One of the first homeless people I met when I came to Raleigh was Betty.  She lives in a van just off of Moore’s Square (yes, you read that right) and is sort of the “den mother” (I stole that line, as you will see in a moment) to the homeless in downtown Raleigh. No one has helped me more in my efforts to understand the situation of homelessness here in Raleigh.

Recently, Ruth Sheehan (a columnist here in Raleigh) wrote a column about Betty; you can read the whole story here. It is very well done and quite fair, two things you cannot assume when the News and Observer writes about homelessness.

Sometimes I feel like Don Quixote, slashing away at broken windmills with my rusty lance, but if you see wrong and refuse to speak up, is that not a greater wrong?

Raleigh is an awesome place, and I love it here. The energy, the vibrancy and so on just make me feel alive. One thing that does sadden me is the sense of disconnect between the upper class and the poor. I guess that happens everywhere, but it seems worse here than it was in other cities I have lived in.

Recently there was an article in The News and Observer (the daily paper in Raleigh) talking all about how prostitution represents a blight on the city and how it is driving down property values.

Well, that bothered me (imagine that!) so here is my humble response. They actually edited out a line, but honestly, it was a bit off topic and the letter does read better this way.

My friend and pastor Bill also felt motivated to write a letter, and his can be read here.

Her name was Evelyn, and as near as I can tell, she was 22, although some say 23.  She was a very heavy girl, so heavy it was a struggle for her to walk. She had poor skin and bad hair that often looked greasy, and above all, she avoided eye contact.

I tried several times to engage her in conversation, but she was very withdrawn and self contained; living in fear will make you like that. Evelyn lived in a shelter for women sometimes, sometimes she lived on the street. I have it from 3 different people that Evelyn was often the victim of sexual assault and sexual molestation and that she would trade sexual favors for a warm bed to sleep in, or give oral sex for $2 so she would have  money for a coke or candy bar. (That is not a misprint: $2).

I also have it from different people that more often than not, she would be thrown out of the warm bed, or not be given the $2. After all, she could barely walk; what was she going to do to them? It seems abusing Evelyn was almost a pastime.

Evelyn ate with us every Sunday at Moore’s Square; quiet, darting glances, her greasy head down as she shuffled through line.  You would smile or nod at her and she would look away, like a dog that had been kicked one too many times.

The last time I saw her was Thursday afternoon, about  3. I was on Fayetteville Street, eating a hotdog and trying to be warm. She shuffled on by, I waved and smiled, but she was not paying attention.

Evelyn died that night, a victim apparently of sleep apnea.  I pray intensely that she is no longer afraid and that she now has some peace.

I am furious, I am sad, I am distraught. This girl did not live in the third world; she lived in Raleigh, North Carolina.  While our pious citizens spend 1.8 million for a pipe organ, girls like Evelyn go unnoticed or, worse yet, ignored. You want to know what I keep asking myself? If Evelyn would have been allowed inside that church to hear that pipe organ.

You have probably seen her, walking down the street, head down, feet shuffling, mumbling to herself.

I thought you ought to know her name. Her name was Evelyn.

What comes to mind? Maybe… buy medicine for the uninsured. Perhaps he would buy food for the hungry.  Hmmm. Well, it is cold outside, so maybe he would buy blankets, coats and socks.

Well, one Raleigh church decided that they think Jesus would buy a pipe organ. A. Pipe. Organ. Are you kidding me?

Nope. Not at all. I cannot make this stuff up. The very pious Edenton Street United Methodist Church has decided to spend 1.8 million dollars… on a pipe organ. They had more than a hundred members show up to unload the truck… you know, serving God and all. They spent 3 years planning the purchase, deciding the logistics of just what goes where. They even had a committee. After all, one does not spend 1.8 million dollars lightly.

A pipe organ.  In a city where there are not enough beds at night for the poor, a city where children go to bed hungry and a city with a huge influx of immigrants who need help adapting, the Church that Jesus Christ founded decides they will spend 1.8 million dollars on a pipe organ.

Contrast that attitude about money with the words of John Wesley, the founder of what today is the United Methodist Church.

“Hear ye this, all you who have discovered the treasures which I am to leave behind me; if I leave behind me ten pounds—above my debts and my books, or what may happen to be due on account of them—you and all mankind bear witness against me, that I lived and died a thief and a robber.” (emphasis mine)

Ten pounds in today’s money is about $20 in the US.

