It's the time of year when the homeless population from the North come to Florida seeking warmer weather. Please keep these people in your prayers and pray for Floridians to support the local food banks, shelters, churches, and other charities that offer assistance.
"Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me."
Yes prayers indeed...their is a special place in my heart for those without homes. I am only 45 but after MM struck and an abusive man(husband)...I soon found myself homeless as well and it is not a ....
Prayers and more prayers.. In Michigan where I live the economy is really bad you can not go down streets without seeing empty homes that were foreclosed on. I always wonder what has happened to all of these families. It is common to hear families are moving in with other families in order to survive. The homeless population is quite large in the city where I live there are shelters but we often hear in the winter of police and people going around and trying to get people to stay in the shelters during blizzards. Sometimes they are not succesful and people perish due to exposure. It breaks my heart that in this day and age people are dying due to this.
Prayers said, one of the churches down here did a blanket drive to give to those who were out in the street. I will see if I can find out how many they gave away.
I'm afraid Holiday donations will be down this year due to the economy. Our city just opened a food pantry for pets so people out of work and hit hardest by these times can keep their doggies and kitties :'( This breaks my heart. Especially with the elderly population.
This year we had an apple tree that outdid itself. There was no way I could keep up with the apples. I didn't think the food bank would want the apples because they aren't large, perfect and waxed to a shine like in the grocery store although they are very tasty. I finally called and they said bring them down so I have taken probably a hundred pounds form that one tree. I told them to tell me if they didn't want them, after I saw the cases of food they had stacked up but they said bring them. I have heard they get little fresh food. So many apple trees in this area were overloaded this year. I mention this in case you have something you know is good but which you are reluctant to donate. Ask, someone may be happy to have it this year.
June, I'm sure your fresh fruit was very much appreciated. I see the same thing down here with oranges....they fall off the trees and rot in the yards I also see the waste at grocery stores...how many tons of food do they throw out on the date of expiration? Same with restaurants.
Our women's club every month make a large donation (we have 45 members) to our food pantry. We also along with various organizations/our schools, put together baskets of food for the holidays. The economy is hard, but, HOPE that food of any kind will be there.
I was homeless for awhile a couple of different times in my life. It is very humbling. The truly scary fact about the homeless is the staggering amount of them that go missing every day.
This hits home in a way..... a little over a year ago when my brother passed away and I was cleaning out his home, trying to decide what to do with his things, I had no idea on the clothing. I did give the mattresses, etc. to a neighbor of his who helped me out with cleaning his place, helped me with a lot of things, and I also gave all of the food in his freezer and refrigerator to them. If I had taken it, I would have had to haul it 300 miles and that just wasn't going to work out very well. I didn't need those things, they did. I considered Goodwill, Salvation Army, organizations like that for the clothing, etc. But my sister came across something that worked really well. She's really into her local church, a Methodist congregation that I also grew up in. She was acquainted with a lady who worked for a church shelter/charity for homeless people in Kansas City. She contacted her, and they were very glad to have his clothing. My brother was a big man.. I mean huge, the lady at the charity said they had a constant demand from the homeless for clothing in those sizes. They got it all, clothing, blankets, bedding, coats, shoes, towels..... all of it. I delivered 7-55 gallon trashbags full of those things to them and I had never before seen an outpouring of gratitude like that, for that little act of charity. It made me feel good, it made me feel humble at the same time. And I know my brother would have approved, gentle soul that he was. There but for the grace of God, go I. So yes, remember the homeless going into winter, do what you can.
