Many know that Mean Street ministers to the homeless living in motels, shelters, and the poor living in projects along east and west Colfax Avenue. About a dozen people grouped into threes, knock on doors and offer burritos, sweets and fruit, an extensive Resource Guide for every kind of need, toiletries, Bibles, bus tokens, formula and diapers, toys and books, prayer, a caring presence and a listening ear.
Few know the process of events and the number of volunteers involved in making all this happen, and that there are many places within the ministry where people can serve aside from going out on Monday and Tuesday evenings.
Before the Mean Street van goes out each week, food is purchased and/or received through donations by two to three volunteers and delivered to the burrito makers, eight to ten people, who assemble 320 burritos every Monday morning. The burritos make two transfers before being loaded in baskets on the van later that day. Meanwhile, every Saturday morning, one or two volunteers pick up boxes of bread and pastries donated by the Bergen Park King Soopers. The bread is taken to a trailer park near Colfax and Depew on Monday afternoon and the sweets are added to the van to go out on Tuesdays. Monday and Tuesday evenings, anywhere from six to sixteen “willing souls”, as James Fry calls them, show up to hit the motels and projects. Always, our evenings start and end with prayer for God’s guidance, thankfulness for being able to serve and the desire to glorify Him through what we do. Volunteers come from many different churches as we desire this to be a Christian ministry and not to be about recruiting people to go to or support one particular church.
On Tuesday night, while passing out burritos, we offer food boxes, and assess situations for which we might offer further assistance. This could include: mentoring, financial assistance, addiction help, transient housing, the need for physical items like furniture, dishes or school supplies, spiritual counseling or just someone to listen.
Wednesday morning food boxes are assembled and delivered, later that day, directly to the ones who requested them so the people do not have to have transportation to receive the boxes. This big job is currently being done by just two to four volunteers. Ideally, during these deliveries, further assessment of needs can be done and more help offered. Sometimes, due to lack of volunteers, we cannot meet the needs as well as we would like.
Thursday is another busy day in the Mean Street Ministry. In the morning two to four people drive the large Mean Street truck to COMPA to lift and load large quantities of food into the back. This is unloaded to the refrigerators, freezers and storage sheds at the Frys’ homes. A trip to do the same at Rocky Mountain Food Bank also takes place that day. In the afternoon Mean Street sets up food stations in the yard. People come from many different areas, as far away as Evergreen, Bailey, Denver, Aurora, and Thornton, to pick up food that they then distribute in their own communities. Additional volunteers would enable this part of the ministry to function more efficiently and give relief to those already participating.
Throughout the week Mean Street fields many calls of people asking for help of all kinds. We average 45 calls a day, many regarding information in the Resource Guide and desiring further assistance.
We are reminded often that the work of God done through volunteers is not always very obvious and may happen totally unaware. But we know by faith and with the evidence God gives us that what we do make a difference. Just when we need encouragement God is generous in showing us the results of his grace in the lives we touch.
As an example, a year ago James received a call from a mother in Boston desperately asking him to find her son who was somewhere on the streets in Denver using heroin. By God’s hand, James was able to find that young man, then mentored him for some time and helped him find work. Unfortunately, he eventually fell back into an undesirable life style and James lost track of him. Two weeks ago, James was contacted by that young man to tell him about a woman from Algeria who was scrounging a mattress from a dumpster near Colfax who badly needed help for her and her family. The young man told her about Jesus and His saving grace and that Mean Street would help her. From that same young man James had searched out and found living on the street, Grace, the Algerian woman, received the resources and furnishings needed. It was discovered that she and her children “sing like angels” to our Lord! This family does lack transportation, and volunteers are needed to make sure she can attend the church of her choice.
We received another blessing when a woman, a drug addict for 19 years, was embraced with prayer and counseling, and was subsequently able to overcome her addiction and is now clean and free of all drugs.
Last month the ministry was able to help a family of five move out of a motel room into an apartment, and this month a family of three. Several other families are in the process of being able to move into their own homes. These are just a few examples of God’s merciful hand on the people Mean Street touches. We pray and ask you to pray for these and all those we see who are in need, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
There is much going on with Mean Street Ministry. We would like to grow our outreach and expand into new areas such as more effective mentoring, small fellowship groups, ex-felon assistance, home fm-up and repair and who knows what else God may have planned! We are praying for more volunteers to step forward, perhaps people who would like to take leadership in a new areas forming committees and inviting others to join them.
On June 7, the Board of Operations and the newly formed Board of Directors will meet to get better acquainted and learn what everyone is doing. The Directors will begin working on short and long term goals and how we implement them. We continually seek God’s direction and counsel in all that we do.
-James & Betty Fry
reproduced from Rockland Community Church’s Chimes Newsletter, Summer 2008
