We’ve rung in the New Year and are looking forward to what is ahead. We can never say thank you enough for your support and friendship and prayers in 2008 - and 2009 promises to have more solutions for the hurting than the year before.
For many though, the New Year brings lots of change.Some good - some more difficult. Close friensd of our family called us shortly after the New Year. Their 40 year old son had died.
The last ten years were difficult for him. He’d had several surgeries and struggled with pain and depression and many of life’s demons.
Paul was not just our friend’s brother or friend’s son - he was a friend of SafeHouse Outreach’s and a friend of mine and Dacia’s.
I’ve got to say - the news was shocking. Much different than hearing that a person much farther along in years had passed. Those passings tend to make more sense to us. And then that’s what we try to do, try to make sense of it all, right?
I don’t want this to be sad - that’s why i tell you about Paul. Not to only mourn his death, but to celebrate his life.
The dawn of every year gives us 525,600 minutes to use. The successful Broadway musical, Rent, has a song called Seasons of Love and asks the question: with 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life? And then gives the answer to the question: Measure in Love.
I couldn’t help but think about Paul’s life - measured in love. Paul was one of those guys who went out of his way to help people. He’d help stranded motorists or give someone a ride.
When Paul volunteered at SafeHouse, everyone was treated with respect and dignity - he had seen hard times too and remembered when he just needed a friend. So He’d sit and talk.
We have a children’s room specifically for homeless children - an oasis where they can step off the streets and step into a playroom while a parent receives services. It’s because of Paul and his family that room exists.
They collected toys and stuffed animals and brought in one of those rugs with a town and roads on it - and lots of cars and trucks for little boys to play with. Baby dolls and baby beds for the little girls too. Books to read in two cozy chairs that Paul’s mom had reupholstered. Coloring books - so much in that tiny room!
Many didn’t know that Paul spoke fluent Spanish - I didn’t until i hears him speaking to a Hispanic gentleman at SafeHouse Outreach. The man needed services but spoke little to no English. It just so happened that on that day, at that time, Paul was volunteering - but more than volunteering - Paul was the only person at SafeHouse Outreach that day who spoke Spanish.
In fact he used his Spanish often - interpreting wherever anywhere he was, to help someone.
The end of the song says: Remember the love! Measure in love! Seasons of love!
It’s so easy to remember Paul’s life by love. We were amazingly blessed to witness several different seasons of love he showed here at SafeHouse, but i know there were many we weren’t privileged to be apart of. Those times no one was around and he stopped to help someone or interpreted so another could be helped.
We will never know everything. But we do know that for 525,600 minutes a year, so many of Paul’s could be measured in love.
Most people make resolutions at the beginning of each New Year. But for Dacia and me - we’ve decided to count minutes. And at the end of the year, how many minutes will I have used in love.

Verizon Wireless recently sponsored a phone home station for one of our outreaches. The holidays are hard by yourself, but if you can’t event communicate with a loved one, it makes it even harder.

A homeless man used the service to call his mom. This man had been homeless for several years and he was reluctant to call home - lots of water under the bridge. He finally agreed to speak to several family members. His family lived somewhere in the metro area.

The the volunteer heard him address his mother. He talked and talked. And since there was no one in line behind him waiting to use the phone, the volunteer let him talk longer than usual.

Smiling, he said good bye and hung up then gave the volunteer a huge hug and said, “my mom’s here to pick me up” and turned to go to a waiting car.

Apparently, his mother took the cell phone, got in the car, drove to SafeHouse Outreach and picked him up right then and there.

Blessings to the SHO family - I know over the holidays we all counted our blessings and took a minute to be grateful for what we have. But what if we don’t have? What if we don’t have a home or a family.

How does that happen anyway - really - how does a person become say - homeless? Most of us unhomeless believe it’s drugs or lack of education or poverty. And there’s a great deal of truth in that.

But there are times when a person - or child - finds themselves homeless through no fault of their own.

