Finding a Home for a Home
I see need in all its forms as I serve at Lunch Partners. From the sick to the anguished, to the fearful, to the hungry, to the worker who just can’t provide enough, need comes in every shape and size and age and color. But what really tugs at my heartstrings are those without a home. Sometimes I just want to scoop someone up in my arms and bring a lost soul home with me, and then my brain steps in and whispers, “Slow down, there, Girl!” My house isn’t big enough for all the misery in this world.
A better solution is changing the paradigm of need itself. By re-integrating the impoverished back into mainstream society, we offer a viable avenue for real change. That’s what I want to do—not eliminate need for one person, but for anyone without a home.
As Extended Hands looks for a site for our Tiny Homes Project, I identify with some of the pain of the houseless. Ideally, we need 2-4 acres, flat, already zoned for occupancy, utility ready, and most of all, free. Oh, did I forget to mention that last part? Yes, we want to put all our funds into ministry, not into land. By providing a one-year home with heat, air conditioning, and all the amenities most of us take for granted, we can change the parameters of what is normal for someone else, if that makes sense. My forte lies in programming, and I’m itching to start constructing the one-year process of counseling, training and preparation that eliminates homelessness for each tiny home’s occupant. At the end of the year, we start over with more candidates for change.
Of course, we’d take land and start from scratch, but the need is so immediate that spending a year in bureaucratic minutiae seems like such a waste of time. We can’t do this fast enough for some of the most vulnerable in our midst. Every so often someone suggests to me that people find themselves in their plights because they don’t want to…fill in the blank: work, or don’t want to change, or don’t want to be free of addiction. I am quick to reply that no four-year-old ever answered, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” with the word, “Homeless.” Yes, one poor choice is often compounded with multiple poor choices, but the need remains ever present. As a people, as a community, we can do better. We can be better.
I asked recently for ideas of what to call our project, and someone suggested Open Arms. I like it. I hope that’s our name…in the meantime, I await the pleasure of someone who will give us a home for our tiny home project. You may know a person who knows a person who knows a person who will do this…will you help us? I know a lot of houseless people who will appreciate your help!