Take me out to the ball game

Recently, I attended one of The Mustard Seed's baseball games. Those who come to The Mustard Seed have played the sport in a city-wide baseball league for nine years. The experience was great for our clients.

When I first arrived, I met Rick, who joyfully said, "We've had a good run. Everyone's having lots of fun."

Of course, that was the whole point: fun. No matter what the weather, that's how our team felt. One minute they were playing in the rain. The next minute, the sun came out for everyone to enjoy. And, a fun game of baseball was just one way to help them build community in their lives.

Did I mention that Rick is looking forward to getting a place of his own soon? While it's easy to think that all of our clients are homeless, some of them are working poor, like Rick. They are working but are lonely, or they don't have enough money to make ends meet.

While Rick used to have evening meals once upon a time, that's not all The Mustard Seed provides him with now. The Mustard Seed is still growing hope and building community right out there on the baseball field. That support network makes our clients feel valued, supported, and worthy of achieving more.

I will never forget the smile of Rick and the other clients who were cheering on the sidelines that night. They were happy, carefree, and knew that someone cared about them. Sometimes that's all that's needed to make all the difference in the world. It's important to remember that we can all make a difference. What other small things can you do to make an important difference in our community?

The Pleasure of Prayer

Hi, I’m Yasha, and I work frontline at The Mustard Seed Edmonton.

There is this sense of stinging heaviness on your soul seeing somebody crying to you for help--completely desperate. What do you do when someone comes to you, broken and mournful? No, they are not looking for food, nor are they looking for clothing, and not even a blanket.

I had a slightly intoxicated man, we will call him Gordon, approach me while we were handing out bagged lunches during ‘clean-up days’ at The Mustard Seed Edmonton. Gordon asked me, “Hey man, can you pray for me?”  I responded that it would my pleasure. I have been only working at The Mustard Seed for about three months now, and this was my first personal prayer request. While asking Gordon what he wanted me to pray about, Gordon began weeping uncontrollably.

“My friend,” he said, “I am sixty one years old and I am going down, down, down, down. I have never done anything right, and I keep putting myself in this mess.” As tears streamed down his face, Gordon looked at me for prayer.

For a short period of time I have provided basic services and necessities to assist the community at The Mustard Seed Edmonton for daily and short-term needs. Now here is a man asking me to plead with God on behalf of him.  E.M. Bounds once said, “By prayer, the ability is secured to feel the law of love, to speak according to the law of love, and to do everything in harmony with the law of love... Prayer is the mightiest agent to advance God's work. Praying hearts and hands only can do God's work.” This experience has led me to one conclusion: we desperately need to pray. Psalm 62: 5-7

Mustard Seed Shelter

Hello, hello there!

My name is Lacey and I’m one of the overnight team leaders at The Mustard Seed Shelter. This month marks my two years working at this lovely place. I’m very excited to share some of my experiences with you through this blog.

When I was 17, I went on a trip with my church to East Hastings in Vancouver and God drastically changed my attitude towards homeless people, and along with it my life. I went from crossing the street for fear of someone who looked homeless to approaching and offering a greeting.

Our shelter has capacity to serve 370 people a night. We offer food, a place to sleep, access to clothing, showers and a locker to store belongings.

It’s hard to describe what I do at the shelter because it’s so much more than the basic services I mentioned above. Staff are actively involved in building relationships with guests; we do our best to support them during crisis and as they move towards better choices. Sometimes that means discussing a struggle with addiction, a referral for a mental health assessment, directing someone towards the employment center or working with a guest towards housing or it can be as simple as verbalizing that this guest is cared about.

"Remember that the poor are people with names," writes Bryant Myers, author of Walking With the Poor, "people to whom God has given gifts, and people with whom and among whom God has been working before we even know they are there."

This is one of my favourite quotes and I look forward to sharing with you some of the ways I see God working among the homeless at The Mustard Seed.

A day on Street Level

The sun slowly rises over the tops of the downtown towers, colours spearing from the heavens as the city begins to wake. As God shines down, the front doors of Street Level open and those who have slept outside shuffle forward to the doors where they know they will be welcome, where they are missed if they don’t show up, where they know that unconditional caring and empathy await. Those who are heading to work but need razors, a washroom or just a morning greeting soon begin to enter, knowing that they will work a full day and still not have enough to pay the exorbitant rents that Calgary demands.

The staff on Street Level never know what the city will bring them. There may be a fight on the corner. A guest who has been using the supports of The Mustard Seed for years may share the story of one of their friends dying on the streets last night, and the staff and guest mourn together for a friend who has been lost. The busses arrive from our shelter bringing guests back downtown so that they can begin their days: working, connecting to resources, surviving.

The stories are as diverse and unique as each individual who enters the doors of The Mustard Seed downtown. The needs that brings these people to the doors are not just met through the provision of food, emergency services and programming but through relationships, respect and the knowledge that whatever this day holds for those without housing in Calgary and for those living in poverty, there is someone out there who cares, there is a safe place to be and they know in their hearts that, when the time is right, hope will turn into reality.

Volunteer groups support formerly homeless individuals

Imagine you’ve been living in a shelter with a community of 300 roommates. Then you find housing and suddenly you’re on your own! Lonely, isolated, and bored. Chances are good that you’ll fall back into unhealthy habits.

Aftercare at The Mustard Seed works to house clients who have been living in our shelter, and part of helping them is encouraging a healthy lifestyle and getting appropriate supports in place.

We believe that, as human beings, we were created to live in community with one another, and unfortunately, not everyone has a healthy community. That’s where volunteers come in.

Groups of volunteers are coming together with the Aftercare team to form a supportive network for a client who is transitioning to the freedom, independence and responsibility that comes with having an apartment of their own. This looks different depending on the client and group of volunteers, but examples are: going out for coffee at the local Tim Horton’s and talking about how life is going, going out to the bowling alley, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a picnic at Princess Island park, etc. The possibilities are many and volunteers have the opportunity to get creative!

Volunteers in these supportive capacities will have the opportunity to work as a team and support one another. This is really an opportunity for those in the Calgary community to come together with The Mustard Seed and intentionally help their neighbors get back up on their feet!

If you would like to learn more about volunteering with Aftercare, please email kristyferguson@theseed.ca