Ministering to the homeless in NYC

Martha and I always enjoy traveling to New York City. We have many great memories from trips there. We have experienced some wonderful ministry times in NYC, especially in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Spanish Harlem.

Being back in NYC this week was a blessing. We went to Brooklyn to see our friends at Sunset Park Community Church. Pastor Larry Pitta and his wife Margie have great hearts for the homeless. They do a lot in their community. Every Tuesday and Thursday they provide lunch for the homeless and they have a shower ministry, which Love In Action helped begin.

Over the past six years we have helped Sunset Park Community Church by shipping them hygiene items, socks, boots and other items to help the homeless. Last Thursday we started planning a 2010 outreach at Sunset Park. We hope to take a team with us to Brooklyn to help Pastor Larry minister to his community.

We will help him host a block party that will be part of a back to school outreach to help families living in poverty get their children ready to return to school. We will also minister to the homeless that week, which will probably be the third week of August 2010. If you are interested in going with us next year, please keep an eye on this blog and our Web site for more information. All of the plans should be completed by November-December.

In addition to going to Brooklyn last week, we also went back to a place where I had helped serve the homeless food. A few years ago, I was in NYC for an Associated Press Managing Editors board meeting and we ate at a place called Carmine’s. It’s an Italian restaurant that serves family style food, and it’s always way more than anyone could ever eat. Instead of packing up the food and taking back to the hotel, four of us took all of our leftovers to the Port Authority. You would have thought we had given the homeless gold. They loved it.

Martha and I had sandwiches we bought in Greenwich Village and set out to give them to the homeless. We were going to hand them out at Battery Park, but a Methodist church was already serving food, which was great to see. The homeless swarmed around their vans and really enjoyed the meal.

I told Martha I knew where we would find more homeless people, and that was at the Port Authority. We walked to the Port Authority and found the homeless where they were several years ago. One of the men was extremely thankful for the sandwiches. We told him that we had Italian subs and just wanted him to know that God loves him. A big smile arose and he graciously accepted the sandwich. As we were leaving, he started unwrapping the sandwich and said, “Thank you Jesus.”

We’re looking forward to working with Pastor Larry this next year planning the big outreach. We hope you go. If you start saving now, you will have plenty of money to go next year. We will make it as inexpensive as possible. We will have a list of suggested hotels and you will also have the option of staying at the church. Once we have the dates finalized you can start looking for a flight at the right price. You can find some good deals if you diligently look. That just leaves food and whatever sightseeing you want to do. We always make time for sightseeing on our trips.

Keep Pastor Larry and Margie in your prayers. Thanks for your prayers for us while we were in NYC. It’s nice knowing we have people praying for us.