{"id":7463,"date":"2019-10-29T07:30:53","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T12:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=7463"},"modified":"2019-10-23T11:04:06","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T16:04:06","slug":"november-3-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/november-3-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"November 3, 2019–Homeless to Feeding the Homeless"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anne Williams, Ankeny, IA<\/b><\/p>\n

Warm-up Question<\/b><\/p>\n

What do you think it would take to turn a life around? To recover from addiction or homelessness?<\/p>\n

Homeless to Feeding the Homeless<\/b><\/p>\n

If you have the ability, watch the video interview on Now This: https:\/\/nowthisnews.com\/videos\/news\/social-entrepreneur-mark-brand-helps-feed-the-hungry. <\/a>You can also find it on Facebook by searching, \u201cNow This Mark Brand.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Mark Brand, of Vancouver, Canada works in what is called the poorest postal code (like a ZIP code) in all of Canada, where drugs are sold openly on the streets. Mark used to live there, use there, and was then homeless there. He shares a story of the one restaurant he felt comfortable going to and how a $3.50 burger plate would actually fill him up. Mark reflects on that time in his life: \u201cWhen you live like that, even if it\u2019s briefly, it affects you forever\u2026 cause when you are in that, it\u2019s the loneliest place on the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After recovering from addiction and homelessness, Mark became a successful chef and business man, opening restaurants. Even as his businesses thrived, he realized he wanted to do more. \u00a0So he began exploring how to feed those in need. He did something ingenious.<\/p>\n

He tackled the question of why people don\u2019t give money to hungry street-entrenched people. The answer he got (which might be an answer we could give) is that folks are afraid their money will go to drugs or alcohol. So, working with the restaurant, he used to eat at when he was homeless, he created a token system. People can buy the tokens and give them to the hungry, who can redeem them for a sandwich. Mark\u2019s comments about these tokens are really very interesting. He says, “What I was most excited about is that you would hand it to somebody. So yes, I\u2019m excited that you\u2019re gonna get a sandwich. Great. You\u2019re hungry, you have a place of inclusion you can go to, that\u2019s really cool\u2026 I\u2019m way more excited that you\u2019re going to talk to somebody who\u2019s feeling super isolated and street entrenched.”<\/p>\n

Mark seems much more interested in relationships, even quick ones like saying \u201cHi, here\u2019s a token, go get a sandwich,\u201d than just sandwiches. What homeless people need is food yes, but also someone to look at them and see them.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/b><\/p>\n