February for our Homeless Friends
February in Northeast Ohio is typically long, dark and very difficult for a wide range of people living under the bitter cold.
Our homeless friends were especially affected this year with the bitter cold temperatures mid month. Here’s a quick update for you as you pray.
A New Friend Joins Us
Hope Farm was blessed by a new friend we call “Uncle Fred.” He donated to our ministry with the specific purpose of making sure our homeless friends were able to have heat. This generous donation as well as several others enabled us to purchase propane heaters, hand warmers, and several sternos for our friends to use to help stay warm. Donations like this can be literal life-savers for our friends living outdoors during the harshest weeks of winter.
Old Friends Pass
This winter also was dark with the sadness of death. Hope Farm and our friend community lost three special people. Our dear friend Ginger Spradlin passed in late January. She was an amazing friend and partner in ministry. She was so committed to helping others! When we first met at tent city, Ginger and Jim were in charge of the clothing room. I was nervous when I first started visiting tent city. But, every time I went, Ginger always made me feel so welcome and comfortable. As we talked she would share stories that expressed her love for family and grandchildren. I'm so happy that this summer she was able to take a trip to visit them. It was as if she knew it would be for the last time. Ginger had a heart condition that would soon take her life. Fortunately although Ginger did live in a tent for a time, the last two years she was able to live safely indoors. She is missed by us all.
Our friend known as “Chubbs” struggled with addiction to methamphetamine. His last days were spent living in an abandoned house. We would visit with him weekly on Mondays with lunch, and on Wednesday nights he would come to Middlebury Chapel for dinner with other friends and volunteers. One of our volunteer friends, Jen attempted to help him get into much needed (and wanted) treatment, but for various reasons she was unable to do so. Tragically, he took his own life. He was several days sober, yet still defeated. He will be remembered by me for his kind respectful attitude and for his amazing blue eyes. He once was a big man, but addiction sapped both his size and his desire to live. We are all so incredibly sad that treatment remained out of reach for Chubbs.
Just last night I learned of the death of my friend, Rosey who lived in the senior apartments next door to 15 Broad St.. I met Rosey on a warm summer day just outside her apartment. We were serving lunch and giving away clothing when she joined us. We quickly became friends, and Hope Farm was able to help her with bus passes to help her get to her various doctor appointments. She told our friend Lerryn she was having trouble with vertigo, although she would say ''I'm having vertical troubles". To me she would speak of the "bad spells" she was having with her back. Little did we know that all the while she was suffering through brain cancer! I had no idea that the last time I saw her to drop off a bus pass and give her a hug would be the last time I would see her in this life.
This past Fall when President Trump supplied organizations with the Farm to Family blessing of a huge box of food, a friend that received a van full of boxes contacted me. He was in a bit of a panic as the food was perishable, I called Rosey and she rallied the neighbors in her building and together my friend Blake Moore and Rosey blessed her neighbors. I will miss my friend Rosey and our visits.
Prayer and Support
My dear friends, let us be the light to others, we never know when it will be our last day to share love, joy, peace and HOPE with family, friends, people God has placed in our lives. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. The prayers and support you offer provide myself and our team the resources and strength to love people in their greatest need. Thanks so much for all you do!
