annalyzer
02-07-2009, 02:44 PM
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/every_monday_night_this_group.html?category=Spring field
Every Monday night, this group of volunteers looks for homeless people to help in Springfield
by The Republican Newsroom
Saturday February 07, 2009, 1:00 PM
http://blog.masslive.com/breakingnews/2009/02/large_Homeless1.jpg
A group of volunteers pray for and with a man known to them only as Willie, center, in downtown Springfield. The volunteers are a coalition of Christians who make a weekly Monday night search for homeless in need of assistance, during the winter.
SPRINGFIELD -Drunk and weaving from side to side, the man staggered along Worthington Street just before midnight. The temperature was 27 degrees.
Narrowly missing being hit by a passing car, he stumbled and fell face-first into a snowbank. Before he could get to his feet, four men had set upon him.
The man stiffened to defend himself from an attack, but the four meant no harm.
Two steadied him to his feet, another tried to put gloves on his raw, exposed hands, and a fourth asked if he needed a ride to a shelter or anywhere else.
"Are you serious?" the man exclaimed in apparent disbelief. "This isn't happening!"
The Rev. Gregory S. Dyson eased the man - who said his name was "Marco" - into a warm van that would take him to his friend's house, where he had been temporarily staying on the sofa.
Before closing the door, Dyson asked "Marco" to remember the faces of the people who helped him.
"Tomorrow, you can tell the story," he said. "You were out walking, and people stopped you and did the right thing."
Dyson is the interim pastor at the Church of the Acres in the city's Sixteen Acres neighborhood. He is also part of a group that is trying to do the right thing by the homeless in Springfield.
Dyson, the Rev. James G. Munroe of Christ Church Cathedral, and the Rev. Jack Desroches of Milestone Ministries have cobbled together a dedicated corps of volunteers who take to the streets weekly to help the homeless.
The group has no name, no formal structure, and no means of funding. But each Monday night from Columbus Day to Mother's Day, between 20 and 70 volunteers go looking for the homeless, often in places only the homeless know.
The Samaritans search alleys, trash bins, and doorways. They check parts of the bicycle path near the Connecticut River, and they venture under highway overpasses and railroad trestles.
They also check the front steps and nooks and crannies around City Hall, Old First Church, and Symphony Hall, where a homeless man was found dead four years ago on a bitter January morning.
The Monday night ministry, which, for lack of a better name, is what its members call themselves, aims to help anyone on the street get off the street, said Dyson.
Volunteers give out blankets, mittens, food, and anything else to help those in need. The "anything else" includes just talking with the homeless people they encounter, and, if they are willing, inviting them to pray with the group.
They provide rides to shelters, including the Worthington House shelter at 769 Worthington St. On nights when it has been especially cold and those they help are unwilling to go to a shelter, they have been known to pony up the money for a motel room.
"That's what we do," Dyson said. "We go out, we love them, and we care for them."
They sometimes meet people who, under no circumstances, will go inside - to a shelter or anywhere else. In those cases, the Samaritans hand out extra blankets and pray some more.
Dyson and others use the expression that they are acting as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. They see themselves taking His biblical teachings and applying them to the world.
"That's what we do," Dyson said. "We go out, we love them, and we care for them."
(more at link)
Every Monday night, this group of volunteers looks for homeless people to help in Springfield
by The Republican Newsroom
Saturday February 07, 2009, 1:00 PM
http://blog.masslive.com/breakingnews/2009/02/large_Homeless1.jpg
A group of volunteers pray for and with a man known to them only as Willie, center, in downtown Springfield. The volunteers are a coalition of Christians who make a weekly Monday night search for homeless in need of assistance, during the winter.
SPRINGFIELD -Drunk and weaving from side to side, the man staggered along Worthington Street just before midnight. The temperature was 27 degrees.
Narrowly missing being hit by a passing car, he stumbled and fell face-first into a snowbank. Before he could get to his feet, four men had set upon him.
The man stiffened to defend himself from an attack, but the four meant no harm.
Two steadied him to his feet, another tried to put gloves on his raw, exposed hands, and a fourth asked if he needed a ride to a shelter or anywhere else.
"Are you serious?" the man exclaimed in apparent disbelief. "This isn't happening!"
The Rev. Gregory S. Dyson eased the man - who said his name was "Marco" - into a warm van that would take him to his friend's house, where he had been temporarily staying on the sofa.
Before closing the door, Dyson asked "Marco" to remember the faces of the people who helped him.
"Tomorrow, you can tell the story," he said. "You were out walking, and people stopped you and did the right thing."
Dyson is the interim pastor at the Church of the Acres in the city's Sixteen Acres neighborhood. He is also part of a group that is trying to do the right thing by the homeless in Springfield.
Dyson, the Rev. James G. Munroe of Christ Church Cathedral, and the Rev. Jack Desroches of Milestone Ministries have cobbled together a dedicated corps of volunteers who take to the streets weekly to help the homeless.
The group has no name, no formal structure, and no means of funding. But each Monday night from Columbus Day to Mother's Day, between 20 and 70 volunteers go looking for the homeless, often in places only the homeless know.
The Samaritans search alleys, trash bins, and doorways. They check parts of the bicycle path near the Connecticut River, and they venture under highway overpasses and railroad trestles.
They also check the front steps and nooks and crannies around City Hall, Old First Church, and Symphony Hall, where a homeless man was found dead four years ago on a bitter January morning.
The Monday night ministry, which, for lack of a better name, is what its members call themselves, aims to help anyone on the street get off the street, said Dyson.
Volunteers give out blankets, mittens, food, and anything else to help those in need. The "anything else" includes just talking with the homeless people they encounter, and, if they are willing, inviting them to pray with the group.
They provide rides to shelters, including the Worthington House shelter at 769 Worthington St. On nights when it has been especially cold and those they help are unwilling to go to a shelter, they have been known to pony up the money for a motel room.
"That's what we do," Dyson said. "We go out, we love them, and we care for them."
They sometimes meet people who, under no circumstances, will go inside - to a shelter or anywhere else. In those cases, the Samaritans hand out extra blankets and pray some more.
Dyson and others use the expression that they are acting as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. They see themselves taking His biblical teachings and applying them to the world.
"That's what we do," Dyson said. "We go out, we love them, and we care for them."
(more at link)