Tag Archives: homeless

More Green Innovations for the Homeless

I’ve blogged about Crossroads, the green from the ground up homeless shelter about to open in Oakland, Calif., and the groundbreaking Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter in Fairfax, Va. Today, I am going to tell you about the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, Ill. The Pacific Garden Mission has been in Chicago since 1877, but two years ago, a new, greener building was constructed to house the homeless. The new mission, which has 950 beds, has solar panels and low flow water fixtures. They used local materials to cut down on emissions and recycled their construction waste. Best of all, … Continue reading →

Green Homeless Shelters – Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter

Yesterday, I blogged about Crossroads, a new green homeless shelter that is about to open in East Oakland, Calif. But, it was not the first homeless shelter certified green. The Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter in Fairfax, Va. opened August 4th of last year. The 16,931 square foot shelter was among the first to receive the Green Globes certification. The Green Globes certification is awarded to structures by the Green Building Initiative of Portland, Ore. The shelter, which can hold up to 20 families, offers an eco-friendly, safe, and secure environment where the families can stay while trying to get … Continue reading →

Green Homeless Shelters – Crossroads

Going green is reaching all aspects of society. The other day, I read about a few homeless shelters that are going green. One of the shelters is in East Oakland, Calif. Crossroads is a new shelter that is being built with “being green” in mind. While most homeless shelters are created from old warehouses and churches, this shelter will have solar panels in the roof, non-toxic paint, hydronic heating, ceiling fans, and pressed wheat furniture. Residents will have places to secure their personal belongings with storage built into each bed. There will also be a day room with computer equipment, … Continue reading →

Diary of a Cat Care B&B: No Surrender

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The weekends are relatively quiet at the cats-only boarding facility. Once in a while, we get a walk-in — someone who needs to pick up some prescription food from the vet side of the building. Outside of that, most of our visitors are expected (either dropping off or picking up feline guests for boarding). This past weekend, I had a surprise visitor. A man stopped by to inquire about boarding rates. I ran through the rates, showed off the condos and playroom, and mentioned our extra services (like grooming). Then he told me his story. He and his cat had … Continue reading →

Random Acts of Kindness—Spreading “Happyness”

It may have been released several weeks ago, but Hollywood’s still buzzing about the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness.” The film tells the real-life story of a homeless man (played by Will Smith) who worked his way to becoming a millionaire. At the rate my life speeds by I’ll never get a chance to see the movie in a theater (I’ll likely catch it on DVD), but the same is not true for dozens of infrequent moviegoers in Washington, D.C. Recently, about 100 of D.C.’s homeless people were guests of the mayor’s office for a screening of “The Pursuit of … Continue reading →

Saving the World

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I have written a number of blogs which describe the traits that potential adoptive parents of special needs children might want to have. It is time to write about an attitude that will make it harder to adopt. If you think that you will be able to “change the world”, you can expect to have your sails trimmed. I am more than familiar with this attitude. My wife and I launched into many a project knowing that we would be able to conquer any problem that appeared. Fortunately, we had already discovered by the time that we were ready to … Continue reading →

Caring for the Poor

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Twenty years ago, I was shifting my ministry focus from the Texas prisons to the streets of the inner city. My wife wanted to tag along and take our three children. After church one Sunday afternoon, we bought a lot of bread, peanut butter, apples, and bottles of water. We made fifty sack lunches. We set out for the area of the old Star of Hope men’s shelter in downtown Houston. (The Astros baseball stadium now occupies the area.) The plan was to hand out sack lunches and talk to as many people as we could, maybe even pray with … Continue reading →

Rescue a Child

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It’s Christmas Eve and we are putting the children to bed. Last night, one of our grown children stayed at the house and let my wife and I go to a late movie. We went to see the new Will Smith movie titled The Pursuit of Happyness. It’s a good movie that I would recommend about a man who went from being homeless to very successful. Yes, I know that “happiness” is misspelled; you will understand when you see the movie. But this is not a movie review. We needed a little rest and relaxation. The movie did not give … Continue reading →

Celebrities And The Spirit Of Giving

Many regard Christmas as the season of giving. But, for some big-hearted souls helping others is a year round effort. No surprise. However, when the big-hearted soul is also a big-name Hollywood star then it may be a shocker… to some. The following is the story of a Hollywood heavyweight who has made it his mission to help those less fortunate in a rather unique way… see if you are more stunned by who it is or what he’s doing. Some know Jesse James as the host of TV’s “Monster Garage.” Others know him better as actress Sandra Bullock’s husband. … Continue reading →

Hollywood Stars Dish Up Some Holiday Cheer

You know them from the big screen, but many Hollywood celebrities were seen on a much more human scale yesterday as they joined dozens of volunteers to dish up turkey feasts to thousands of homeless people outside the Los Angeles Mission. Among Hollywood’s elite who turned out to deliver holiday cheer to those less fortunate themselves were Tony Danza, Minnie Driver, Kevin Nealon, Sally Kirkland, Jason Ritter, and Judy Tenuta. But, the celebrity I was most surprised to see (on a television news report) show up at the Mission was “Spartacus” star Kirk Douglas. The actor, who turns 90 next … Continue reading →