Malachi 3:7
Yet from the days of your fathers, you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” Says the Lord of hosts.
Once upon a time, working with the least among us meant getting to know the town drunk, or talking to the random hardcore drug user. The work wasn’t easy, but simply bringing them inside a safe shelter where they could eat and bathe and hear the Gospel was enough to start those poor spirits towards a new life.
But now, driving down the wrong street shows just how much has changed. Drugs like meth and fentanyl have exploded, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake. Angry addicts who no longer have any sense of existence beyond their next fix, empty of the slightest hope that things should be better, these are who the new homeless are. And each of us has seen these tortured spirits too often.
Revelations 21:5
Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
Over the past three years, the Clarksburg Mission has adapted. These drugs have inspired new ways of thinking. Our Resurrection Program addresses each spirit, finding the root cause of their pain, be it addiction, or trauma, or mental health. We know that helping the least among us is so much harder now than it used to be. This work still needs heart, needs compassion, needs resolve, needs love.
These problems seem overwhelming, but with your support and your compassion, lives can change. When our participants come to us, they do so only after they have realized that they have to change, even if they do not yet know how to actually make that change. Your help provides the tools and support that these spirits need to make their lives new.
Matthew 8:20
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Our residents do not pay anything to stay here. Most of them would be on the streets, facing an impossible task of changing their lives while struggling to get through every single day. We are asking you for your support in providing them with their sanctuary.
Through the fall, we are asking you to help provide the Gift of Rest. It costs $250 a week, or $1,000 a month, for one of our residents to stay with us. We are asking you to open your hearts to give the Gift of Rest to one person changing their lives. In return, you will receive a personal letter from a resident, telling you the story about his/her journey. They have stories that our words can never do justice, and it is because of those stories that we do the work we do today.
The nature of homelessness has changed so much in just the past few years, but the love of Christ has never changed. The Clarksburg Mission has always relied on your love and support, and our residents have never needed that support more than they do today.
Thank you, and may God bless you.
Lou Ortenzio
Executive Director
