Thanksgiving and Christmas are holidays when most people look forward to family, food and fun. Families get together for huge Thanksgiving feasts. Food is in abundance and fun abounds as the young cousins chase each other around the house. Teen cousins share music and video games while adults share stories of what their children have done in the last year.
But what about the families that are homeless? What are they to do? What memories will they share in coming years of their 2011 holiday season? And what are the parents to say to their children? How do parents explain to little ones why there is no roof over their head? How do they explain away the cold in their bones or the hunger in their stomachs? What would you say?
Many of the local schools are seeing children in their classrooms that are homeless. Parents that have lost their jobs and then their homes are more common than many people are aware. Your own child may have a classmate that is homeless.
So what is being done in Sacramento? According to the Sacramento Bee the community has stepped up to the plate! (see full editorial here: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/02/v-print/4023393/cooperation-on-winter-shelter.html) Those that have been instrumental in helping the homeless get out of the cold for the winter are: Sacramento Supervisor Phil Serna, Mayor Kevin Johnson, County Executive Brad Hudson and City Manager John Shirey as well as many of the local churches. Sacramento Steps Forward, a non profit, is being looked at to coordinate the homeless programs in the county.
Is your church helping?
Another area where your family might get affected is through your church. As the community pulls together to help get the homeless off the streets at night and out of the cold, many churches are pulling together to help. They are opening their doors and letting the homeless sleep in the church to get out of the cold.
If you can imagine how cold it is outside at night, and that many of these people may not have the coats and/or blankets that are needed, you can understand why even a floor inside a building is appreciated more than sleeping outside in the cold and rain on the wet concrete.
The churches are opening their doors and volunteers from the church are helping to make their guests as comfortable as possible given the circumstances. Does your church help with this? If so then your children might be exposed first hand to the homeless. And they just might find that homeless people can be just like everyone else in church… People with various personalities, which your children will find that most homeless are no different than the people in church every week except that they are down on their luck. And given these circumstances… What Would Jesus Do?
Do you discuss the economy in your home? Do you discuss how the economy may affect your family? Do you discuss what is going on in your city with your children? Have they seen homeless people at the intersections, asking for food, money and/or work? Have they seen people at McDonald’s asking for food? Maybe a first step would be to teach the children to pray for the homeless… To Be Continued
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