“God, I’m not okay but I’m still here holding on through every quiet tear ,when the world moves, you stay near” Lyrics from song “God, I’m Not Okay but I’m Still Here” by Hope Zora

Today, we had the privilege of serving 33 people.

• These last few days of cold weather have made our friends a little more desperate for gloves, hats, sweatpants, sweatshirts.  The word has gotten out on the street where we are on Saturdays.  On our first stop, 20 of our friends were waiting for us.  We tell our friends if we don’t have what they need, we will try to get it for them the following week.

• Some of our friends who we haven’t seen may be staying at the new shelter at the west end of town.  We went looking for our friends (Bosch, Pat, Rachel, Susan) but they weren’t around.  A younger crowd of people have taken over the area where they were sleeping. We drove around looking for them and asked if anyone saw them.  One of our friends mentioned that (Susan) who uses a wheelchair may have gone to stay with her daughter.  She’s been falling out of her wheelchair and is getting banged up, but like a lot of our friends, nothing gets medically checked out – they blow it off.  This leads to cuts getting infected, bumps and bruises get swollen, they sometimes lose normal bodily functions.  It’s a never-ending cycle.

• We had a new friend come to us out of a car.  We asked him, “You just came from that car?”  He replied, “yes, I don’t want anything”.  He seemed well dressed.  I think he was trying to figure out what we were doing.  We gave him our packet of $10 bill/$10 Dunkin Donuts card/prayer card and he replied, “thank you”.

• We ran into our friends (Shamus/Kathy).  They were leaning against a tree with all their belongings scattered around them.  We looked over towards the woods where their tent once stood but it was gone.  Our first thought was the city must have removed it because they had warned them to take it down.  When we asked what happened to their tent, they told us the tent caught fire from a candle that tipped over.  They were most likely trying to keep warm.  Their hands were all swollen from the severe cold, along with cuts and dirt.  We fixed them up with clothes, blankets, snacks, gloves.  It’s so sad looking in their eyes knowing they don’t have to live this way.  We repeat this to them all the time.  We picked up another tent for them if needed.

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“A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” Frank Morgan (The Wizard of Oz)

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PLEASE NOTE:    We have changed our location for donations for On the Street Ministry from Holy Cross Retreat House to My Brother’s Keeper.    We currently have a box in the main stairway on the 1^st floor of MBK.   If you have recurring orders through Amazon or any other retail website, please change the delivery address to:

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On the Street Ministry

C/o Shaun Teed

67 Turner Road

Scituate, MA 02066

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Thanks to all the people who support our ministry.

God Bless,

Claire and Shaun Teed and Tito

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