I Write And Speak Because I Have A Calling
and I want to share my passion with whoever will listen.
Wayne Dyer said, “Name it, and if you can dream it, you can achieve it.”
This is similar to how we use CBA. First, you Conceive an idea. Second, you Believe that you can do it. Third, you Achieve it.
This is used by world-class athletes regularly. Watch a track meet, the Olympics for instance. At the starting line, before the race begins, they are seen visualizing their race. They are conceiving that they will win and “seeing” themselves at every yard or meter around the track.
Even a high-jumper will visualize his trot up to the bar, the mechanics of the leap, and even the victory fist raising after completion. You can see their heads bob and weave as they “picture” their efforts in their minds.
I have had thoughts of helping people for many years. Because of my background, I believe that I am in a good position to help the homeless and hopeless to find some hope for themselves. There, I “Named or Conceived” it.
Since I had several years without hope and with none in sight, I felt that I could relate to the hopeless and that they could relate to me. So, I “Dreamed and Believed” that I could do this.
Since, at the time, I was an inner-city Detroit Police Officer and a supervisor, I was in a favorable position and began “Achieving” some measure of success.
After retiring from law enforcement and later a business career, I met Father Jay Gantz, the rector of St. Andrews church, in the East Side of Flint, Michigan.
A large part of the church is a soup kitchen, which feeds the bellies and the souls of people in this very impoverished, violent part of the city. Father Jay has started soup kitchens in major inner cities from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coasts.
Most of the patrons are living in abandoned and/or burned-out buildings and homes. As these buildings are being demolished and torched by arsonists, the people are forced into living in the streets and under bridges and overpasses.
I began working as a volunteer for the St Andrews Soup Kitchen about 5 years ago. The vast majority of the patrons of the kitchen do not have any hope. On my first day working there, I saw the patrons and immediately thought “There but for the grace of God, go I.”
It didn’t take long to be accepted by the people and I realized that they had been talked to for years and their life situation never changed. I realized that, in order to help any of them to believe in hope, I would have to show them, not tell them.
I quickly got into the position of working the serving window so that I could serve them their coffee, Kool-Ade, and cookies for the first amount of time and their meal at noon. This began many interactions and us getting to know and trust each other.
Also, I would walk around the hall with a coffee pot and cups sitting for a short time with any who would not turn me away. I wouldn’t ask how they were doing. I just bragged about my coffee-making skills and got some to laugh.
Soon, I was hearing stories of pasts full of remorse, presents of not knowing if they were going to make it to wherever they were living after they left the soup kitchen because of a good chance of getting robbed or shot for the clothing or shoes they were wearing.
When they picked up a jacket or pair of shoes, they did not wear them home. They would wrap them or put them under their shirts. Once they got to wherever they were living, they would dirty and scuff them up before wearing them outside so that they would not draw a neighborhood thief who would rob them of their new clothing.
It seems impossible for many of these souls to have any hope at all for a better tomorrow. It is generational, passed on from parent to child, leaving it seemingly impossible for them to even be able to dream of things getting better for them.
I have a passion driving me to do what I can to show that things can change for them if they are willing to work for them. And that they have the help of God, Father Jay, me, or some of the other volunteers that they feel comfortable with.
There are some successes. There are many, many more that politely just keep on keeping on doing what they are doing.
How you can help if you wish!
Check your closets for sweatshirts, sweaters, flannel shirts, socks, coats, jackets, t-shirts, gloves, mittens, hats, caps, scarves, shoes, boots, work boots, hiking boots, blankets, towels (for stuffing under doors and over glassless windows), and men’s clothing. The women wear men’s clothing because they are more durable.
Let me know by replying to this article about your interest and I will PM you with contact information.
Thank you, God!
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