On the morning of every weekday a school transportation SUV pulls up outside the Raleigh Rescue Mission. Two small kids board the vehicle, and their young mom, with an exhausted expression, waves goodbye.

I witness this event at least twice a week on my walk to work. I want to hug the mom and give the kids coloring books and new sneakers. Instead I smile, sometimes wave, and continue on my way.

The image of children boarding a school bus is a traditional one, but there’s nothing traditional about a family living at an overnight shelter, or about children living without a home.

In a space shared with dozens of strangers, where do bedtime stories, homework, and family dinner happen? I guess sometimes they don’t.

Tonight at 5 p.m. WRAL-TV will introduce viewers to two children experiencing homelessness.

On any given day, more than 2,000 homeless children go to school in Wake County. Their classmates likely have no idea.

We will introduce you to a single mother doing what she can to give your two sons a better life. For now, they live in a homeless shelter. That doesn’t stop them from going to school, working and spending quality time together as a family.

When I mentioned the segment to Mark, a young Love Wins volunteer currently living in a shelter, he recounted his ninth grade year when he lived in a car with his mom. Divorce left them with almost no belongings and terrible credit. Mark’s friends and school never knew that he was homeless. Mark wasn’t invisible, but his crisis was. He was a part of the invisible homeless.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato

Would Jesus support the United States’ food stamp program? That question came up last week on Capitol Hill when legislators discussed possible cuts to the food-related financial assistance program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

NBC News reports,

During contentious debate over the Farm Bill, which funds food stamps, in the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., invoked the Book of Matthew as he noted his opposition to the cuts.

“[Jesus] says how you treat the least among us, the least of our brothers, that’s how you treat him,” Vargas, adding that Jesus specifically mentions the importance of feeding the hungry.

Republican Congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, who supports cuts to the program, had his own Bible verse from the Book of Thessalonians to quote back to Vargas: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat,” he said.

Representative Fincher fails to acknowledge, however, that many of the SNAP beneficiaries he references are willing to work and in fact have jobs. The USDA reports,

Nearly 30 percent of SNAP households had earnings in 2010, and 41 percent of all SNAP participants lived in a household with earnings. For most of these households, earnings were the primary source of income.

Similarly, almost half of Fincher’s “unwilling” workers are the elderly and children.

Nearly half (47 percent) were under age 18 and another 8 percent were age 60 or older. Working-age women represented 28 percent of the caseload, while working-age men represented 17 percent.

I also wonder what Fincher may think if he realized his adoption of the “He who does not work shall not eat” concept was also a tenant of Lenin’s socialism:

“He who does not work, neither shall he eat”—every toiler understands that. Every worker, every poor and even middle peasant, everybody who has suffered need in his lifetime, everybody who has ever lived by his own labour, is in agreement with this. Nine-tenths of the population of Russia are in agreement with this truth. In this simple, elementary and perfectly obvious truth lies the basis of socialism, the indefeasible source of its strength, the indestructible pledge of its final victory.

The truth, however, is “every poor and even middle [class]” person, and “everybody who has suffered need in his lifetime,” also may occasionally need help. In 2010 alone, “about 40.3 million people living in 18.6 million U.S. households,” qualified and received assistance from SNAP.

According to The Huffington Post, Fincher provides more of his thoughts:

“Jesus made it very clear we have a duty and obligation as Christians and as citizens of this country to take care of each other. Democrat, Republican, Independent — we should look after one another,” he said. “But I think a fundamental argument we’re having today is what’s the duty of the federal government. We’re all here on this committee making decisions about other people’s money.”

Love Wins often makes decisions about other people’s money. The organization doesn’t receive any government grants or money from denominations or other large groups. Instead, Love Wins relies on the financial contributions of supporters from around the world, who trust their money will be used to further the ministry’s mission of fostering relationships.

And Jesus would likely be OK with that.

The News & Observer reported on May 15, 2013, that “police sent a message to street panhandlers” in downtown Raleigh:

Several uniformed and plainclothes officers from the department’s Downtown District worked the area for several hours on Tuesday.

Ten people were arrested in the 200 block of South Blount Street, while 3 were arrested in the 200 block of Fayetteville Street.

Police spokesman Jim Sughrue said, “Raleigh understands and respects that people have a right to panhandle and has adopted regulations that protect that right while prohibiting overly aggressive and inappropriate begging practices.”

