The face of homelessness is changing. It is no longer mainly single men, but now includes many families, women and single mothers with small children. The homeless may be an individual who has lost their home, job and family as a result of a meth addiction; a mother with her children fleeing an abusive partner struggling to find any safe place for her kids; a young adult just released from the foster care system without the skills or finances for affordable housing; an older person with a mental or physical disability unable to live unassisted.

 

Whatever the circumstances are that caused a person to become homeless, it isn’t something that can be solved overnight. Once you are living on the streets or in a car, getting and/or keeping a job can become very difficult. Without a phone or address, how can you fill out a job application? When a disability or SSI check is returned with “no forwarding address”, it is no longer sent out. When your friends and family members no longer want to see you due to the lies an addiction has caused you to tell, trust and hope aren’t easily restored. You are alone, constantly looking over your shoulder, have no one to talk to, not much to live for. Your stomach growls, your clothes are getting dirtier every day, and your thirst never seems to end. Then someone walking or driving by slows down enough to tell you, “Why don’t you just get a job?”

 

 

 

These are the lost souls who enter our gates at Phoenix Rescue Mission every day. We provide nutritious meals, cool drinks, showers, a safe haven and most importantly the hope that comes from sharing God’s love. We come along side the homeless and hurting, one at a time, “to rescue lives, to save lives, to change lives and to serve lives.”