09/23/2024
Hope for the Homeless Monday
I have long wanted to help the homeless, and I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had to assist in my small way. Each Monday, I'll share a post about people experiencing homelessness or moving towards self-reliance, and the private groups and individuals who have helped them.
Let's start with Community First! Village - Mobile Loaves & Fishes https://mlf.org . I first learned about them while helping to set up their annual Christmas light shows (choreographed to music).
Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF) has grown from providing sandwiches with a deli truck to a few volunteers living in trailers in an outlying area of Austin, Texas, to now serving 370 formerly homeless people on 51 acres. Their current expansion aims to add 130 more residents.
The founders realized that homelessness is caused by the catastrophic loss of community. And to reverse homelessness, they focus on “Community First”.
To learn more, I recommend reading the book, “Welcome Homeless,” by Alan Graham, one of the founders. It's an easy read generally and hard to put down. (There is one chapter describing the abuse of the homeless which is hard to read. But, I still recommend the book.)
Most of the chapters tell the stories of the homeless from whom the founders learned lessons and the lessons they learned. For example, did you know that socks are often in big demand with homeless individuals? I didn't know that before I read the book.
I look forward to hearing about other positive success stories helping homeless.
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A social outreach ministry in central Texas, we have been empowering communities into a lifestyle of service with the homeless since 1998.