“Those arrested,” Sughrue said, “were charged with violating the begging ordinance or violations of other laws.”

Charges included soliciting for alms, consuming alcohol on city property, trespassing, possession of drug paraphernalia and misdemeanor marijuana possession.

Those arrested were taken to the Wake County Detention Center for booking.

Most were being held in lieu of $500 bail.

My first reaction to the article is that the Raleigh Police Department should spend their limited resources on more pressing criminal concerns, not the least of which include arresting civil rights advocates (that’s another blog post).

What gave rise to this post, however, is a comment I received after posting sentiments similar to the ones above on Facebook. One particular Facebook friend responded, ”If someone is panhandling, isn’t short-term shelter and a meal a winning proposition?” I replied that short-term anything doesn’t do a bit of good. The friend then posted:

I’m honestly not sure. The problem with someone who has hit rock bottom is they have nothing to lose. The second they are in the system they at least are assured a roof and hot meal.

There are a lot of issues with these statements, but I’ll focus on the idea of hitting “rock bottom” with nothing to lose.

The newspaper’s “panhandlers,” or rather, people who allegedly asked other people for money, still have quite a bit to lose. In fact, they have everything that people who were not allegedly asking other people for money have to lose except, perhaps, some material items that require money to obtain.

Pope Francis warned of the reliance on these types of items yesterday, reports The Guardian:

“We have created new idols,” he said in a speech in the Vatican. “The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.”
…
“Money has to serve, not to rule.”

The non-material “things” to which the people arrested this week still possess– heart, mind, affection, soul, spirit, will, and faith– are the items that will ultimately carry them to the next day and beyond. And Love Wins is here to add one more non-material item to the list– community.

So to my Facebook friend: everyone, regardless of whether they allegedly ask for money, still has a lot to lose.

The outcry has been predictable, and loud, and well deserved.

One of the more popular responses is a video titled “Abercrombie & Fitch gets a Brand Readjustment” (above). The video consists of a man handing out Abercrombie and Fitch clothing to persons who are homeless, as a ‘snub’ to the clothing brand. Because, after all, what could be worse than seeing clothes made for the beautiful people on poor people?

The only reason this “works” as humor is because we see people who are experiencing homelessness as “the other”, as someone who is different than us, and not only different, but offensive. It should, we are saying, offend Abercrombie and Fitch that “these” people are wearing our clothes.

If you doubt this, consider how you would feel about this story if, instead of “homeless people”, the story was that a man shot a video that sought to offend the brand by giving its clothes to black people or gay people. The internet would be in an outrage, rightfully calling the video racist or homophobic.

But give the clothes to homeless people and the Huffington Post calls it a “funny and creative way to readjust the Abercrombie & Fitch brand.”

Sigh.

This is wrong. It is, to use a word I do not use lightly, evil. It is stigmatizing an already stigmatized group in order to “strike back” at a brand that let you down. One of our idols failed us, and so we critique them by shooting video of vulnerable people wearing their clothes in order to lampoon the brand.

I mentioned on Social Media that I have a problem with the video, and several folks implied I was being overly sensitive. After all, the narrative, the story, is that A & F is bad, and they must be punished. And after all, homeless folks need clothes, right? The guy meant well, after all.

No. This is really a story about us. About our wanting to believe that we are just and good and, dare I say it, holy. And that any cause we champion is just and good and holy as well, and after all, we are helping out some homeless folks who need clothes…

It is never okay to stigmatize people in the defense of your cause – no matter how just or good it is. It is never okay to use poor people – or, in fact, any people, as props or object lessons or teaching tools. Ever.

People who are experiencing homelessness are people. They are not extras in a movie about you.

In an op-ed for CNN earlier this month, David Frum, a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast, discusses surprising statistics regarding homelessness in the United States.

“The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that the number of the chronically homeless declined by 30% between 2005 and 2007. You might have expected the numbers to spike again when the financial crisis hit but no. Since 2007, the number of chronic homeless has dropped another 19%.”

He attributes the decline in individuals without houses to the policies of Philip Mangano, former executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness under George W. Bush. Specifically, Frum credits Mangano’s “housing first” concept as the reason for his success.

“A former music agent imbued with the religious philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi, Mangano was seized by an idea pioneered by New York University psychiatrist Sam Tsemberis: ‘housing first.’

