Feeding the homeless

Tonight we visited an adipost (homeless shelter) on the outskirts of the city. Our team consisted of Jackie, myself, Adina, musicians Marius the leader of the SNM Kids Club, Sarah and Elizabeth (Jackie's grandaughters) and Bianca, one of their friends.

Tonight there are 50 people in the night shelter (a larger proportion of men to women).  It is normally open from 8 pm until 8am.  However in the winter months the ladies are allowed to stay in during the day.  Tonight we took them pizza, pop, hats, socks, paper hankies, tea shirts, toothpaste, toothbrushes, toiletries and crosses.  Adina, I and Jackie served the food and gave out the gifts whilst Marius and Elizabeth led the carols with guitars.  We had plenty of pizza - many came back for 3 helpings.   The tears were not confined to the homeless.  It was truly a touching evening - thank you Lord for using us to bring in a little joy to their lives.. I just wish we could do more.   Some of the stories were so incredible sad.

Bless them, they all had a story to tell, but one dear lady called Olga stood out in the crowd. She looked like an ordinary grandmother and had a face so full of love but with a sadness that touched my soul..  When she saw us coming with the love of Jesus, food, gifts and carols she started to cry.  My heart just bled for her when we asked about how she ended up on the streets. Her husband had died 28 years ago.  She had incurred some debts and sadly borrowed  money from a loan shark.When she could not manage the repayments he simply took her home and put her out on the street with her son.  She and her son have been  sleeping at the adipost for 4 years and sadly last week he died.  We did not have the heart to ask what happened to him.  She was in total grief.  She told us she had a pension equivalent to 100 pounds a month so she must have previously had a job..  However there is no way that she can rent a tiny apartment or even a room for that and pay utilities and medical expenses.   We would be in a position to help with food through the Widows Mite Project.  Please please join us in prayer that God will provide for her needs.
 
It was hard to come away.  The ladies all had beds in their dormitary but the men had mattresses on the floor.  The rooms had oil filled radiators in them but some were complaining they were cold in the night.  We will take along a supply of blankets and all the scarves we forgot to take along tonight.  We respect the policy of the adipost in not posting pictures of vulnerable adults on the internet.