Help Hope Brigade Begin!

My name is Larry Eisner (the fluffy one on the right).

Years ago, God placed a burning desire in my heart to serve with my homeless brothers and sisters, and specifically to the homeless youth (typically from 16-35) rather than the old-guard, hard established homeless. 

There are a bunch of needs-based organizations.  There's a bunch of shelters.  There's a lot of church-based organizations.  So why am I doing this?
Because while those groups and charities do amazing and necessary work, they all tend to follow the same structure:

1) You have to come to them.
You need to hoof it (or beg for enough to get a bus) to get to wherever their "thing" is.  That's really hard in a sprawling city.  Not to mention, dangerous.

2) You are seen as your need.
While it's not the intention, when you visit a shelter, you're seen as a person who needs shelter.  When you visit a soup kitchen, you're a person who needs food.  When you're in a free clinic, you're a person who needs healthcare.

3) It ends up being impersonal.
While there's always excellent intention, point is when you service a bunch of often rude, smelly, rough people all day, or simply have a long line of people to take care of, you can't do the care of one-on-one, that everyone needs.

So my idea (well, probably God's, really) is Hope Brigade.  The idea is that we all have needs.  We all have strengths, skills, and passions as well.  Working together, we can help each other.  And when we work together, we cannot help but feel hope.  When we work together, we cannot help buf feel useful.  When we work together, we affirm the Imago Dei (Image of God) that has been bestowed upon all of us.  We cease to be "caregiver" or "savior" or "homeless" or "smelly" (Well, you may still be smelly).  But the point is, we are human, when we are seen not just as a bunch of needs, but as a bunch of flawed people that are all in the same boat, as far as all having needs as well as passions and skills. 

So, I want to start small.  Grow naturally.  I want to meet more and more folks on the street.  I want to let them know I care.  I want them to recognize their strengths.  I want them to see their value.  I want them to see that they can help each other and themselves.

But doing this, as a father of four, in the suburbs, costs some money.  Not a crazy ton, but it does.

So, if you were to give, the money would be used to buy lunches/breakfasts/dinners with homeless folks.  It would be used to buy useful things like socks for the people who need them.  It would be used for me to take the train to the city (Chicago).  It would be used to occasionally (though I don't wish it to be a regular practice) financially assist some folks to get a safe place to sleep, or food for family that isn't there at the moment I am.  Things like this.

I plan on keep a log of my activities (whether or not you give) at HopeBrigadeChicago.tumblr.com.  Right now, it's pretty darn humble.  Because I'm broke.  I can't do what I want to do.  And honestly, I need your help.  I can't do this alone.  I can try, but it will be REALLY slow, and it will be REALLY ineffective.  But with your help?  I can meet people where they are.  I can help people recognize that they are loved as they are, accepted where they are, and that they have value.  They can do this thing called life, and it can get better.  With your help, we can bring hope to the streets of Chicago.  Please consider helping.  It would be awesome. 

Be a part of the Hope Brigade.  We need you.