We Need Your Help!

"Blessed is the one who considers the needy, for the Lord will help him when he is in need." 

Psalm 41:1-2 

Dear Friends of Anawim:

If you think this is a fundraising letter, well, it is.  I apologize about this right now.  I'm not comfortable with anybody asking for contributions, most assuredly not myself. However, we do need your help. Here's why:

Anawim is providing a service that few can do.  Yes, many churches out there feed the homeless. I'm glad they do. They're making a great contribution to aid a very serious problem. But how many churches create a Christian community of the homeless?  How many give the homeless a home, physically, spiritually and socially?

I'm not trying to say that we're better than other churches.  Frankly, we realize -- better than most -- just how much work is involved in this process, as well as the heartbreak and effort in overcoming various kinds of anxieties. We don't expect most churches to do this.  But because this ministry is unique and provides something most churches cannot, we need your help.

Because we are a community of the poor, we need assistance to maintain our financial base so we can continue to help ourselves:

-- We need help to purchase and maintain our center where we worship and offer showers, clothes and food. 

-- We need help to maintain our community house where the homeless live in Christian community and given a place off the street, especially those whose health  cannot allow them to be on the street anymore.

-- We need help to maintain our transportation which brings food to those who need it.

-- We need help to restore IDs for those who lost them

-- We need help to offer day labor for those who are unemployed

-- We need help to offer warmth to those lacking shelter in the coming winter months.

Every day, we are doing the work other churches might want to be doing, but can't.  We are loving the poor, meeting their needs and coming up with innovative ideas to improve their plight.  I'm not trying to boast, it's just what we have dedicated our lives to doing.

We aren't a large organization, however.  Our base is really four couples and a number of homeless that help out.  And we don't have a huge budget.  So we try to make the money count.  And it means that our people aren't dependent on our money, just our friendship, knowledge, prayers and space.

Would you be willing to partner with us? Even a small donation of $10 per month would help a great deal.

Last year about a dozen people offered to contribute every month to help us keep our doors open and to provide opportunities to the homeless.  Now we are looking for others who might make this kind of commitment, as well.  Would you contribute a monthly amount to keep our doors open?  And I don't mean this metaphorically.  If we get the help we need, we will be able to keep our doors open.

I know it's a hard time for everyone.  But if you have a little, could you please help us? Whether you can afford a one time gift or a regular monthly contribution, it will mean a great deal , not just to me but to the hundreds of homeless people we serve.

To those of you who have given to Anawim in the past year, I thank you with my whole heart. You have kept us alive. Please consider doing so again. I wouldn't ask if it weren't so important.

If you are willing to give, please reply to me with the amount you are pledging to give.

 You can send your contribution to us via regular mail at 3733 N Williams Portland, OR 97227 or you can pay online through Paypal here:  http://www.nowheretolayhishead.org/support.html  Tax-deductible  receipts are available upon request with mailed contributions. Please make checks payable to Anawim Christian Community.

Thanks for your prayers and help.  And thanks for your consideration.  God bless you!


Steve Kimes
Pastor of Anawim Christian Community
www.NoWhereToLayHisHead.org

Night Shelters

In the Portland area, it has been a cold, long winter. Since late November, there have been more freezing nights than is usual. For those of you in other parts of the country, you may be saying, “It’s been below freezing all winter for us!” But since here in the Willamette Valley we are used to milder temperatures, most people are not prepared for a more severe winter. And if the homeless and homeless services are not prepared, then there are the possibilities of hypothermia, and even death due to being unprepared in the cold. Anawim has tried to be prepared. Since Thanksgiving, Anawim in Gresham has opened for 13 nights to allow people on the street to get out of the freezing, windy weather to stay in the warmth and safety of our Sanctuary’s fellowship hall. SE Anawim has been open 5 nights in our facility in Portland. There are already city shelters in Portland and Gresham and they are very helpful in saving lives in the most severe weather conditions. However, if, say in Gresham, there is a night that is 27 degrees with a 10 mph wind, the city won’t open their shelters, even if there is the possibility of snow. We opened our shelters with the idea that we would keep the homeless safe from the worst weather, only when the city shelters weren't open.

Recently the city discovered that we were opening our Gresham shelter (which we called the Gresham Underground Emergency Shelter, or GUESs), and the Fire Marshal came to visit. The fire code in Gresham, currently, has a few requirements that we have difficulty meeting for a shelter, such as a sprinkler system with a central alarm, and a limitation of 200 square feet per person. They gave us a one night leave so no one would have to sleep out in the freezing rain and then came the next day and shut us down, until we are able to work with the city.

Now we have a quandary. If we accept all the city’s limitations we would not be able to open on some of the nights of the worst weather. Since we have a requirement from the Lord to love the needy, especially those of our own group, then I have a hard time telling our folks to go out in the snow or freezing temperatures when we have the capacity to help them. Or we could try to meet all the fire code and then we have the freedom to help maybe 15 people in our building (we’ve been hosting as many as 30). Please pray as we work with the city and do our best to love our brothers.