Mentally ill and homeless

"Mine is a world of incomprehensible shad...
“Mine is a world of incomprehensible shadows”. Severely retarded mentally and physically, she never spoke, was stunted and probably never walked. She was one of a quarter of the world’s children at risk of iodine deficiency, known to be the world’s leading cause of preventable mental retardation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

I was down at Church on the Street today gathering information for our social media outreach.  During lunch I was walking around to the various tables just to say hello and see how everyone was doing.

 

As I was going around one of the young ladies, who is homeless, was looking at me to make sure that I said hello to her.  She is quite obviously mentally retarded, I hope this is the correct description.  I did make sure I said hi to her, but her face stuck with me today.

 

It’s easy, although wrong, to judge a homeless person.  We think that they are on the street because it’s there fault, or they’re lazy, or they just like it there.  It may be true that for a small, very small, portion this may be true.

 

But for this young lady who looked at me with the eyes of a child, it’s not her fault.  She does not have the ability to change her station in life.  She is a victim of a fallen world and it is up to us as representatives of Christ to reach those who can’t stand up on their own.

 

God help us if we turn a blind eye.

 

Brodie

 

Severe weather for the homeless

Midtown and Downtown Atlanta as seen from Vini...
Midtown and Downtown Atlanta as seen from Vinings, Cobb County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The weather guys are reporting some severe weather coming through the Atlanta area this afternoon.  Most people will pay a little attention to these kinds of warnings.  We don’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about it because we’re typically at home or going from work(shelter) to home(shelter).

But what happens if there is no shelter to go to?  Hid under a tree maybe?  Run really fast between rain drops?  Nah.  If you’re homeless you either find shelter or you weather the storm.  I don’t know what the answer is to this problem anymore than you do.  Just food for thought I guess.

Brodie

Find us on twitter @cotsatl

New computers needed

Monday through Friday after lunch we have what we call enrichment time. This is a time period when things get done within the community. Cleaning, clothing closet operation, work on resumes, etc. We have a couple of old desktop computers and a printer//copier/fax machine.

The two computers we have are rather old and have come to a point where they’re basically useless. In order to continue doing the part of our ministry that requires computer use, we desperately need two new units.

I know this is asking a lot, but I definitely wouldn’t ask if items were not needed. If can help or know someone that can all of our contact info is on our website at church on the street

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A spicy request

Chef Harry gave me a list of spices that he needs for the kitchen today. Harry cooks 5 days a week, breakfast and lunch for no charge. He just uses the food items that we get donated.

Here’s his request from today if you would like to help:

Pepper
Vanilla extract
Beef broth
Chicken broth
Parsley flakes
Season salt

What to do with toothbrushes

English: Putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. T...
English: Putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. The toothpaste is Crest Pro-Health Clean Cinnamon, 0.454% stannous fluoride, 0.16% w/v fluoride ion. Deutsch: Zahnpasta auf eine Zahnbürste auftragen. Русский: Выдавливание зубной пасты из тюбика на зубную щётку (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

You know those little dental kits you get when you go to the dentist?  It’s usually a toothbrush, tooth paste and floss.  If you don’t use those then we definitely can.  We give them to people living on the street as they have need.

 

The dentist I go to puts them in a plastic resealable bag which makes it really nice if you live outdoors.