Now, you may think I am being harsh to the Methodists here. (In the spirit of disclosure, I was baptized as a Methodist as an infant, grew up in a Methodist church and am largely Wesleyan in my Theology).

More and more people think the church is irrelevant. In the (distant) past, the works of the church were our witness to the greatness of the God we serve. We fed the hungry, sheltered the orphans, bathed the wounds of the injured. The reason they think that is because we show them that it is true.

These days, we manage to rationalize away the words of Jesus, when he said that whatever we do to the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, we do to him. Instead, the church has bought into American culture that bigger is better. We have mega churches, we have family life centers and we have 1.8 million dollar pipe organs. Meanwhile, the church comes across as irrelevant, uncaring and it looks like we are ignoring the commands of our founder. Is it any wonder that church attendance is falling, that many in the post-modern generation see the church as antiquated and self-serving?

When the church quits building building nice country clubs for themselves, when the church quits ignoring the words of Jesus, when the church becomes the church, then maybe the church will have the right to be heard in discussions about morality, religion or ethics. Until that day, they can just sit in their cushioned pews and listen to their pipe organs.

If we are crazy, then it is because we refuse to be crazy in the same way that the world has gone crazy. – Peter Maurin

Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society. – Jacques Ellul

If we were to set out to establish a religion in polar opposition to the Beatitudes Jesus taught, it would look strikingly similar to the pop Christianity that has taken over the airwaves of North America. – Tony Campolo

To our most bitter opponents we say: “Throw us in jail and we will still love you. Bomb our houses and threaten our children and we will still love you. Beat us and leave us half dead and we will still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. – Mohandas Gandhi
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy? – Mohandas Gandhi

I found an interesting post as I was surfing the interweb. They took pictures and captions from the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio. In the post, they show the cost of eating for various families around the world, then show pictures of what that amount buys.

Some figures:

• Germany – $500 a week for food
• North Carolina, USA – $341.98 a week for food
• Great Britain – $253 a week for food
• Kuwait – $221.45 a week for food
• Poland – $151 a week for food
• Ecuador – $31.55 a week for food
•  Breidjing Camp – $1.23 a week for food!!! {Sudanese refugees in Chad}

(Go check out the pictures)
Some things I noticed at the original post:

The further down the list you go, it seems the folks in the photos get happier and happier. Lots of smiles in Chad (in the photo, anyway).

The comments people left are sad, not showing the best side of human nature. I won’t repeat them, go read the post for yourself.

The higher up the list you go, the more packaged food you see on the tables.

The lower you go, the simpler the food gets.

Probably some lessons there.

It costs me about $25 a week at the grocery store and another $30 a week eating out, but most of the eating out is somewhat work related, being as I will grab a cup of coffee while writing in the coffee shop, or meet with a pastor or something over a cup of coffee. Once a week, I treat myself to a sitdown dinner, with silverware and everything, at restaurant; that usually runs about $10-$12 (That is included in the $30 eating out).

A few weeks ago, we fed approximately 150 folks, including seconds for many,  for less than $50. Now, true, some of that was donated, but it still would have cost far less than $1 per person, even had we had to pay full price.

Looking at these numbers above, it is obvious that we really could feed the whole world if we had the will to do so. Obviously, we have the money.

via: Simply Thrifty 

Well, it is at night, anyway.

If you have any blankets, coats or gift cards from Wal-Mart (so we can buy the blankets or coats), I hope you will consider contacting me and donating them so we can distibute them to the homeless and those in need.

Ironically, a large need you may not think of is the need for adult men’s coats. Adult males are often denied room at the shelters (the beds being needed for women and small children).

Thanks in advance for your help and prayers.

First, thank you all for your kind emails of encouragement for the struggles we have here. They are greatly appreciated, and it is that sort of thing that keeps me going when struggling to keep going.

I know not everyone is a blog addict like I am, and that we all have busy lives. In addition, sometimes the blog is not the best format for sharing a piece of information, or the best way to disseminate it to all of you. With that in mind, I have gotten off my lazy butt (kidding, that) and started a newsletter to keep those who want to be in the loop abreast of what’s going on.

No one is going to sell your info, no one is going to spam you (well, not because of this, anyway) and I value your privacy as much as I value mine. If you go to this page, you can sign up to get the new email newsletter.

Understand this is all very new, so I am unsure how often I will be able to publish it, but I am shooting for about once a month or so. In other words, you are not volunteering to get 50 emails a month or anything.

As always, I covet your prayers and thank you for your help.