Helping The Homeless

Friends, Family, and Colleagues:

I’m writing this email to tell you about a project for homeless people that I’ve been involved with. I’m excited about what’s been happening, and I want to share the news with people who I think might be interested.

Since January, I’ve been helping to serve bowls of hot chili, bread, and coffee to hundreds of homeless and low income people in Santa Ana every Thursday night. This is a program that my friend, Roy Gerber, started. Roy is a chaplain who spends his days taking his two “therapy” dogs (golden retrievers) to hospitals, foster homes, schools, and the Orange County Rescue Mission. His non-profit organization is called Paws For Cause and its mission statement is to “bring hope, love, and encouragement to challenging circumstances.” He’s remarkably gifted at this. Kids love his dogs and it offers him an opportunity to talk to them and pray with them about their challenges or illnesses.

Back in December, Roy organized an effort to bring a group of volunteers to downtown Santa Ana one night and serve chili and coffee to the many homeless people that live in that area. It soon became a weekly event, and I started going with him in January. In just a few short months, a lot has happened.

· The Huntington Beach Waterfront Hilton is now making the chili every week so that volunteers don’t have to make it at their homes. 30 managers at the Hilton have committed to making the chili and cleaning up the containers every week for the next year.

· The Market Broiler restaurant has regularly donated the bread that we serve with the chili.

· We’ve expanded to a second location. Wednesday nights are in Huntington Beach and Thursday nights are in Santa Ana.

· The Orange County Rescue Mission now sends its mobile medical clinic to Santa Ana to offer services to people who come to eat dinner.

We usually serve between 200 and 300 people a night. Some of them do indeed live on the streets, but many of them live in the surrounding neighborhood and are struggling to make ends meet. There are also families that come with kids. With the economy the way it is, I imagine it’s nice to know that on Thursday nights, they can get a hot meal that they don’t have to pay for, in a setting that is safe and friendly.

I initially volunteered because I knew Roy from church (Mariners Church in Irvine) and he asked me to help. I was a little intimidated the first time but now I look forward to it. I’m always impressed by how gracious and respectful the group is that we serve. They make sure that the handicapped people in wheelchairs get served first, and they help those that aren’t able to stand in line.

Why am I telling you about all of this? I’m excited by what Roy and our little band of volunteers have done in such a short amount of time. There have been so many things that have fallen into place at just the right time that I’m positive God has His hand all over this. So mostly, I just want to tell my friends about something I’m doing which I’m excited about. And if you believe in the power of prayer, I would ask that you include this ministry in your prayers. I would also humbly ask that you consider joining us on a Wednesday or Thursday night. Let me know if you’re interested in coming down and I’ll fill you in on the details.

And finally, I’m going to graciously ask you to consider donating to this ministry. It’s a little awkward for me to ask people to give money, so needless to say I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe in what we were doing and also in the leadership that Roy provides. This is a man who is truly doing God’s work, and I can vouch that he’s a very responsible steward of his nonprofit’s financial resources. Even with the volunteer support of the managers at the Hilton, the monthly budget is already several thousand dollars. Paws for Cause purchases all the chili, serving dishes, utensils, and containers. Also, Roy has turned his RV into the “Chili Mobile”, so there are the costs associated with maintaining that vehicle, i.e. fuel, upkeep, and insurance.

If you’d like to take a look at our current budget, please click here: http://www.pawsforcauseoc.org/forms/budget.pdf

If you’re interested in making a donation, or even setting up a monthly donation, you can do so at the Paws For Cause website, here:
http://www.pawsforcauseoc.org/donations/

Or you can send a check here:

Paws For Cause
9114 Adams Avenue, # 197
Huntington Beach, CA 92646

Finally, I recount a response from a homeless man who was in line for a meal. This man gave one of the volunteers $2 to pay for the meal. When the volunteer tried to give it back to him, he said “I wish I could give you more, but this is all that I have. We have to keep the blessing going. If everybody would give, we ALL would be okay.”

Thanks for taking the time to get to the end of this email. I truly appreciate it!

Bryan Crain COO

WISE BROTHER MEDIA

Ziba

Ziba is who most of us wish we could be. She’s cool, calm and collected…even if a bone is nearby. She is not only man’s best friend…but everyone’s best friend. You couldn’t meet a kinder soul, even if it does come in a fluffy package (which in many ways makes it that much better!). The second you see a dog like this…it’s almost inspiring. To describe how gentle she is would be beyond my ability since her spirit is beyond words. And as a seasoned veteran of hospitals, I can say that I am talking about one of the best therapy dogs around. I’ve seen big poodles, little white dogs, even a wiener dog or two and none quite measure up to the longing you get to pet Ziba just one more time and see her for just one more minute before you leave her presence. If a dog like this were at the bedside of every patient across the world…I could guarantee you the world would be a much happier place. When I’m around her, MY world is a much better by a longshot. To share in her happiness, love, and serene spirit is an experience I, and many hospital patients, will never forget.

Reggie

Paws For Cause 5K run/walk 2010

Greetings!

I hope you are well.

It is a great honor and pleasure to announce this years date and presenting sponsor for our annual Paws For Cause 5K Event!!

