I have known James and Ruby for about five months. I have watched them battle with recovery from alcohol addiction, watched them grow in their faith, listened as they have battled their demons, sat in their room they rent from a local slumlord, had Ruby cry on my shoulder as she battled with her inner demons. Together with my friends, we have loved them and been loved by them.
Three weeks or so ago, James was driving home from work when a police car, chasing another car, plowed into the van he was driving and broke his neck. James is a vigorous working, blue collar sort of guy who aches to work, but is now in a neck brace and sitting at home, watching Oprah on a grainy small TV and counting the weeks until he can work again. Ruby is doting on him and crying and wanting her man to be well and whole again.
James is a proud man who has never asked me for anything. He is a believer in a God who will make a way, who will clear a path, a God who provides. Today, I am asking you to be the hands and feet through which God can provide for James and Ruby.
James cannot work for at least another 10 weeks or so and they are in serious danger of losing their way too small rooming house room. Their situation has always bordered upon precarious, but it is now in a freefall…
We have their rent guaranteed for the next two weeks, thanks to existing donations. They are getting some help with clothing from the Salvation Army, but food is a serious problem. Here is what they need:
- A monthly bus pass ($38)
- Their rent is $90 a week… we need to cover at least 8 more weeks before we have any hope of him being able to work again.
- They have about a week’s worth of groceries… We need gift cards for Food Lion (their neighborhood store). As they live in a room the size of some closets I have seen, they do not have lots of storage space, so with gift cards, we can buy as needed.
In fairness, they both have addiction histories (although they are both currently clean). Because of this, I am, at their request, handling any donations that come in, buying the groceries, paying their rent. I am not asking you to trust them with money.
If you want to help them, please email me and tell me what you want to do for them and we can work out the details. I can even fix it so it is deductible, if that is a concern.
I often end these requests with urges for you to pray, and make no mistake, James and Ruby need your prayers. But in addition to your prayers, what is really needed right now is for someone, or a bunch of someones, to write some checks.
[...] Many of you have written me to ask about the status of James and Ruby, whom I wrote about recently. [...]
[...] Funding: When I have a huge need, I post it here and email for help, like I did recently for James and Ruby. However, for every huge scenario like that, I face many smaller ones; prescriptions that need to [...]
Keep up the good work.