The ‘housing first’ concept urges authorities to concentrate resources on the hardest cases — to move them into housing immediately — and only to worry about the other problems of the homeless after they first have a roof over their heads. A 2004 profile in The Atlantic nicely summarized Tsemberis’ ideas: ‘Offer them (the homeless) the apartment first, he believes, and you don’t need to spend years, and service dollars, winning their trust.’”

Love Wins celebrates Mangano and his success, and we’re always happy to see a decline in individuals without houses! We serve these members of our community a little differently, however.

We may help people without houses obtain shelter, food, and jobs, but we don’t “[o]ffer them … the apartment first” to win their trust. We offer relationships and love, in the hope that the rest of society will do the same. In other words, we operate on a model other than “housing first;” we focus on “community first.” As our founder, Hugh Hollowell, says, “The opposite of homelessness isn’t housing. The opposite of homelessness is community.”

Executive Director

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Rev. Hollie Woodruff Duncan

Director of Faith & Community Partnerships

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Sara Acosta

Director of Communications

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Maggie Kane

NC State Intern

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Sarah McCoy, M. Div.

Ministry Intern

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Rachel Jones

Office Volunteer

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Emma Nafziger

Mennonite Mission Service

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Ashlyn Watson

Communications Intern

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Artist In The Woods
An Urban Art Show Featuring
Rocky Reese & Friends

Sunday, June 2
12 noon – 2 p.m.
Hillyer Memorial Christian Church
Raleigh, NC

A lunch reception to honor local artists in the Love Wins community. 

Email Hollie with questions.

Win Bassett

We are pleased to introduce you to our new friend Win Bassett. Win is passionate about what we’re doing, so it’s convenient that he’s also a talented writer and social media ninja.

While Win is in town before shipping off to New Haven in the fall for Yale Divinity School, he will be writing for us twice a week. His unique background offers a refreshing voice, and one that I hope you will appreciate over the next couple of months.

Win’s bio from his website:

Win Bassett is a writer, lawyer, and entering Yale Divinity School student who is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post.

He has written for Sojourners, Patheos, All About Beer Magazine, BeerAdvocate Magazine, Beer West Magazine, Serious Eats, and other publications. He has forthcoming pieces in Books & Culture and Publishers Weekly.

He holds bachelor degrees in electrical engineering and computer engineering from North Carolina State University, where he was a Park Scholar. He earned a law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law and was an editor of the North Carolina Law Review. Upon graduation from law school, Win served as an assistant district attorney and the executive director of the North Carolina Brewers Guild.

You can find him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@winbassett and on Facebook at http://facebook.com/winbassett.

You can read his work for Love Wins here.

• I am in school for my GED.
• I volunteer at Love Wins.
• I have a daughter named Alexis Paige.
• I have been in recovery for 90 days.
• I have been homeless for 2.5 years.
• I’m from Louisiana.
• I’m LGBT.
• I’m trying to get my life together.

I would like to share my baptism photos with you, and how I felt in each photo.

In this photo Hugh and I are excited for my baptism. I had a lot of nerves and anxiety for my baptism, though.

Yesterday I thought about my baptism in the same way I think about the third step of my recovery: I turn my will and my life over to the care of God to the best of my understanding.

I want to say thank you to Hugh for helping me in every way that you have. I have never had a minister help me like you do. He also takes the time to explain things to me in a way that helps me to understand.

Maggie was a lot of support for me on my baptism day. Thank you for the chocolate cake, Maggie! She has a way of calming me down. She is a very cheerful and welcoming person.

This is my friend Denie. I have been friends with her for a little over two years, and we’ve been through a lot of hard times, but we still manage to hold on to our friendship. Denie has also been a great support system, and she helps me to grow and understand myself.

In this photo I am also nervous before my baptism.

This picture represents the huge step that I took in getting baptized because I did it for myself, and not for anybody else. It took a lot for me to get to this point in life and to believe that there is a God, and that God is on my side.

Sara is another support system in my network. She makes me laugh and smile all the time.  I feel that she can understand or relate to different obstacles that appear in my life. She tries to make me understand things from a different view.

These are roses that came from Sara’s garden. I picked the yellow roses because they mean friendship.

This is me after baptism. I was really excited to get this Bible from a sweet couple, and they also explained to me what kind of Bible it was. I was just glad to get out of my dress!

I would like to say thank you to EVERYBODY who has supported me and been by my side way before baptism, and after baptism, and now. Much love to everyone.