There is power in numbers. 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. During the day you’ll see many of them sitting together. Yes, many of them might be feeding their addictions in their circle of friends, but these are the people they share a sidewalk with and who have their backs.
While people are messy and can choose to not be a friend, the saying that there is power in numbers still proves to be true. Our friends on the street care for and look out for their friends just like the rest of us do… not perfectly, but in the best ways we know how.
Here are a few beautiful ways we’ve seen friendship out on the street…
A man named William visits the streets as often as he can each month to say hi to his friends, to give them food, and to encourage them that life does get better. He used to live on the streets.
When our friend Jeanette got a job working at Bonton, she introduced one of her friends on the street to a job at Bonton. She helped her friend find a job and is now getting to walk with her friend in this new season.
One of our friends needed a shirt in order to get into a restaurant, and our friend Edward gave him one of his. (Edward used to live on the streets and was addicted to drugs, but now he is not. He now comes with us each week to share with his friends on the street that there is hope that they too can be free from their addictions.)
A friend was beat up a few days ago and every time we came to check up on him, he was surrounded by his friends who were there to help and protect him. While he was sleeping and trying to heal, five or six of his friends sat around him.
Our friend Courtney washed the feet of his friends on the street a few months ago just because he wanted to show the kindness of God to them.
Anytime we take our friend Rhonda out to eat, she saves her leftovers for her friend Nick.
Our friend James needed to get his car fixed. His friend Craig, who used to be on the streets, stopped by to check up on his friends and decided to bless James with $1000 to fix his car.
There are many more examples of the friendships we see on the street. Yes, there are not-so-good ones, just like with everyone else… but in the midst of pain and hardship that the streets can have, we also want to recognize the good.
At The Human Impact, our heart is to build friendships with those who are without a home so that we too can have their backs, give them hope, and walk with them toward healing because no one is meant to walk this life alone.
That’s why God calls us into relationship with Him and with others, and why Jesus hung out with the outcasts and sinners. Regardless of who we are or what we’ve done or how different we might be, we are called to be a friend. And it’s through friendship that we begin to see we are all going through something, that we’re not as different as we might seem, and that there is truly power in having a friend.