Last week Amy and I organized our first serving project since moving back to FL. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about our desires in life and both of us realized that community, love and leading by example are the attributes we want to live out daily.
As we began to put it all together, so many people jumped on board to offer help. We had 3 families join us at the serve, and there were others who couldn’t make it, but didn’t hesitate to help with supplies.
Our serving project was to come provide a lunch break for the homeless people (known as “Guests) who were working on refurbishing transition homes for the Matthew’s Hope organization.
Matthew’s Hope is a local non profit that helps people who are on the streets get back on their feet. When someone enters the program they are offered opportunities to work for points. There is a community garden, car wash, store, and other chores (such as refurbishing the homes) that they work with and earn points.
When they get these points, they are able to go to their store and buy products like diapers, food, toothbrush/paste, etc. Mobile care trucks also come to do dental work, offer medical prescriptions for those that need it, haircuts and more.
There are two areas in the program where someone can be in. They’re simply referred to as the Grey Shirts and Blue Shirts. The reason for this is because these are the shirts that help the team know who’s who. They’ve done such a great job at cleaning up, it’s sometimes hard to tell who’s homeless! Those in the “Blue Shirts” are at the point in the program where they are capable of going back to work and being able to sustain a life off the streets. Matthew’s Hope purchased 6 fixer upper homes to serve as transition homes for the Blue Shirts. This will allow them to find work by having a physical address. The Grey Shirts are people that are not yet ready but working towards it.
The Grey Shirt Guests were the ones working on the homes on Saturday. We brought so much food we literally had a little more than half left over (which was bagged up and provided for people to take with them once they left) It was incredibly great to meet people in the program and be able to serve and love on them.
As a dad, I have to say, watching my boys serve is one of the most rewarding things ever. I’m pretty sure that’s a glimpse into how God feels when he sees us do it.
