INSIDER SPEAKS FOR HOMELESS CITIZENS
She signs her name with the phrase ‘Peace, Emma’.
Since I am not showing her photograph; just imagine a charismatic woman---once lost---humbled by circumstance.
With a little help, she endured. Meet a woman who has lived in a shelter for 4 years, but is now a prominent voice within her community.
“Last month, on Labor Day, I was particularly conscious of how the
Open Door Community has provided me with good, meaningful work to do,” said Emma. She laughs. “On that day my work was hosting a cookout in our backyard for about 400 people.”
The people she speaks about are homeless. Emma calls them neighbors. She was a greeter at the event, but to hear her describe it smacks of some yesteryear disappointment.
“That day my work was resisting this soul-killing capitalism in the USA which says there is not enough and it is necessary that some people go without,” she said. Then she smiles. “That day my work was soul-restoring hospitality."
Emma just represents one of hundreds of people who come through the programs at the Open Door Community. There; to be saved is to experience a bit of faith and diversity.
But to people who have given up on life based on an infinite number of reasons, hope is an easy sell. So is getting along with others, no matter what race. And it seems to work.
“I grew up in Cabot, Arkansas,” Emma said “…a location of privilege that made it impossible to understand both the gospels and the civil rights movement. That’s why I wanted to be here.”
If you think 29-year old Emma sounds a lot like
Mark Twain, you would have to know Samuel Langhorne Clemens took his travel memories and turned them into gold by writing
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County when he was her age.
( Info for the yearly Frogtown event. )
Emma still has her own novel to write. Credit her for having seen a lot in four years and not walking away from people that are in need. She says that when good things happen to people, everyone wins.
Open Door serves breakfasts, soup-kitchen lunches, provide showers and changes of clothes.
They staff a free medical clinic, conduct worship services, hold meetings for the clarification of thought and provide a prison ministry.
“We all benefit when someone allows a thirsty person to fill a bottle at their spigots,” Emma said. “We all benefit when anyone with hurting feet gets fresh socks and shoes that fit.”
Some call it paying it forward and others jab that it doesn’t calculate into anything but trickle-down charity. For those involved, it is making a difference.
---Ray Macon
