Walk a Year in These Shoes
Here you’ll find homeless people by the thousands. You’ll also find CCCO — Central City Community Outreach, guided by Grady Martine. Most of the struggling people on Skid Row are single, but there are more and more families with children. The staff and volunteers at CCCO are giving their lives to serve the homeless of this area. They’re committed to long-term relationships. Here’s Life Inner City helps strengthen those connections by providing school shoes and Boxes of Love for Central City to share with the families with children. They make it a huge two-day celebration. Grady reports, "We attempt to give every child in our community a new pair of shoes." Each family that shows up also receives a Box of Love, brimming with holiday food. "In the weeks leading up to the outreach, our staff relentlessly canvass the community in order to sign up every family in Skid Row," Grady says. "Without fail, families invite us into their homes, however humble, and it is the content of these precious conversations that fuels our ministry." Having shoes and food to offer gives the workers a reason to knock on every door — which helps them move toward their primary goal: building relationships that open the door to the Gospel. When families arrive for this special occasion, they’re treated with great respect. Grady recalls one mother and two daughters who arrived and were ushered to chairs. A volunteer from Central City bent down on one knee in front of one of the little girls and asked, "Cindy, what kind of shoes do you like?" She described her preferences, and the worker brought out several choices. He served her as she tried on the various shoes and made her selection. It is so rare for the poor to have choices. After the children receive shoes, each family is given a Box of Love. The food box, along with the shoe boxes, are too much for the family to carry — and that’s on purpose. Folks from Central City manning shopping carts offer to help carry their supplies back to the place where they’re living. As they walk, conversations flourish and relationships develop! People are drawn toward the church ... toward Central City’s S.A.Y. Yes! Center (the only after-school program for at-risk children in the entire community) ... and most importantly, toward Christ. |
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Skid Row, L.A.