Serving the Least Served

 “...let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”  (John 13:17-18)

A couple of years ago, my friends and I founded "Neighbors Who Care", comprised of average folks from three different churches.  Our goal was to serve Rohnert Park's homeless population, starting with a lunch program every Tuesday and Thursday in Rohnert Park.

Now almost every day, I head out to make the rounds of the homeless camps around Rohnert Park.  There I touch bases with Rohnert Park’s most under-served homeless population.  Most are men and most have “problems” of one kind or another. 

These men and women do not usually benefit from the services available to the homeless in Sonoma County.  They may never be able to obtain permanent housing for one reason or another.  They’re often not able to avail themselves of area shelters; sometimes it’s because they might a have a dog, sometimes it’s because of their various problems with substance abuse or mental health and behavioral issues, sometimes they just want don't want to be in a shelter.

So they live in camps and they walk our streets.   

And they need help from time to time, so we try to give it to them.

 “Mike” (not his real name) has cancer.  He’s now hospitalized, and is not expected to survive.  I gave him rides to the hospital, and now I try to give rides to any of his friends who want to pay him a visit and to visit him myself.  It’s a just a little thing, a few hours of time and few dollars in gas, but it makes a world of difference to “Mike”.

At Thanksgiving and Christmas, Neighbors Who Care purchases gift cards from area restaurants, so that the homeless can have a nice hot meal on those holidays.  We buy them the basics, like tube socks and soap.

These are just little things, but they make the everyday lives of these men and women a little better.

Most of the funds come from our own pockets. Recently, a local businessman gave us a large donation that helped buy tents, shoes, coats and blankets during the freezing weather we had in December and January.

Right now, county Sheriffs have been moving the Rohnert Park homeless out of their camp grounds. Tomorrow (March 7) is "move-out day" at the camps in South Santa Rosa/North Rohnert Park; local authorities have  ordered them to evacuate.  So life for these homeless has just gotten a little harder. 

The Bible tells us, “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deed.”  (Proverbs 19:17), and, “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”  (John 13:17-18)

We believe that it’s important to help this under-served homeless population.  So we’ll keep making the lunches and driving around to find them and find out what they might need today. 

Maybe it’s a drop in the bucket, but we believe that “…we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ “ (Acts 20:35 )

If you would like to help with our homeless ministry, please call me at 584-5673.