She was homeless, living in what used to be called Tent City, a homeless encampment in South Dallas at the time. She was a poet. And she was someone Carolyn wanted in her life. It was in CeCe that Carolyn found both a friend and a teacher. And now, CeCe has become my teacher.

“It was like three blessings all in one,” Laura Miller shared. “It helped a homeless population that is more vulnerable, it helped somebody with a restaurant who is probably struggling at this time, and it really brought a bunch of my friends together…”

Stepping outside their comfort zone to befriend the homeless is exactly what a group of Dallas women did and one of them shares her experience with us…

Ten quick takeaways from our time at a Leadership Academy hosted by Mobile Loaves and Fishes at Community First! Village last month. This was a three-day leadership development experience focused on helping us understand and harness the power of our unique leadership style…

Addiction is a chronic brain disease where one is physically and psychologically dependent on drugs, alcohol or a behavior. Despite the stereotype that homeless people are addicts, addiction is a disease that can effect anyone.

The injustice is this: people with felonies who have the money can pay an attorney to expunge their felony. People with felonies without means, however, cannot pay an attorney to expunge their felony. Their life cannot return to normal…

It can be hard not to ask this question when we come across people sitting on sidewalks and under highways in the middle of the day. Along with the false stereotype that homeless people are lazy, this stereotype that homeless people should just get a job to solve their homelessness is incorrect.

Laziness is defined as unwilling to work or use energy. It’s a word that is used to describe Netflix-binge-watching millennials, mindless scrollers of Instagram and Facebook, or people who sit on sidewalks with no job. These are people described as not having enough willpower to resist temptations in order to reach their goals. 

The start of each new year brings with it hope for change. Hope to get healthy, to save money, to put down our phones at dinner. For our friends experiencing homelessness, it could be to find housing, get a job, or be free from addiction…

The first time I went out to the streets, my perspective drastically shifted. I realized that homelessness is not an amorphous dilemma that randomly plagues certain members of society, rather it is a group of people who need to be loved.

A few days before handing out coats to our friends on the street last weekend, Channing Boone, the Founder of Coated in Compassion, asked everyone to take a moment to reflect on what it means to be human.

Help us create an experience for Matthew to see the only team he's ever loved play… the Dallas Cowboys.

As many of us ate around a large table together in the warm and beautiful Turner home for an early Thanksgiving, we shared about what we love about this holiday and about all we are thankful for.

The single greatest cause of homelessness is the profound catastrophic loss of family. Housing will never solve homelessness, but community will... and Community First! Village is one example of this.

This winter season, The Human Impact will take Coated in Compassion under its wing as we collect new coats through a donation based system and provide those on December 7th to the homeless in Dallas. During the month of November donate your coats to The Human Impact….

Despite the heavy rain, many of you drove all the way out to Trinity Forest Golf Club to join us for our Art of Community fundraiser a few weeks ago. That alone is a great picture of what community looks like—showing up! And, as many of you know, that is exactly what we do at The Human Impact. We are a ministry of presence, as Elisabeth shared at this event, and that looks like showing up, rain or shine, for our friends on the street.

Today is World Poverty Day, a day that sheds light on what many of us don’t experience and sometimes don’t even see. In just the city of Dallas alone, a population of about 1.3 million, nearly 22 percent live in poverty. That’s one out of every 4.6 people.

Our last Streetside Salon was on Saturday! As many of you know, our Streetside Salon events go even deeper than haircuts. They are about friendship. And part of friendship sometimes looks like sitting down with a stranger and getting to know them.

“The homeless, they can be outsiders, they can be misunderstood, but they became my unlikely healers,” Elisabeth Jordan, Founder of The Human Impact, shared with a group of women at Christ Church Plano last weekend.

We got in the car with two wheelchairs folded in the back and we headed to Austin Street Center. We were about to give our friend Carl his new wheelchair...

There is something about being invited to be a part of something meaningful that makes an encounter with a stranger in 7-Eleven feel more like an encounter with a friend…

For our friends on the street, especially for those who sleep on the street, they often don’t sleep alone. They look out for one another. Here are a few ways we've seen how beautiful friendship can be out on the street...

We are having another Streetside Salon Saturday, September 14 from 9-11 a.m. It will be a day of good food, friends, and volunteer hairdressers setting up shop on the streets of South Dallas, using their gifts to help our friends remember they are beautiful.

One of the first things many people notice about Robert is his optimism. Despite living on the streets for nearly six years, he always found a way to speak about the hope he had for things to get better…

Matthew woke up from the sidewalk he’d slept on for years, gathered up his sleeping bag and backpack, and drove with us to Green Oaks, a psychiatric care hospital in Dallas. Matthew wasn’t doing well and he was ready for help.

We've known and walked alongside our friend Peggy now for over 2 years. If you've spent any time volunteering with us on the streets, you have most likely met Peggy. There is a child-like sweetness and vulnerability to Peggy that quickly endears many to her.

Eating together. This is what Jesus did with His friends. Regardless of status, race, gender or background, we are called to be a friend. That means being in relationship with people. Walking with them and they with us, laughing and crying together, drinking coffee and eating donuts, fruit and eggs. Together. Not just for our friends, but with our friends.