April 2012

Hello friends of SafeHouse Outreach,

     Blessings to you and your family! First of all, thank you for your prayers and support for all we do. Since January, 46 women made appointments with SHO seeking assistance with housing, food stamps, and diapers.

     Eight individuals raised their own funding totaling $445 to receive Furniture Bank vouchers for their homes. Our critical needs eyeglasses program provided 120 individuals with prescription eyewear and 59 teen parents received Life Skills and Parent Education classes.

     We’ve been busy! Thanks to your generosity, so many people have been blessed. We so wish we could capture the emotion and thankfulness of each person as they watch their lives move forward each day.

     Recently at our Urban Gala, we heard from so many volunteers who told us how their lives were blessed when they were helping someone. There’s just something about helping others that heals us at the same time.

     And never is this more apparent than with those we help. Here- I’ll explain. SHO Urban Nation Director Joe McCutchen directs the volunteers who come as groups; youth groups, college groups , small groups, companies, etc. He was bringing one such group to a homeless community that lives under a series of bridges in the center of downtown.

     It was a planned outreach- Joe takes groups to this area often to offer help so he wasn’t a stranger. The group had prepared lunches and brought socks with them and had been trained in the art of outreach listening. They were to go there and listen to those who most of the time are unheard; to offer compassion and to say prayers with them if asked.

     Joe has earned this obscure community’s trust and so when he and the group arrived, they were welcomed. He introduced the newcomers and asked, ‘would it be alright if we started with a prayer?’ Forming a circle, everyone joined hands and bowed their heads.

     Joe, expecting he would begin the prayer, stopped when he realized that someone was already praying.  Then he noticed that the person saying the prayer wasn’t from the group or their youth leaders; it was one of the guys who lived in the community; the very community who Joe and the group had come ‘to help’.

     And so, the seemingly extreme playing field was leveled. The impact on the youth was profound. But it seems the impact on the community even more so. This is the circle of compassion- when you are in desperate need of compassion; you understand what it means to receive it. And as natural as inhale, exhale; once you receive it, you turn around and give it.

     This community didn’t consider where these youth came from, what they drove or what kind of house they lived in. It wasn’t about equaling finances- it was about the need for compassion. They knew that if they needed understanding and love no matter what had occurred in their life; one of these youth probably did too

   And so without hesitation, they offered what they could give to each young person- a prayer. Because after all; a gift is given out of who you are not what you have.

     Please join us at SHO- where the playing field is level. Every day and night, you don’t know if you’re rubbing shoulders with a person of great means or a person of no means- but you know you’re rubbings shoulders with a person. That is the beginning of compassion.

     We welcome your time, treasure, and talent- just watch, those you help will help you- when you least expect it.

      From the city,