Star of Hope Mission

Our Living a Better Story begins in July 2008. Judy and I were preparing to be on Kairos Prison Ministry Team #1 at Hightower State Prison Ministry in Dayton, Texas. I was the Weekend Leader and needed a few more team members, especially ordained clergy. Rev. Marc Donaldson met Rev. Troy Williams at TDCJ Volunteer Training and put me in touch with Troy who was on staff at Star of Hope Mission in downtown Houston. Troy joined our team and Judy and I became impressed with Troy’s passion and dedication for serving the homeless of our community.

Judy and I assisted Troy and Star of Hope Mission yearly with some of their fundraisers so we are on their mail and email list. We received several emails and mailings from Star of Hope Mission recently requesting financial assistance; the Houston economy was sluggish and their contributions were lagging by about $700,000 from last year.

This is when Judy and I received our Living a Better Story packets.  Judy had a $5 bill in her packet; I had a $20 bill. We prayed for three days for God to show us where He wanted our multiplied money to be used. Confirming circumstances and prayer convinced me that Star of Hope Mission was where God wanted me to invest my fishes and loaves. During our three days of prayer, we received another mailing from Star of Hope Mission requesting financial assistance in providing back to school supplies for the homeless children that live in their shelters. Judy is a retired Second Grade teacher with a heart for helping school children get their required school supplies and back packs; she knew that God wanted her fishes and loaves to go toward school supplies for the homeless children at Star of Hope Mission.

Judy and I decided to pool our $25 rather than doing our projects separately. We came up with a list of friends, co-workers and family members who are not members here at Christ Church. We contacted them, shared our vision and the need at Star of Hope Mission and asked them to participate with us in multiplying God’s money. I sent an email to Rev. Troy Williams to let him know of our fishes and loaves project. He was intrigued and eager to see how God would work for Star of Hope Mission. 

The response was overwhelming! After three weeks of receiving numerous small contributions, our $25 had been multiplied by God into $950.00 with more expected. Judy and I visited Star of Hope with God’s multiplied money. Troy showed Judy and me all three of their facilities in downtown Houston. There is one men’s facility, one short term facility for parents with children and a long term facility for parents with children. The three facilities provide food and shelter for about 1,000 homeless members of the Houston community. All are very clean, well supervised and the spirit of love and compassion was evident everywhere we visited.

We were truly blessed by God in being able to work with Him in providing much needed operating funds and school supplies for some very deserving brothers and sisters.

Thank you Stoney and Judy!

People often ask me, “What causes homelessness?”   The answer is almost anything you can imagine, and sometime the unimaginable.   Case in point.   The other day, I met a woman who is living at our Women and Family Emergency Shelter, because she had quit her job.  Naturally, given the scarcity of jobs these days, she had my full attention.

As she began to unfold her story, it was clear she had not quit because of some egregious wrong in the workplace or a gross laxity in personal responsibility.   She quit in order to protect her 15-year old son from the perils of the street.  You’re probably thinking, what a desperate thing to do.  Well, it was.  Except that this woman was between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
 
Being a struggling, single parent, living in a rough neighborhood, she could not be both on the job and also at home monitoring her son’s activities and associates.  The hours between the close of school and the end of her work day were too many for her comfort.  There was evidence that the draw of the streets was stronger than the law of her household.  With her limited income, she could not afford a better neighborhood, and, as she said, “I had to get him out of there. The money I was making was not as important as his life.”  With nowhere else to go and homelessness as her option, Star of Hope was her only hope.

I have to tell you that I have great admiration for this mom.  She is a courageous, selfless woman who was willing to sacrifice everything she had to give her son an opportunity to live with honesty, decency, and purpose.  She took a leap of faith and found peace in the shelter, where she and he are receiving the help they need, now. and the preparation they need for the future.
 

Visit Star of Hope Mission and learn more about Shelters Houston Texas.

On any given night, nearly half of the homeless people in our Women’s & Family Emergency Shelter are children. Every afternoon, they gather with the Mission staff for “Daily Prayer Time”, where they write their prayer requests on little slips of paper. Then they sit in a circle, and a staff member leads them in prayer, reading each individual request.

