In a major city like NYC, it’s surprisingly easy to feel lonely. These days, it seems like connecting with others is difficult everywhere. In fact, studies show that 60% of Americans experience loneliness and isolation, and the problem is only getting worse. A 2018 study found that loneliness levels have been increasing over the past few decades.

As an advocate for homelessness, I wanted to share a powerful story that I recently came across in the New York Times. The article, written by Tracy Kidder, is about a doctor named Jim O'Connell, who has dedicated his life to caring for the homeless population in Boston. What makes his approach unique is his commitment to listening to the stories of the people he serves.

Each week our eight outreaches are a space for our volunteers to draw close to God’s heart. To discover what the Gospel might mean outside of our usual comfortable lives. Tom D’Antonio volunteered with us towards the end of 2021 and took the time to write us this letter about his experience.

“Walk in the Dust” is a day during which someone on our staff walks in the footsteps of many of our outreach guests. Most recently, our Follow-Up Care Coordinator, Nelson Maldonado, had the opportunity to Walk in the Dust and he shared his experience with us.

This month’s Street Story comes from on of our Follow Up Care Coordinators, Zach Winterowd. July was actually Zach’s last month with us as he and his wife Shayna move onto the next phase of their lives back in Texas. His time with us was spent talking with guests to make individualized next steps, or a plan that they can realistically achieve, and then walk alongside them for as long as they need. It might look like helping someone get an ID card to helping a couple get married. (true story!) Zach talks about one need he has seen in almost every person he’s spoken with: the need for human connection.

I was nervous about serving with City Relief. Ten years ago, I spent my first week with this organization and fell in love with the neighborhoods of New York City and New Jersey, the ministry, and with the friends we had made on the streets. Every year I would countdown the weeks before I could return... but this year was different.

God’s Kingdom is backwards from the way our world works. “The first will be last” or “That you must die to live” are ideas so contrary to the way we live that we often easily forget. This week Chief Executive Officer, Josiah Haken, got a reminder, at 7-Eleven.

I called him the “Rolling Prophet.”

Carlito was in a wheelchair when I met him. He was an older man, frail and sick, but all smiles. He had a gray beard and sparkly eyes. He looked a little like Santa Claus if Father Christmas was paralyzed and had to go five rounds with chemotherapy. Carlito usually rolled up to us on his electric chair while we were setting up our weekly outreach in Harlem. He couldn’t help us physically, but he would always greet us with an encouraging word or a blessing from scripture.

I don’t know about you, but my definition of a “miracle” is quite lofty and nearly unattainable. There are only a few times I have truly experienced anything that I would slap a “miracle” sticker on with such a distinguished definition.

“Stop complaining. It can always be worse.”

"You’re not as bad off as the next guy.”

“Suck it up, you’re being too sensitive.”

These phrases take up space in our ear and lead us down a rugged, desolate road. Searching for respite from our solitude, we grasp onto them as truths, when they are simply a temporary band-aid.

I recently saw a news story about a technological innovation that someone developed in order to try to help folks living in the street of a big city on the West Coast. In it the news anchor said something to the effect of, “This device will help you give money to the homeless without the fear of them using it to buy drugs.” I’m sure the creator of this particular technology is well-intentioned and it’s completely possible that it will end up helping some people along the way, but I guarantee that it will not shift the narrative around homelessness in general.