The Welcome Ministry
God give us hygiene.
Please God help us stay clean.
And if you have the time, keep us safe.
We do not want to live
in crime-filled streets.
God please get us out...
--By Belinda Springer, street poet, published in "Homeless Art," StreetWrites, October 13, 1997.
Forty-seven year old Bobby has penned many prayers similar to this. He has a notebook full of them, each one reflecting the many days and nights, months and years he spent living on the sidewalks, parks and alleyways of San Francisco.
"People…they treat you like you're no good. They treat you like you're evil. They treat you like you're ignorant. They treat you as if you didn't matter at all," says Bobby of his nine years without a home.
During that time, Bobby often found respite within the walls of The Welcome Ministry. He'd come for the free meals, for the help applying for local aid, for the occasional hand-me-down electronics he inherited. But he mostly came for the unconditional love he always experienced.
"A lot of people come in here with their troubles," explains Bobby. "Everyone is welcome here. No one is asked to leave."
Bobby rarely has experienced that kind of acceptance. A victim of sexual abuse, Bobby left his Illinois home looking for a better life, but instead found marijuana and amphetamines. Spiraling deeper and deeper into drugs, he wound up in San Francisco, unable to hold a job or put a roof over his head.
Now, with the help of the Rev. Megan Rohrer, director of The Welcome Ministry, Bobby is improving his life. He saw a doctor and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, qualifying him to receive supplemental social security income. That regular check has put a roof over his head and food in his stomach. He's working on the drug addiction and volunteering regularly at The Welcome Ministry.
Bobby's journey out of homelessness involved getting his identification papers, including a California identification card, birth certificate and social security card. In this post 9/11 era, these documents are necessary before anyone -- homeless or not -- can tap into social services. Most homeless people lack the required identification, not to mention the wherewithal or money to apply for it.
"The homeless kept asking us, 'Will you help us get our IDs?'" explains Megan. "You have to have all these documents in the right order. You have to have your birth certificate to get an ID, but you have to have an ID to get your birth certificate."
Megan began advocating for her homeless friends by contacting vital records offices in various states. She pleaded their cases and was largely successful in getting them their papers and subsequent aid. Now, The Welcome Ministry plans to take its Homeless Identification Project one step further with the help of a seed grant from Wheat Ridge Ministries. An additional staff member will soon dedicate all her time to helping homeless people wade through the bureaucracy of identification paperwork, social security hearings, doctor appointments and the like.
"We work with people who can't help themselves, who can't follow the rules of other organizations," said Megan. "We hear how much they wish their lives would improve, but how stuck they feel that they can't do it. We try to walk them through that process and be with them."
The Welcome Ministry also relies on about 350 volunteers to provide the "ministry of presence," as Megan describes it. Those ministries take the form of weekly lunches and three evening meals a month, which often include opportunities for computer training, Bible study, and freebies such as toiletries and hair cuts. Megan also provides one-on-one counseling on issues ranging from drug rehabilitation referrals to finding shelter or jobs.
Bobby is just one of many lives that have been changed as a result.
"When I go to sleep at night, with tears in my eyes, I say, 'Thank you, God, that I have a room to live in now.' I thought I'd die homeless with a needle in my arm. I consider The Welcome Ministry the hands of Jesus Christ reaching out to help people," he said.
Wheat Ridge Ministries is so thankful for your prayer and financial support of its various ministries, seeding health and hope in places like the streets of San Francisco and the hearts of the homeless who reside there.
Written by Jennifer Halupnik
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