an eye out for him. They were happy that he accepted food from us. It’s nice to see our street friends looking out for each other.
We are seeing an increase in prayer requests and are having much deeper conversations. We are starting to learn about the background histories of many.
We also ran into a ministry team of 3 individuals from “Hope For All Nations Church”. We were explaining about the need for unconditional love and relationship building when sharing the Good News—which is what OIM is all about. Also, we got to speak with the manager of a nearby restaurant, who said he’s going to look into getting some of his staff to make sandwiches for our outreach.”
I pass along these stories so that you can see that your donations of goods, financial gifts and/or prayers are making a difference to those on the street and the volunteers who care for and connect with them.
~Brian – Volunteer Coordinator