charity

today i ran into Quita, asking her "you have a few papers for me?" and she responded with a sigh and a "yes, you know what these are all about?" myself along with my buddy jason had a nice chat with her about her travels since being displaced from tent city during the flood. she had her housing voucher paperwork and said more than a few times "it's not my permanent solution." we hugged and exchanged our pleasantries and went along our ways.

in the last year and a half God has moved me around some people that brought me in touch with this community of people i was aware of but never knew. note: as a church staff person it is rather interesting that it is hard to be with people who have no home. many times they carry with them little value to the church, except a 'mission' or 'outreach' cause. many times, those are charitable in nature and hurt an eventual goal of getting folks off the streets.

as i have been finding my way these last few months and meeting folks in the homeless community i've given my support; in small acts, prayers, needed resources, and just being to the folks at "tent city."

i've done this for a reason. i believe in a process and a place. there needs to be a place that people can land when all the bottoms fall out. if the world falls out from under me i have back ups and places to go. we are richly blessed in that manner. but many do not have those options. so there is a need for a place to land.

but that place isn't the only need. there needs to be a process and the people to help getting folks back to where they want to be. as i've been around the tent city community i believe and am seeing the people who have gotten involved in bridging relationships and helping folks pick themselves up and get back into the life they dream for themselves.

homelessness is complex and this doesn't address all the needs, but a place for folks to build from is, and needs to be, an option. so that is why i support a tent city

received word the other day that one of my high school buddies was taking a team of doctors down to haiti for relief efforts. there was quite the bit of news coverages because, since our time in high school he's been able to wedge into the media market place. i saw another news article where a number of children who were up for adoption to american families were rushed to their pennsylvania homes with the political people showing smiling faces as if patting themselves on the back.

no slack on my friend & his medical team, they will do a lot of work and a lot of good work i am sure. but it had me wondering. slight slack to the political players who lord over visas and all these international adoptions.. it had me asking, "why now?"

sure, there was an earthquake & it is devastating, but long before that, there was extreme poverty & suffering… where was the anderson cooper's & media police alarming us to the worlds ills? chasing tiger woods?

i share my thoughts to say this one thing. as you are compassioned to give to help with relief efforts, give to the people who were already there, because, they are most likely to be there long after everyone is gone.. and they will be dealing with the aftermath of not only a physical earthquake, but a systemic poverty.

this is why i am so pleased to say that i am a part of the united methodist church & its continued work under the UMCOR banner. they were there before the earthquake, sadly some died in the earthquake, and will be there long after the earthquake. i applaud & more with the folks at highland park umc who have kept a long standing clinic in haiti since the 70's, but lost one of their church members in the earthquake.

learn more about the stories happening in haiti, long after the news vans leave & continue to help those who will be there long after cameras turn off and go home.

visit: www.umc.org/haiti