March 16th, 2010
For our hot lunch at the park, Arvind donated his favorite Taco Guy to cook and prepare tacos for our homeless friends!
Help is always welcome! Even if you dont have a specific ‘job’ to do, come and meet some of our friends!
An Open Letter to our Volunteers.
Saturday the 20th is our next hot lunch in the park for the homeless. This time Arvind Joshi has very generously donated the lunch!!! He hired a taco guy to come and make some great tacos, beans and rice for our friends. I have attached a flier in the event that you want to print them up and hand them to anyone you see on the streets who might be able to come and enjoy a hot lunch.
Here are some guidelines for our volunteers – these just make it a more pleasant time for everyone involved. We never want to put the kibosh on any of you naturally generous people but sometimes folks are not sure what is the best thing to do.
- Eat before you come. We never know how many people will be at the park on any given day so our priority is always to give the homeless friends as much food as they can eat. The leftovers are boxed up and Noel and I take them down to Katella Park at the riverbed and hand those out so they have a dinner for that night.
- Don’t give any money – unless God very specifically says to (cause He’s God and we’re not… ) Most of the time it just causes more trouble than not. You can always donate to LifeHouse (tax deductible) and we use the money to buy more food etc.
- Don’t give rides
- It’s not a good idea to give them your cell phone number – if you want to give them ours you can.
- You’ll be amazed at some of their stories and their history when you take the time to get to know them – One of the biggest forms of help you can give is just sitting down and eating with them or sitting and talking to them. The ones that don’t want to talk to you will make it clear. They will start to trust you when they see that you are real and you genuinely care.
- If they tell you that they need something, like a tarp or jacket, then send them over to us. We bring things with us and we have resources to buy those items. Also, if they mention something that they need that we might not have, let me know so I can start looking for that item at a good price. The other day, one guy asked for wide brimmed straw hats for the summer – we don’t have them but I will find them and buy a supply for them through LifeHouse.
You’ll notice that we don’t force God down their throat, we don’t even pray before we eat. Our friends know we are Christians and why we do what we do is because God told us to but they are waiting for the big ‘hammer of God’. We have had opportunity to pray with people because we have developed trust and a relationship with them. It’s a proven fact that more people are brought to a place of salvation after you continue to love on them, feed them and befriend them week after week. But please do pray on your way down to the park and pray while you’re there for divine appointments and jump at the opportunity to bless them if they ask to be prayed for. There are many times that things can feel very ‘dark’ there at the park – pray your brains out for the Holy Spirit to overwhelm that place!
Rose donated a boatload of books from her school! We’re going to eventually do a mobile homeless library but for now, we’ll have some boxes of books at a table. we’ll give them the ability to take 2 books each and they can bring them back when they’re done (it’s not necessary) or share them with others.
Here’s another idea, if anyone has an orange tree or any other fruit tree in their back yard that they need to offload the fruit, bring those with you! they love fresh fruit and they can take it with them with they leave!
Bring an apron with you – if you want
I can’t begin to tell you how much we love your gigantic and generous hearts! We are so blessed! Thank you thank you thank you for taking time out on a Saturday to show generosity to people who need it! Each month we are filled with amazement at your generosity.
Email me at info@lifehouseministryoc.com if you have any questions.
Love hugs,
Julie (Noel) Cruz
LifeHouse Ministry
