1 night on the street

Editor’s Note ~ this is the personal journal entry of Mrs. Sandie Stanton from New Hope Community Church in Loudonville, Ohio. Mrs. Stanton is a student ministry volunteer.

Journal Entry: 11-18-2007

Thursday evening was amazing! Our youth pastor, Tom Roepke, and I took 4 teenagers (Kayla, Emmah, Parker and Phil) to Cleveland to be part of ‘ONE NIGHT ON THE STREET’. The idea was laid on the heart of Mark Zimmerman from WCRF 103.3 FM. Using his gift of speech, Mark spoke about joining volunteers and organizations together and brought awareness about homelessness (right here in our backyards). Mark broadcast for several hours asking people to call in, telethon style, to volunteer at any one of 3 dozen organizations in Cleveland and the surrounding areas. About 100 adults were present to support the broadcast and to help in feeding the 200 homeless who were expected to show up for a hot meal at the mission site. Our 4 teens were the only young people to come; the adults didn’t think there would be anything for the teens to do. Our youth pastor, thankfully, believed different!

Tom is an incredible addition to our church. He encourages our young adults to step out and weave their lives into the lives of others. He tells them that they are not small and voiceless, but powerful in the Will of God. He believes in our kids! Tom leads, guides and listens to their hearts. He is a strong father figure to some, and an understanding ear to others. I believe he is God appointed to our staff at New Hope to lead and inspire our adults to truly embrace Proverbs 22:6 -”Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

Thursday evening when we arrived, Tom was setting up the radio show with Mark and the rest of us cut the bread and dessert cakes into good sized portions. When finished, we stood around feeling a bit useless until we were told we needed to go out and ‘drum up business’. The teens jumped at the chance! Walking around Cleveland in 30 degree weather as the wind blew heavy sleet down, they invited all who heard to come in for a warm meal and friendship. They did this for over an hour. While out on the streets the two boys invited an adult man and his mother to come. They said that they would try. On the way back to check in and warm up, the boys crossed the couples’ path again and found that they hadn’t made it much farther towards the mission site because the woman needed to rest.

Just before frostbite set in, the kids came in and sat down to eat their own warm meal and talk about their quest. One boy had chosen banana nut cake for dessert and couldn’t help but dive into it. To say the least, it was AMAZING! He attempted to get one of the girls to try a bite and she finally gave in. He said in an excited voice “Isn’t it good!”, then he dug in again. She replied, “It’s only food.” I chuckled inside at her tone and his excitement until the other boy said, “Just food? Look around you.” As all 5 of us looked around, I saw about 30 pair of lonely, hungry eyes. Eyes that NEEDED someone to care and I was ashamed of that little chuckle inside. Mighty were the few words from this child of God! I sat there with my head down as tears filled my eyes and asked God to forgive me. I asked Him to open my eyes to the world filled with His children, and to let me be His hands and feet.

As we finished up supper at our table a man came over and invited us to a 15 minute Bible study (with the shame I had inside, I felt I needed to spend some time in God’s Word and ask for a clean heart and mind). I was joined with no less then 20 others and we spoke about how we got involved with this project and what lead us here. The 15 minute study was just about to pass the 60 minute mark when I looked over and saw our teens just sitting at a table staring out. I felt God’s prodding to leave the study and talk with them. As I sat down, I asked them the question that changed the course of the night, “Is this what you expected?” Phil answered first, “I thought we would be doing more.” Then Parker said, “We couldn’t get them to come here. I want to take it to them out there.” The only response I had was, “Let’s go!”

We all jumped up and went to the kitchen. A woman called Grandma Mary was standing at the refrigerator when we asked her if there was any way we could take the stew to the people. She said that she was just wondering where she was going to put all of it since they were expecting to feed about 200. Then she smiled! (Thinking back now, God used my shame and the heartfelt prayer of ‘Open my eyes and let me be His hands and feet.’ Had I not made myself “available” to God, who knows what may or may not have taken place.) We grabbed ladles and she grabbed the perfect size deli bowls with lids that she didn’t know she had buried in the back of the cupboard- What a blessing! As we emptied the pots, our hearts were filling. We worked fast so the stew wouldn’t get cold and also tried to be quiet since the adults were meeting on the other side of the kitchen wall.

Within 15 minutes a man came in and told us to wait because a TV crew was coming to film us ‘in action’ on the streets. My crew was visibly irritated! Each and every one was upset that what was going to be done out of love may be turned into a circus.

We lightened our hearts with Emma’s contagious laughter and Kayla’s willingness to “do what we set out to do”. In the meantime we found about 5 others who were willing to abandon the meeting to come out with us and serve the homeless, where they were.

Searching under bridges and calling out that we had a hot meal waiting for them, we expected to have a ‘rush’ of activity, but found nobody. I reminded the teens that it was quite cold and suggested that maybe they had all gone to a shelter. I felt a bit more relief thinking that some of the homeless would have a warm place to rest, but the teens did not. All they could think about were those who may not have made it to a shelter. They were on a MISSION POSSIBLE! (These people were going to get fed whether they wanted to eat or not!!!) They left a box of food under one of the bridges that had a ‘homestead’ set up, hoping that if/when they returned they wouldn’t go to bed hungry.

We drove around for about an hour and only distributed a few meals here and there on the street corners. (They did this while stopped by traffic lights.) The teens would ask if anybody needed anything to eat and then jump out of the bed of the truck and hustle to serve them while waiting on the light. We returned to the mission site, disappointed with fact that we only gave out a dozen or so meals, but our kids were not about to give up! From their excitement they recruited 3 whole van loads of people to help out on the next trip out.

Driving around for another half hour with no success was almost too much for our crew, but with one turn we encountered a ‘Divine Appointment’ with a shelter bus that was filled with men about to be taken to an overflow shelter by the airport. We were able to distribute about 150 meals to some men who may have gone to sleep that evening without anything to eat.

A radio station and 100 adults met to talk about getting volunteers together to help people in need. 4 teenagers rallied to become the hands and feet of Jesus on the streets of Cleveland, Ohio. I’ll call that a pretty successful night!

I got the privilege of personally serving a very humble man who was loading the men aboard our ‘Divine Appointed’ bus. With that alone I was filled inside! I wondered at the time how hurt and joyous Jesus must feel in our everyday lives? The disappointment for Him. To be standing under a dark and cold bridge with Life Giving Water, while we hide because of our own inadequacies and failures. Then He rejoices, when we reach out and take His free gift of love.

Thank you Mark Zimmerman for listening to God speak into your heart. You have helped more than just the homeless; you’ve helped ALL the needy. I truly believe we receive WAY more than we give, when we are the hands and feet of Jesus.