Mike has $0.70 to his name.

Night 3
January 17, 2015

The Little Old Lady from yesterday and her hero Mike.

Mike is homeless.
"My girlfriend got me sentenced for 15 months."
Despite his choice of words during our conversation, I could tell Mike had a great heart. After spending a good amount of time at the small park across the street from the library (I should probably learn the name of it), I have come to the initial conclusion that these people are super generous. Not in the way we would think of. A very nice gentleman gave me about a half a bag of lays potato chips (a large bag!) after he was finished. Despite feeling guilty for accepting, I immediately came to the conclusion that by denying the offer--when I really did want those chips--I could take a way a small blessing from this guy. So I ate, then came Mike. Mike wanted a cigarette. He settled for chips instead and we had a nice conversation over the remaining bag :) Mike is homeless. Has been for a few months, following an incident at McDonalds where his girlfriend lied and said he was threatening her. Because of some priors he was sentenced to 15 months and served 7 months for good behavior. He was poor to begin with but lost his apartment during that time. He was released with no money to his name. Thanks to some church on Green Street, Mike has a tent and a fenced in yard to sleep in until April. I am going to figure out who this church and Pastor Ball are!!

Why does Mike have a great heart? With only a grocery bag in his hands, he told me he was looking for a woman he knows that struggles to get food. He described her as always carrying 2 heavy bags!! If you didn't read yesterday's post---I ran into her! What are the chances the only in-depth conversation I have with a homeless person yesterday would be with this guy! After a bit more conversation, Mike ran into the library to find her. He was back in 3 min. She wouldn't take his eggs
:(
There are people like this and they are hard to help. Something I cannot wrap my mind or heart around. These people need prayer; and I love coming to the conclusion that they need people like Mike.

Some more about Mike:

-Mike knows everyone. Turns out most of them are friends, they know where each other 'live,' where they like to go for dinner (always a local hunger project of some type), they know relationship statuses and probably much more.
-Mike is generous. This sounds crazy, but mid-conversation Mike yelled at a guy across the circle picking up a cigarette off the ground. Apparently that was his friend Susan's!! I was blown away. How did he know that? Is that where Susan puts her cigarettes! Anyway he explained it to the man and put it right back where it belonged. Remember--Mike approached me wanting a cigarette.
-Mike is cool. I told him what I was doing and even offered to buy him a burger off the dollar menu for dinner. He was super grateful for what I was doing, but likes having dinner with his friends! *

I got an email from an acquaintance yesterday. She wanted to talk about my experience and she started by belittling her own recent contribution of making blankets to hand out. THAT IS HUGE IF YOU ASK ME. No one can help everyone, but everyone can help someone. If even a slight increase of people set out to do something like that it would be amazing. God works in small ways. If I had had an extra blanket last night...even the smallest extra bit of comfort helps.
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I tried the more traditional sleeping approach--those darn benches. It lasted till about 3:00 am, but it is seriously impossible to lay down because of the rail and I was freezing! I decided to get up and move a walk for awhile to warm up...sadly I caved and made the 20 min trek to my jeep. Slept in the back for a few hours, at least out of the wind.

* Mike invited me to go to the Jefferson St Bridge for dinner, saying if I really want the homeless experience I need to eat like them. But I feel guilty taking food away from people that truly need it. I want as full experience as I can get, and thought about sending the organization a small check after the matter with an explanation and thank you note. Any feedback on this topic would be great!?

Mike has $0.70 to his name.

-Happy Saturday.

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