Please consider joining the 2020 St. Thomas Team for approximately 4-5 hours on Thursday, January 23, to help with the 2020 National Homeless Count. Members of St. Thomas have been participating in this event since 2017. One year, we met John, a 43-year-old veteran, living in his car. He was between jobs, evicted from his apartment, saving what he could to pay the deposit and first and last month’s rent for a new apartment. Everything he owned was packed into his compact SUV. That night the temperature was close to freezing. When we saw his car full of belongings, we stopped to get his story and give him some clean socks, toiletries and food we’d brought along.
Why do we need to know his story?
There are special funds and resources available depending on the needs of the homeless population but unless we ask, we don’t know their needs! For example, as a veteran, John was eligible for housing assistance and job counseling. Mothers with children can get food and healthcare to feed their children and keep them healthy. Others on the street may be living with HIV and may or may not have access to life-saving drugs on a regular basis. The harsh winter environment can ravage an already weakened immune system and require hospitalization. But if we don’t know who’s out there, Dallas won’t get the available funding.
“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'” – Matthew 25:40
For more information on the National Homeless Count, email Charles Mullins.
