The Road Paved With Good Intentions...

In the last month the Cherokee Tribune Newspaper and The Cherokee Ledger-News have brought much attention to the homeless camps in Canton. It all started when the Mayor visited one of the homeless camps and had his eyes opened.

Education and awareness are good things.

As a result, organizations have come together to facilitate the opening of an emergency shelter. Canton’s emergency shelter will be a place for individuals to come out of the cold and be safe during cold snaps and will provide the most basic human needs, warmth and shelter.

This shelter is a good thing.

In this week’s Cherokee Ledger-News, additional print space was given to the shelter opening. Many details were shared and more information was given. But on Page 12, right below the “Shelter” article there was a small blurb titled, “Woodstock considers homeless ordinance”.

I guess it was just a matter of time.

The reality is, each city should have a homeless ordinance. All societies have rules and regulations, it’s part of what makes us civilized. However I wonder if all of this publicity and notoriety has done my homeless friends any favors. I wonder if it is a good thing.

In the last month, the privacy of these homeless men has been invaded multiple times and their dignity has certainly taken a beating. I can only imagine how humiliated these men were when they saw pictures of their dirty laundry hanging in the trees plastered all over the front page of a newspaper. Many folks have ventured into the homeless camps in the last few weeks with intentions of “doing good things” but the reality is these men just want to be left alone. They’ve told us this on more than one occasion. These men just want to live their lives quietly without drawing attention.

I guess it’s a bit late for that now.

My pastor Jamey Pricket told us in a sermon last week, “Your dreams may be someone else’s nightmare”.  I’ve prayed for over a year for a shelter of some kind for my homeless friends. This new emergency shelter is like a dream come true and I’m praising God for His abundant provision. I truly believe this shelter is an answer to prayer.

However, I think my new prayer will be, “Lord, please don’t let all of this publicity become a nightmare for these men.”

Amen.

Happy Faces at Kid's Bible Club

Dear Readers,

This Blog entry is from a very dear friend of mine, Ginger Klingler, who has worked along side Forever Fed since we started in August 2010. Ginger serves each month at the Kid's Bible Club outreach and she graciously volunteered to share her perspective of volunteering.

Happy Faces at Kid's Bible Club

Happy faces greet me when once a month I volunteer with Forever Fed to serve a meal to 4th and 5th grade boys at a weekly Bible Club.  Their laughter and enthusiasm are contagious and it is something I look forward to doing each month.

Forever Fed was an idea I saw germinate in the heart of Susan Vanderheyden when, using her nursing skills, she came for three years to help take care of my husband who had advanced Parkinsons.  She spoke about her involvement with the poor and disadvantaged in Canton and the need to do more to reach out to our struggling neighbors.  I saw how in faith she stepped out to try to address our local need.

This month at the Bible Club a child eagerly offered to say thanks for the food.  He prayed that they would like what was for dinner that night and then prayed for a friend's lost dog, for safety for one of the boy's grandmother who was coming to visit from Mexico and for a little cousin who had just had heart surgery. After the meal the young man who was the leader for that night asked if the children had any goals for the new year.  Several hands flew up and they shared that they were going to read their Bible every day.  Another child said he wanted to get deeper into the heart of Jesus!  As I was driving home from the meeting I prayed for these beautiful children and thanked God for the blessing they are to my heart and what a priviledge it is to be a volunteer with Forever Fed.

Ginger Klingler

The Prayer

We had a bunch of volunteers at our Block Party Event tonight in Canton. Several congregations came together to serve the Canton community and it's just so very encouraging to see denominational walls being torn down. Thank you to each and every volunteer and Church that worked together towards a common goal. We served 150+ meals tonight!!!

Since we had so many volunteers I got to sit and chat with some of our guests, two of which were homeless men. I was honored that they trusted us enough to video the interview as well. The more I get to know these men the more I discover their quiet dignity and care worn faces are simply masks for past hurts and much heart break.

As they shared with us some of the tragedy of their lives we learned that one man's wife had died during childbirth and the other was estranged from his teen-aged boys, both were very, very lonely. I felt awful because some of my questions brought them to tears and that was not at all what I intended but I am happy they opened up and shared a bit of their stories.

I really wanted them to leave our event on a good note so before they left I asked them if we could pray and they said “Sure!” so we all joined hands.