This year’s highly anticipated annual Paws for Cause 5K, 5K Dog Run/Walk, 1K Kids Fun Run, Dog Costume Contest and Family Expo will be presented by the Waterfront Hilton of Huntington Beach and held on Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley.

We would love to see you on Sunday Morning July 25th. Together, we can do so much more! Lets do something fun and make a difference in our community while we are doing it!
There are several avenues and levels of participation available to you. From signing up to participate with or without a dog, see how your company could benefit with one of the great Sponsorship Opportunaties, having a 10′x10′ booth, giving gift certificates, merchandise, or services to simple cash donations.

Your participation helps Paws For Cause accomplish 5 of our major goals:

1. Bring hope, love and encouragement to challenging circumstances such as disadvantaged kids, seniors, homeless, shut-ins and disaster victims.

2. To provide thousands of stuffed animals to hospitalized, special needs and less fortunate children.

3. Hosting mobile food outreaches in poverty-stricken areas of Orange County several times a week. The Chili-Mobile (mobile food pantry) provides hot meals, beverages, and bread to thousands of at-risk people. The Chili-Mobile events also provide these homeless and low income families to interact and receive encouragement from the therapy dog teams.

4. Holding workshops to help attendees (management, volunteers, counselors, etc.) develop confidence and skills needed to be an encouragement to individuals and families facing challenging circumstances at home, in hospitals, children’s hospitals and senior homes.

5. To support Chaplain Ministries who provide emotional and spiritual support for those enduring hardship or life crises. Bringing a message of hope and comfort to those experiencing a personal tragedy; whether due to abuse, addiction, separation, sickness, disaster or even death.

If you or your organization is able to participate either as a sponsor or runner, please go to http://www.pawsforcauseoc.org and register now or give me a call so we can discuss the details.

If you can not make it on July 25th do not like or unable to walk or run 5K, would you be willing to make a donation? If so, please go to http://www.pawsforcauseoc.org or send a check to address below.

Thank you for making a difference!

Roy Gerber
Paws For Cause
P.S. Checks can be sent to Paws For Cause to the address below or go online to http://www.pawsforcauseoc.org
9114 Adams Avenue, # 197
Huntington Beach, CA 92646
Phone: 714-965-6363
Cell: 714-655-1242
http://www.pawsforcauseoc.org
roy@pawsforcauseoc.org

Chili Mobile

Greetings,
I hope you are well. Wow!! What a night!

We had the honor to serve over 85 lbs. of chili, over 40 loaves of bread and over 250 cups of coffee to the less fortunate and homeless last night in Santa Ana.

The thankfulness and appreciation from the great people we served as well as some of the stories and experiences clearly shows and tells me that what God started with a 30 lb chocolate Santa Claus before Christmas is what we are called to continue on a weekly base.

Last night we used up all of our food supply!

Erinn and I stopped at the Market Broiler on the way home to thank the manager for the bread they have donated since we started three weeks ago. After he heard the stories he told us that he will supply 40 loaves of bread every time we need it…..He is even going to let us store it at the restaurant and all we have to do is just swing by and pick it up when we need it How awesome is that? Praise the Lord!!!!

In case you served alongside of us or donated some money over the last several weeks for this new outreach ministry I wanted to say “Thank you so much!!” You have made a huge difference!!!

May I go a step further and ask you for a couple more favors?
- Could you please write down your experiences and some of your conversations while you served the less fortunate and why you think we should keep doing it? Stories like this help us to get confirmation that we do what we are called to do as well as ask for donations and are great for our website.
- We need more chili, coffee, propane, insulated transport boxes and food carriers, cups, bowls, spoons in addition to some other items. Would you please consider either donate some money or ask your friends and co-workers to make a donation so we are able to keep buying supplies? We buy it at the Restaurant Depot tax-free. So the money donated buys the most possible for the $.
- We need more volunteers and I hope we can build teams and rotate so none of us will burn out.
- I’m in contact with a company willing to donate their time to put signs on the camper. In case you may know somebody interested in a sponsorship opportunity on our mobile feeding unit please let me know.
- In case you believe in prayers would you please pray that the Lord would bless this endeavor in ways we never thought possible and that not our will but His will be done.

As some of you know, we are in communication with individuals and organizations in Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach and are considering not just feeding the less fortunate in Santa Ana on Tuesday but to do the same in Costa Mesa on Wednesday and in Huntington Beach on Thursday. I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and only want to move forward if we have clear marching orders from the Lord.
I would like to leave you with a thought or maybe I should call it a surprising realization.

At least half of the people we have been serving are not homeless. Some families still have a “home” or like one lady last night called it a “fox-hole” but just no money left to put food on the table. They are what is now being termed the “working poor”.

Last night when I finally curled up in my warm bed with a roof over my head I could not help but start crying….thanking the Lord for all my blessings and begging Him to keep open doors so we can keep serving the less fortunate neighbors of ours.
Thank you for your love and support! God bless you!

Be encouraged,

Roy Gerber
Paws For Cause
9114 Adams Avenue, # 197
Huntington Beach, CA 92646
Phone: 714-965-6363
Cell: 714-655-1242

http://www.pawsforcauseoc.org

roy@pawsforcauseoc.org

Paws For Cause 5K run/walk 2009

We love to hear from you so if you would like to share your Paws For Cause experience with us please fill in the form below.