Over the years, we have logged thousands of these prayer requests. Here are a few examples:

I want to pray for abused children everywhere.

I pray that my mom finds a house.

Thank you, Lord for a home.

I pray to go to the NBA.

I pray for good health, a job and a home.

I pray for everybody to get a place to stay.

Thank you God for giving me life!

I pray that I go to the NFL.

I pray that I get a house with a dog.

I pray I pass the TAKS test and become a lawyer.

I pray for a home and a car and a second chance. 

I pray that a homeless person gets a job.

I pray to God to help me stop having nightmares.

I pray to God to help me find my purpose in life.

I pray for my sister and my mom.

I want to ask you God for a home and a father.

I pray for my family to be ok.

I love you God!

For those of you who turned out for the Star of Hope “Can” Film Festival at Miller Outdoor Theater last Saturday evening to watch The Blind Side, here’s a great, big SHOUT-OUT of thanks for braving the heat and celebrating a Summer of Hope with us.
 
We love it that you put us on your weekend itinerary, brought can goods and took the “SOH” to 20222 text challenge, which delivered $10 to Star of Hope with every tap of the “send” button.  (And by the way, your text dollars were doubled, thanks to a very generous donor).   It was a cool event – temperature notwithstanding — and a wonderful time to hang out under the stars and watch a fabulous flick with a message we can all embrace. 

You can’t imagine what an amazing site it was for those of us who work at Star of Hope to see so many folks and families spread over the grassy hillside and in the seats, supporting this event.  Because—bottom line—it’s all about the people in our midst who have so little, the homeless many who come to our doors in desperate need of help, sometimes just to get through the day.  We never know when, and under what circumstances, we will need to reach out to others for help, because life has taken us to a hard, dry place.  But isn’t it nice to know that we live in a town where “reaching out” is more than a phrase?  It’s the Houston way.

So blessings to you and to Dana Tyson of SUNNY 99.1, Bill Ingram and Jen Driskill from KSBJ, and the dynamic Deborah Duncan from KHOU.  WE LOVE YOU!

Learn more about Star of Hope and ways to give at Charitable Donations Houston.

These days, it’s hard to find a family activity that’s fun for everyone-- and free.  But, as part of our Summer of Hope campaign, we’ve got a great evening planned for this coming Saturday, August 14, that fits the bill.  We’re calling it our Star of Hope “Can” Film Festival.  No, this is not a misspelling of the big shindig in the south of France.  We are hosting a glorious night under the stars at the Miller Outdoor Theater, featuring a showing of the block-buster movie, The Blind Side.

This is the family version of the film, so no worries about language or content.  If you’ve seen it already, come see it again; and if you haven’t, you’re in for a wonderful experience as this true story of courage, compassion, and the power of love to change lives unfolds on the screen.  What’s more, KSBJ will be there broadcasting live. Dana Tyson from SUNNY 99.1 will be there, as well, hosting the night, and we’ll have a performance by KHOU’s Deborah Duncan.  Can she belt out a song or what?  You don’t want to miss it. 

You’re wondering how does “Can” fit in to all this, right?  Here’s how.  The evening is free, but we are asking everyone to bring a bag of can foods to help us feed the homeless men, women, and children in our care.  The food collection begins at 7:30 p.m. and the move starts at 8:15.  You’re all invited! We’re looking forward to seeing you!

Get a list of needed items at Food Donation Houston
Invite your friends on facebook!

• Donation Drive Coordinator: Organize a drive for needed items at your work, school, church, organization or in your neighborhood.
• Team for Hope: Be a friend on Social Media and help us share stories and needs.
• Prayer Partners: Pray, pray, pray. Enough said!

If you get a chance to read Hank's blog from last week please do. I got a chance to sit in on the video interview and was struck by the two children that are part of this family living at the Women and Family Shelter .  They are such great kids and its heart breaking to think they could be homeless on the streets. I am also taken back by the giving heart of Houstonians, and the safety they provide for these kids and the rest of the families just like them staying in our facilities. (Check out the Youtube video) . 

