“Why must I feel this way? Just make this go away, just one more peaceful day” Lyrics from song, “It’s Been a While” by Group Staind

Today, we had the privilege of serving 36 people.

• Each song that gets chosen for our summary is meant to reflect a feeling that our friends on the street might be having.  Loneliness, shame, isolation, fear.  I read that shame is the absence of self-love.  Our friends have a hole in their soul that they can feel the wind blow through.  Labeled as a public eyesore, our friends are praying for the very things we take for granted and complain about.

• All in all, it was a good morning seeing new friends and old ones.  We ran into a new friend (Steve) who had just hit the street after being released from jail.  He told us he only had the clothes he was wearing.  We were able to hook him up with a hoodie, sweatpants, socks, underwear, snacks, Gatorade, along with our packet of $10 bill/$10 Dunkin Donuts card/prayer card.  I explained to him how the prayer card came into existence by Jim combining all that his friends of the street had repeated to him.  We told him God bless you.  He was trying to make his way back to Worcester.  Like a lot of our friends, they have burned many bridges behind them.

• We were happy to hear that our friend (Annie) has 6 months clean and is heading to a sober house.  She has broken the cycle of addiction and is a power of example to others.  She spent four years on the street, including winters.  When we first met her, she was bundled up head to toe with a red face and swollen fingers from the cold.  Through God’s grace, she has become a woman of dignity and honor.  We use her as an example when speaking to our friends who are struggling to find a way out of the vicious cycle of addiction.

• We ran into our friend (Russ) who explained how he was trying to cross the street the other day and people were driving fast to beat the traffic light causing him to fall and flip his shopping car with his belongings on to the street.  With his failing health he ended up falling over with his cart.  Just another eye sore to the drivers trying to beat the light.

• On our last stop we ended talking to our friend (Kathy) who is struggling.  We keep telling her now is the time to make the leap of faith and get clean.  If not for yourself, do it for your daughter.  We can only hope and pray.

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We have changed our location for Donations for OSM 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.

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God Bless,

Claire and Shaun Teed and Tito

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“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3 NIV)

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