Every Thursday I help serve meals to the homeless and hungry in Painesville, Ohio, at St. Mary's Church (a service of Karpos Ministry, founded by Kathy and Dan Philipps). Painesville is not a huge city (about 20,000 within city limits), but it is the county seat of Lake County. Over all, Lake County is one of the more prosperous counties in the state of Ohio. But the hunger, homelessness, and poverty in this county--astonishing. We probably average 100 meals (with a high of about 180) on Thursday nights. Meals are also served on Wednesday nights. And since St. James Episcopal has stopped serving meals, we have expanded to Tuesday nights. Many of the people we serve live outside. Some live in tents along the Grand River. Some sleep in alleys or empty buildings. The jail in Painesville will allow folks to sleep in the lobby during extreme weather. Lucky ones can stay for a while in the Project Hope home (25 Freedom Road, Painesville Township, Ohio 44077).
Tonight the temperature will fall to 15 to 20 below zero, with wind chills much worse than that. Can you imagine living outside in this cold--in the richest, most powerful country in the history of the world? One cannot help but think of Jesus' exhortation to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless!
Some contacts:
Project Hope: http://www.projecthopeonline.org/
Cleveland Food Bank: www.clevelandfoodbank.org
Karpos Ministry and St. Mary's: http://www.stmarypvl.org/72
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