Just a note: I just looked up the Most Giving Cities in the USA and guess where Houston ranked. 

Learn more about Houston Homeless Shelters and Charity Houston

“…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

There isn’t a day that goes by that I am not conscience of how blessed I am that my family and I have the things we need to sustain us.  Working at Star of Hope keeps me mindful, humble, and grateful.  I see the homeless come by the hundreds on a daily basis, suffering from so much lack, many of them parents with young children, and I know that God put me here to help them.

One of my responsibilities is to locate sources for stocking our shelves with the items needed to properly care for our clients.  That has always proven to be a rewarding pursuit, mainly because Houston is such a generous town.  I remember how intimidated I was when I first arrived here from the East Coast, knowing nothing about the personality of the city, its people, or how to ask for their support.  I fully expected to be politely turned down.   So I wrote out a script with God-fatherly intent: to make an offer they couldn’t refuse; in this case, an offer that would open their hearts to a message of help.  Well, a funny thing happened.  I never got to use my script, because the answers I got were, “Yes,” and, “Is there anything more I can do?” 

Those of you who are faithful readers of our blogs know that, in this economy, our donations have dropped as our client numbers continue to rise.  Right now, our family shelters are in dire need of diapers.  “Dire” might seem like an overstatement,  in reference to diapers, but I assure you it is not.  We use 1,500 diapers a month on hundreds of little bottoms.  We could sure use your help in keeping them fresh and dry.  If anyone would like to host a diaper drive for the babies at Star of Hope, please contact us at 713-440-5341, or by email cratliff@sohmission.org.  I, for one, would be so thankful; besides, I threw away my old Godfather script.

If you missed it in the mail a couple of weeks ago, Star of Hope’s July Newsletter – The Light – is online.

This issue includes:
- Where Big Dreams Start - A message from Hank Rush
- Freed by the Truth
- Thank  you for packing their lives with promise!  
- School Supplies for Success!                                   
- Think About the Dollar in Your  Pocket — by Elizabeth Calvert Hickman                 
- Tribute Gifts           
- Sharing Their Blessings: Mark and Lisa Ammerman
                                   
There’s still time to send a note of encouragement for children at Star of Hope who start back to school on August 23. Please post your note along with the others and we will give them to the children before school starts.
 

Go to www.sohmission.org for ways to get involved and donate to
Charity Houston for the homeless, Star of Hope Mission.

Recently, we switched our Yellow Cab Ads. Have you noticed? We now offer ANOTHER option in our Ways to Give collection. You can now INSTANTLY donate $10 to help Star of Hope help the homeless in Houston. Just text "SOH" to 20222. It's that simple - and that important to us.

We call this campaign "The Summer of Hope" and we feature a cute little girl (an actual client) pretty in pink with a smile that would melt an iceberg. But if we showed you the hundreds of children without homes this summer - right here in Houston - you wouldn't see many smiles. You'd see frowns and sparks of panic and fear in their eyes.
 
Houston is without question, one of the most generous cities in America. But even Space City has communication problems. Folks don't realize that SUMMER is our busiest and most challenging time of the year. SUMMER is when homeless families that have been holding out in apartments without lights - give up and go to a shelter because of the heat. Or, a homeless family has been staying with friends or relatives to keep the kids in school but now its SUMMER and they're asked to leave - and live on the street - or in our shelter.

A few nights ago, IN ADDITION to the 1,000 homeless men, women and children sheltered in our facilities, 106 women and children slept in our atrium at the downtown  Star of Hope Women and Family Emergency Shelter. I believe that's a record - and a chilling sign of our times.

Help us make this a SUMMER of HOPE For these folks. Text your $10 or better yet - dig a little deeper if you can and assist us in overcoming what is now a $700,000 deficit this year.

God bless and inspire you - and thank you.

Learn about other ways to give. Visit Charitable Donations Houston