Two young boys, young men really - 16 & 17 fell thought the cracks of ‘the system’ almost 10 years ago. Mama and Daddy were in and out of prison most of their lives which had the 9 & 10 year olds bouncing from relative to relative - as if they were no more than something to deal with. School didn’t really miss them; they never knew where they were.

The boys learned to take care of each other - on the streets, breaking into hotel rooms for shelter, hustling for money. They became separated from each other for a period of time, but somehow found each other again. Mama- out of prison for a time, moved in with a guy and the boys lived their too.

But when she was incarcerated again, he got temporary custody of the boys. Being older and dealing with prostate cancer, he couldn’t offer much parental care. Eventually the boys just stopped going to school. That was in 2005 or 2006.

Not long ago, the SHO Mentor program received a phone call from a grandmother, “Can you help my grandbabies?”" Someone had told her about our mentoring program so she called.

Yes, these were the same boys - and yes they were enrolled in the mentoring program but the mentoring program is not the end - it’s the beginning.

SHO is blessed to have staff that do more, go further - see beyond the job to the heart of the mission. That was the case when Errol Boyland, Mentor Program Director, first met the two boys.

Through a series of events, he’s been instrumental in enrolling them in a special school so they can graduate; taken them to CNN center for lunch, called to check on them, and has been building their trust. They live with their grandmother and now she has custody.

Is this Mentoring, or Problem Solvers, or Family Services, or Youth Reach? Yes. And even more importantly - this is primary preventative work: the front line of prevention.

The what if’s with the boys are obvious: drop outs (that had already happened), drug dealing, hustling to survive, poor health, most likely children, poverty, homelessness, jail time.

Our statistics show the probability of any combination of these outcomes.

Primary Prevention. Intervening before the cycle begins. Hoping to change the course of a life simply by being there.

The Cycle of life issues can seem never ending. I bet these boys couldn’t see a way out - thy probably didn’t even know how they got in.

SHO jumps in the cycle - hopefully early enough to stop the cycle. Sometimes it is after the cycle has worn a person down to the point of homelessness that we step in.

Because of your support - we can help to change the cycle - we can help prevent the most likely issues to occur and we can intervene in crisis. This is real change because it’s changes the course of a life.

Thanks for being a course changer.

at Safehouse urban center we have a “fulltime” volunteer who is a elderlyguy named Sam. We all call him mr cusper. this past thurs he greeted over 30 nonprofit leaders at SHO who had come for training. During the day, he left to go to the store for a soft drink and right in front of our bldg, he was arrested for jaywalking. Sure, thats the law, and dozens of us do it daily. However, we dont look “homeless”, usually…David Baird tried to get the cop to forgive his crime and let it slide. The officer tho had a king sized attitude and only let dave keep his stuff. sam was arrested! if theres one thing i really hate, its being judged or seeing others judged because of how they look or act. whether its a punk judging a evangelical or a dogmatic religious person judging others it just doesnt smell right.

Atlantas economy has gotten worse and health needs keep increasing. Gradys health system is struggling and people perish for lack of knowledge and care. Less people are going to Grady for their healthcare needs and more people are on the streets. There is a need for a positive “handup” in health services. To that end, The Mission Society has teamed up with Safehouse Outreach by donating a mobile medical clinic to us for increased capacity in providing education and services to those most at-risk. We are taking it to the areas around metro Atl that have community partners, churches and/or corporations who wanna reach out collaboratively. Love in action brings change! this is a great volunteer experiences for medical professionals and those who want to serve up new ways of outreach!

The MMU in action at this summer’s SafeHouse sponsored Convoy of Hope event:

I’m testing the mobile update possibilities for the new blog from my blackberry - we just had a great advisory council meeting - it was synergetic!!

pb

Had a great golf tournament this week at EastLake Golf Club. Great to be with longtime friends and meeting many new friends. We are the longest running tourney there! We defied the economy and naysayers with a great turnout and support. Thats a SHO core value—-overcoming against the odds! Had great successes this week in changed lives!

Philip Bray