friday update
Hello Everyone,
Big thanks to the Executive team of Hallmark Mortgage for our hot and yummy dinner. We had beef and noodles over hot potatoes, spinach and bean salad, cup cakes and Kim Ted Shook also brought cookies. The food was amazing and Hallmark went way and above over for us tonight!!
Seemed like the night was super busy with several things happening at one time and most of us moms are great at multitasking which is awesome. We have a married couple who was in a bad situation with their hotel room. The husband is disabled, in a wheel chair so getting around for him isn't very easy. Thanks to our friend Dee who works at the Travelers Inn our friends have a place to stay. Dee went out of her way to accommodate them for us and she is always happy to help..so one less couple on the streets!!
Also met a new woman who was given some wrong information as far as shelters and feeding places. We have a couple people on our team who work for Park Center and thankfully they were able to steer her in the right direction. For the night though we were able to give her a tent to put in her friends back yard for the time being and we will move forward together from here to get her settled into some sort of assistance.
We also had the pleasure of hearing from a few at The Rescue Mission that they were wanting to go to church this Sunday and thankfully they did!! Still EXTREMELY hard to see the spot where Dallas would wait for me to get him and now not see him. Sometimes you can almost fool yourself into thinking he is coming back and yet he isn't. Friday was difficult not only about those we have lost but as of Friday we found out there were 3 more dead. 2 have been identified and one has not. It feels like its a epidemic lately with so many passing and its to the point you wonder who will be next sadly. At the Mission though our friend who came from under the bridge is still there, doing well and he makes us smile because his disposition is so calming and sweet. Seems as if the Mission is filling up more each week which is a good thing as temps will be going down. We gave every blanket and sleeping bag we had Friday, all the socks and underwear and clothing. People are starting to layer their clothing and many are asking for winter jackets so please keep us in mind.
At the end of the night we went to check in on a friend that usually walks down to see us but he didn't this time. So we went to him bringing him hot food and he was surprised we came looking for him--but was thankful as well. He is in the middle of getting his stuff set up through the system and were hoping this will be his last winter outside!!! So we had a great and busy night....gave away all we had and that is also a beautiful thing. We prayed with everyone and on Sunday brought many friends with us and I heard that a few are going to get baptized!!
One last thing: We have been bringing a friend we met to church each week and helped him get in a hotel as he had no where to stay. He has a few mental health challenges but is soft spoken, keeps to himself and truly gets taken advantaged of all the time. He stayed at the hotel and came to church each week for about 3 months. The hotel he was at was having some issues like prostitution and random people coming in his room. He stated that he wanted to leave but no shelter would take him in so we had no idea what to do. He stated often he wanted to go to Angola because he had fiends there, so Tommy picked him up last Thursday and went to the address in Angola that Joe gave him. Sadly it was a apartment complex but he couldn't remember his friends names... so again no where to go. There is a Mission across the street from this park and Tommy has gone there before to get Joe in and they deny him.So he went again and they said that because he talks to himself the residents there are nervous and he cannot stay there. He does mumble to himself but its not anything threatening ...he just talks to himself at times. So needless to say Tommy was in disbelief that he would have leave Joe in the middle of a park--because Joe refused to come back to Fort Wayne and stay in a hotel. So Tommy had to let him do what he wanted. Tommy said it was very hard leaving him there because he is so vulnerable. Yesterday we got a call from Joe saying the police found him and escorted him to the Mission there that denied him. Not sure how long he will stay but I am guessing not too long....SO PRAY FOR JOE! Pray for his safety, pray that somehow he can find a place to stay. It is inhumane to put a man like Joe out on the streets...totally ridiculous. So pray for him please.
Thank you everyone, love and God bless you