As Randy Kinkaid and I stood with these two homeless men and one of them jumped right in and started praying. What do you think this guy asks God for? More food? A warm place to sleep?  A job? Happiness? A chance to see his children again? Nope. This homeless man asked nothing at all for himself. His prayer was, “Lord, please help those who are less fortunate than ourselves.”

I'm thinking, "What? Really?"

It’s 37 degrees outside, the wind is blowing, there are 4-6 inches of snow and ice predicted for tomorrow and this guy is sleeping in a tent in the woods in Canton, Georgia because the landscaping business he works for has no work , and he’s praying  for “others less fortunate than himself”.   

Wow.

The homeless are so grossly misunderstood. The sad thing is, it's just the beginning of the slow season for landscapers. I'm certain others will follow this same path very soon. 

Friends...these men are your neighbors. 

The Writing on the Wall

One of the curious things in Kenya, Africa I discovered during a recent mission trip was that nearly every wall of every building was considered "valuable visual display space". In Kenya the walls of buildings are used for advertising and delivering messages...no space is left unused. We saw schools with lessons painted on the walls both inside and out as well as business names and advertisements on every surface. All together it made for a very colorful and interesting country to tour. 

The school you see in the photo above was one we visited. Three of our team members interviewed the head master of this school attempting to glean whether this was a good school for the children in House of Hope Orphanage to attend. 

I got a bit tickled at the head master when he was answering many questions. This poor guy was being put through his paces and at one point he said something like, "Well you can see who we are by the writing on the wall. It says right there we are training up children to be leaders with integrity!"

The "skeptic" in me immediately thought, "Well just because you wrote something that sounds good and looks good on your wall doesn't make it truth. The real proof will be in the educational achievements and leadership skills gained by your students after they've attended school here for a year."

In reality we are all judged by the fruit we produce.

I learned much from that trip and I'm still applying those lessons to the life I'm living. 

Our website has a ton of great pictures and many blogs and information on poverty and frankly, I think it looks pretty spiffy! However a website is just America's version of a Kenyan building wall. We can pretty much write what ever we want on our web page and hopefully we'll be seen and known as a ministry of integrity as we gain a history of serving our community. 

But I'd rather our readers come and visit some of our events to evaluate that "we are who we say we are and that we do what we say we do" and gain some knowledge first hand.

I'd like to challenge you to come and see Forever Fed for yourselves, come and share a meal with us.

We'd love to see you and introduce you to some of our neighbors we serve. I think you'll find smiles you see on the kid's faces in our photos aren't nearly as bright as the smiles you'll see face to face.   

We hope to see you soon!

A Precious Gift

I am an early riser and I utilize my morning time for many things, one of which is perusing Face Book for recent posts and updates. Yes Face Book can be a huge time waster but it is also a great way to stay in contact with what is happening in the lives of your friends. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!)

This morning I was greeted with a precious gift from a long time friend Barb Sherer. Barb is a photographer and often posts her artwork on Facebook. Barb’s post was a precious picture of an infant just a few days old. (Visit www.barbshererphotography.com to view tons of baby pictures)

As I looked at this tiny baby I saw innocence. He was so very new to this world and so pure. He has not sinned. He's never been ridiculed by friends nor torn down by discouraging comments of others. He's never experienced rejection, failure, or heart ache. He's never lost a job nor harmed another person. He has never sinned. This child is so new the only thing he's ever really experienced is love, and I was in awe.  His future was bright and filled with infinite possibilities. The sky is the limit for this child.   

Sometimes we fail to realize how God sees us and we forget how very special we are in God’s eyes. God is our Holy and Heavenly Father-- and we--are His. He doesn’t look on us with disdain, God looks on us with love and sees infinite possibilities!

After viewing this newborn child I asked myself, “Does my life (and more importantly my behavior) reflect God’s hope for me and my future?”  When we’re born God has hopes and dreams for us and those hopes and dreams are still alive in Him. (See Jeremiah 29:11) Are they alive in me? Are they alive in you?

So what does this message have to do with Forever Fed? Our goal is to not only meet the physical needs of hungry people we’re also about restoring hope and teaching others they are precious in His sight. Sure, we travel to impoverished neighborhoods and feed hungry folks but through our service we hope to show our guests just how MUCH God cares for them.

Without a healthy serving of hope and love, it’s just food.

"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:4,5 NAS)

Susan Vanderheyden