Somatra, volunteer leader for Kingdom Causes in Homeless Hospitality Group, shares her experience of collaboration with several local congregations to furnish empty apartments:There we were, local churches from all around Long Beach, gathering together to join in a city movement to house the homeless. I was thinking to myself, “REALLY! This is so awesome.” How that looks like and the details of it were beyond me at the time but I knew I couldn’t miss out on this opportunity. It was not just an opportunity to serve a homeless person but it was an opening to new relationships with local churches and a chance to show the city that churches can work together under the provision of Christ! It was a true delight to see the heart and excitement of people in the room and I couldn’t wait for our first move-in project together.
Susana Sngiem from Kingdom Causes gave us all a call about the first move-in. It was short notice and it was right before Christmas. This was a crazy time for everyone but that didn’t stop people from helping. So many different churches got involved despite a few challenges and we were able to officially house our first homeless couple! Becky and Anthony have their own home now. They were so grateful and enthusiastic with all the furniture and items we were able to supply for them in a very small time frame. God works fast and all things are possible!
Through these local connections we were able to help another man named Tony who just recently moved in an apartment also. He was living in his car and has been sober for a while now. This was another opportunity for us to work collectively and bless him with some items for his new apartment. What was great about this move-in was how we worked so fluently together in getting the items and how quickly we responded. Keep in mind this was all during the holidays so it was a difficult time for people to help. But people did help and now Tony has all the items he need for his apartment. He was speechless and was in awe of how amazing God is. He didn’t say how amazing we were…he said how amazing God is. This was a sign of hope to me that God is present in his life and we are doing a good thing here. I am so proud of everyone involved but what makes this so significant is that all the glory goes to God. It’s not about me, it’s about Him. I’m just in for the ride. So I am excited to be a part of this and I can’t wait for future move-ins. It was without doubt a big move for Becky, Anthony, and Tony, a big move with the churches and people involved, and certainly the one of many big moves God will do.
If you are interested in theses move-in projects contact me somatra.sean@lbfc.org
Somatra Sean
Kingdom Causes Long Beach Homelessness Volunteer
Long Beach Friends Church
Inner City Ministries
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