On October 22, the city of Thousand Oaks hosted a community conversation around homelessness and food insecurity in the town.
A handful of people from Emmanuel were in attendance, and you have the opportunity to see it as well! The full event can be viewed by clicking HERE.
If you don’t have 2+ hours to watch the symposium, be sure and watch the fifteen-minute video that contains multiple interviews with local people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity in our town by clicking HERE.
A couple things that stuck out to me from the symposium:
- There are a lot of organizations doing great work in our community. Each of the panelists emphasized that if you would like to help people in our community experiencing homelessness and food insecurity through donations, to please do so through local organizations. The person from MANNA said that they can provide eight meals for every dollar they collect!
- 80% of people experiencing the homelessness in our town are Thousand Oaks residents. It makes sense that this would be the case, but hearing it said made this all hit home a little bit more. These are not nameless people to us, they coworkers and old friends from school. They are the people we grew up with.
- The cost of living in our area makes it very, very difficult for people to escape homelessness once they slide into it. Many people in our community are housed in a very fragile situation, and there are organizations that work with them to try and keep them housed. A story was shared about a 78-year-old man who has been living out of his car for a few years who will likely never be able to be housed because of insignificant his Social Security is in relation to the cost of living.
- Healthcare costs are a significant contributing factor to homelessness in our area. The representative from Harbor House (if I remember correctly) said that the largest increase in homelessness in our area has been from working adults who have had to quit work and deplete their savings to take care of their ailing parents.
- I recall most of the panelists discussing how one impediment to their work is a vocal portion of our community that are the “NIMBY crowd” (“not in my backyard). Pushback comes from people in our community who do not want these people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity living near them.
There will be more of these forums in the future.
I imagine some of them actually will be community discussions. This one was advertised as such, and they did take question cards, but it was far short of a “discussion.” I assume you can stay in the loop by following the city’s Facebook page, find it by clicking HERE.
As a church in Thousand Oaks, we would do well to be involved in this discussion.
We would be hard pressed to read through the Scriptures and not see God’s heart for the members of our community that are disenfranchised.
Amos is well known as a text condemning the injustice of the well-off against those in the society that are hurting:
Just a bit earlier in the text is this rather well-known verse:
Jesus, of course, was poor himself.
He ministered mainly among the poor (most people in Galilee were significantly poor) and was typically resisted by those who were well-off in the society (religious and political leaders). One pastor in our denomination, Dr. Liz Theoharris, puts it well:
As a poor man working among the poor of his society, Jesus performed miracles that were about providing the survival needs of the people—food, healthcare, and other human rights denied them by the society and economic system of that time. (Always with Us?, p. 142)
As people who trust in this Jesus, it makes sense that homelessness and food insecurity would be a concern we would champion. Food and healthcare insecurity were impediments to the flourishing of people in Jesus’ community, and it is in our community as well.
So, here are a few thoughts on what we can do (if you have other ideas, please share them in the comments):
Give!
Support Harbor House or MANNA with money and food donations, and/or volunteer your time at those organizations if you are able. Come to Emmanuel’s community meal on Thursday evenings.
Try to get involved!
Attend subsequent community discussions. Reach out to the city council and tell them that you support their efforts to support the people in our community who are dealing with homelessness and food insecurity.
Open your heart, if it isn’t.
The sense was that the NIMBY crowd is actually preventing the city from helping people. The person representing Continuum of Care had a great line. She said something to the effect of: “The only way to solve homelessness is homes.” People experiencing homelessness are our neighbors. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get some roofs over their heads! Wouldn’t it be great if that was a larger concern for us than other competing concerns?
Reach out.
Do you know someone who is caring for an ailing family member and their work has suffered as a result? This could be someone who is in danger of becoming homeless. Reach out to them and see if there is anyway you can be a support to them in this season.
I know as a church we have encouraged people to donate to Manna. Let’s try to always keep Manna “up front”each week. Manna not only feeds people, it ameliorates fear and gives hope. Thanks for the update on homelessness.
Thanks for going to this and for the report!
True confessions. It is easier for me to go home and close the door, keeping the homeless at bay outside.. Sometimes I give a person money, or buy a burger. I find that much of what I do is intended to keep myself at arm’s length or limiting my contact. I am more comfortable writing a comment from my computer than sitting on a park bench with a stranger.
I think the solution is relationship, and so the discussion must include more than just giving and feeding – as important as those immediate actions are and in need of bolstering. The model is the incarnation. I know this is true, but I fear that I am not up to the task. This is where we need a fresh filling of the Spirit: to give us a new heart and mind towards the poor, and the heart and mind – the compassion of Christ. Then the necessary giving of all to the mission.
Our current sermon series is exactly what we need to reflect on this. What is the activity that can be characterized as “walking with the Spirit” – the activity that results in love for the people Jesus came to set free from their captivity? If walking with the Spirit can be connected to the “least of these” passage from Matthew then maybe our most spiritual practice is on the street rather than the sanctuary. Again, I like the Sanctuary more than the street – and I can write a good comment on a blog – and we can continue to quote the wrong passage – (the poor you will always have with you).
The solution is hard work that requires sacrifice, and a willingness to change our spiritual disciplines/practices. I don’t know about you, but I am going to need some help with this. .