“Once I look them in the eye, it is Jesus in the flesh,” Karen McNeill from Springtime of Hope explained. “There is Gary,”
She spoke about faces of the homeless that live on Akron’s streets. “This is why we visit them and eat with them. Christ didn’t come to save the righteous. He came to save all of us.”
Karen and the rest of the volunteers with Springtime of Hope do know Akron’s homeless by name.
They are a local organization that began in 2001. The groups of workers take a mobile unit downtown Akron, every Friday, no matter what the weather and distribute food and clothing.
They also take their hope and love to the Appalachian people. Once a year, the organization goes to the mountains in Kentucky for a week. They spend time building trailers and houses. “It is more than just building houses,” Karen stated. “We are building people.”
“None of us are past this,” Karen stated. Times are tough. More and more people are on the brink of homelessness. “We are amazed just how many people are homeless. People with degrees, who worked for companies for 20 years and they have lost their jobs, divorced, couldn’t afford two homes and now they are homeless.”
The organization has a homeless shelter as well on Cole Avenue, in Akron. “We are transitional housing to help get them back on their feet again. We help them get jobs and get back on their feet,” Karen stated. “It is amazing how fast the house fills up.”
“One man told us that he never would have made these changes in his life it were not for good people coming down to help him. We need more than just a soup kitchen for them to go through a line, but to actually spend time with them.”
“Christ dined with the tax-collectors and prostitutes,” McNeill stated. “He didn’t come into the world as a king riding in a limousine. He came as a poor child born in a stable.”
McNeill had something she had to admit. “One of them, I used to see all the time in 1992. I was a single mom with two kids. I saw him on the streets and I was so afraid of him. I thought he had a gun because he was homeless.”
Now, she knows him. “I told him, ‘I am so sorry that I judged you. You are a beautiful person. I never meant to judge you. I was ignorant.’”
“We want to be Christ in the world. My dad, Jerry McNeill, always said, ‘Maybe you can’t change the world, but you can change the people you meet and change them for the better.’”
Springtime of Hope has been known to come alongside many families in need. A family’s house in New Franklin was vandalized and they donated time and money to put their entire house back together again.
To donate to this non-profit organization, or be a volunteer, call 330-294-0056 or go online to www.springtimeofhope.com.
