I know that I can’t always have it my way and I was reminded of that on the second day of our 3-Days of Thanksgiving celebration. It rained! In the desert, where you can take chances on almost any given day that it won’t rain, it rained! I said a silent prayer to God and told Him that it was His day and I was only here to serve. I thought that His reasons were greater than my reasons. We would just work around that rain and would welcome it.
We had invited the homeless, had staff and over 200 volunteers standing by! I learned a valuable lesson that day. Even in the challenge of feeding over 750 people, God’s grace is sufficient. We managed to move that many hungry folks through the chapel in a couple of hours. Even some of the volunteers took time to “break bread” with us. At the end of the day, I felt good about what we had accomplished. The volunteers got to serve, the hungry were fed and we headed into the 3rd and final day of the event. No rain on the last day and once again we were outside with beautiful weather.
The 3-Days of Thanksgiving Celebration belongs to our community. During those 3 days, we served over 2600 meals. While some might frown on our 3-day celebration, we use that opportunity to help the homeless and needy of Yuma County. This year we were pleased to have several agencies and organizations join us to provide services. Cenpatico of Arizona was there. This is the State’s Regional Behavioral Health Authority for this area. This professional, helpful, agency helps people find assistance for a wide range of mental health issues and support. The Humane Society of Yuma sent a veterinarian and staff to the event to give rabies shots and to schedule appointments for spaying or neutering the homeless folk’s animals. Yuma City and County Housing Authorities were there to help people find permanent housing. The Veteran’s Administration was there handing out clothing, shoes, and other items to our homeless vets. Legacy Church and Generations Church stood by to minister to those who had questions or who were seeking to change their lives spiritually. Greg Luna of “The Barbershop” was providing haircuts. (Greg had a waiting line of over 2 hours and he gave 17 cuts!) A big “Thank You” to all of them for attending and serving.
Also, during the event, Crossroads staff members are working to find those individual needs of the folks attending. Case managers complete a survey that helps them understand the individual needs of the homeless. They are able to provide referrals for needed services or tell them how to go about receiving programs or services at Crossroads, The voucher store is open to provide clothing, shoes, household items, blankets and coats to folks who need these items. This year over 21, 000 items were given out. This was a record breaker!
If you missed serving, come see us next year or perhaps you would like to come down to visit us on Christmas Day. We expect close to 3,000 that day for the Downtown Christmas Party for the Poor and Crossroads Mission’s Christmas Day activities. Please don’t be worried about the rain or any bad weather! God is doing His job and we will continue to do ours!
