With No Place to Call Home

By Miss Charlene

I was asked to write this article because SisterLisa knew that I had a past of being homeless. I will have to think about some things that I have finally forgotten. It took me a long time to get over it growing up as a kid. I can honestly say that looking back, in spite of the hardships, it was a valuable lesson to be learned.

I was born into a deaf family. I had a deaf father, mother and younger sister. I was also born on the road because we were constantly moving with no place to go. My father refused to work and received a disability income from the government called Social Security. Often times, he would leave us and my mother stranded in some strange town to fend for ourselves. Where he went, none of us really knew.

We were in a different town every two months or less. I have been to fourteen different schools and that was before the fourth grade. My mother tried counting all the places that I have lived and it was over forty different places. I grew up in the backseat of a car, and not even the same car because my father would trade it in every two weeks.

My sister and I grew up sleeping in the backseat of the car. Some people would let us sleep on their floor if my father knew them from his old school or someplace else. If we were lucky, we would get to sleep in a motel room. I loved motel rooms and I especially loved the vending machines with snacks and soda!

There were many times when our car broke down or if we ran out of food, that my father would make us stay at a supermarket parking lot all day in the sun and sell ABC cards. These cards were a tiny card that showed the hand signs for the alphabet. It had a BIC pen that was put in the middle. Inside the card, it said "any donation needed."

My father would make me do a lot of the ABC card handouts because he said people felt sorry for kids more. I remember being so humiliated because we had to knock on car windows if we saw a person sitting inside and waiting in the parking lot. Most of the time we would get spare change or a few bucks. Sometimes there were generous souls. I remember what a huge excitement and relief it was if someone handed us more than we expected! It was a Disneyland kind of joy.

We went to the Salvation Army many times when they had food for the needy. As a girl, I lined up with hundreds of homeless men and women to get food and clothing. I have memories of them being the kindest people I have ever met. They would always let us go first because we were children. One of them dressed like a poor Santa and brightened up my day! I am tearing up as I write this because they are amazing people with the biggest hearts.

I see people ignoring them as they drive by those people. I can recognize the look in their eyes and their soul is weary. I remember that feeling where it's constantly about survival and how we needed anything to get a meal and some comfort. I remember that feeling how it seemed like everybody in the world had it all, going shopping, driving to the fast food drive through, getting in their fancy cars and we couldn't even afford the smallest thing.

God blessed our family when he finally got us out of that life after ten years. He gave us a step dad, a new house and I had my very own room. These were the things I had always dreamed of. I got to go to the same school and live in the same town for longer than two months. I got to feel like a kid for a few short years but I am grateful.

Many homeless people will never get that chance. Many die from exposure every day. They freeze to death and they starve to death. God has called us to help those in need and to give from our hearts. There is a passage in the Bible where the Lord separates the sheep from the goat and gives the glory to the sheep for helping him. The sheep ask him when they did these things. He replied,

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40

And the Bible tells us that God will bless us and we will not lack anything if we give to the poor.

"He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse." Proverbs 28:27

My mother and I are starting a new ministry to help the homeless. We want to crochet as many blankets as we can by next winter to give out to the homeless to endure the cold. If you want to be involved, you can follow the pattern on the website, Needles for the Needy, and send in your own blankets! If you cannot crochet, then we could use yarns and donations to help the women have more yarn to make more blankets.

You can be involved to help the needy from a smile in their direction, helping in shelters, raising money to help shelters, bringing a bag of food to someone, and it can be many things. I hope I can encourage you all to be involved somehow.

"She stretcheth out her hand to the poor, yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy." Proverbs 30:20

Charlene is a deaf mom of two boys, one being hard of hearing. Her heart for God shines through her life and she has the 'law of kindness' in her words. She writes for AGMinistries, and you can read more about her at 'Bring on the Rain'.