Hope for New York

Volunteers Empowered at Don't Walk By Events in February

(Photo by Caitlin Stiefel/DWB) 

The people living on the street who we encounter very nearly daily here in New York— the man wrapped up in a blanket on the sidewalk, the woman weaving in and out of packed subway cars with a cup— can stir up some pretty unpleasant and conflicting feelings inside of us.

We feel annoyed, or guilty, or sad, or frustrated. The problem is so huge, so broad-reaching… how are we supposed to approach it? 

New Yorkers are in desperate need of empowerment to serve our homeless brothers and sisters, and that’s why we at Hope for New York are so excited about this month’s Don’t Walk By outreach. Don't Walk By is an annual collaboration of faith-based organizations that are committed to serving the homeless (including Hope for New York affiliates like The Bowery Misison, NYC Relief, and NYC Rescue Mission), and Hope for New York has supported this movement for the past four years by recruiting volunteers and providing financial support.

Every Saturday this month, hundreds of Don’t Walk By volunteers are canvassing the city on a search for the homeless, offering the people they encounter care kits and an invitation to return to a nearby church for food and medical assistance.  But, beyond looking to meet immediate and practical needs, Don’t Walk By volunteers are actually engaging with people living on the street— learning their names, listening to their stories, praying for them.  It’s incredibly empowering for volunteers to learn to approach the homeless, to discover that it’s not that difficult or uncomfortable to ask them about their lives or to sit with them for a while.  Talking, listening, praying— that’s when we stop seeing homeless people as nuisances or nobodies, and start seeing them as people who are valuable to God, and who, because of that status, deserve to be heard and served.

And, halfway through this outreach, lives are already being impacted! One Don’t Walk By participant shared this story from the first outreach in Harlem on February 5:

At the end of the night, the last street team came in with a man named Darren.  Since we were all wrapping up to go home, we didn't have much time to chat so I cut to the chase— I asked him if he wanted to go somewhere for the night.  He quickly told me that he just needed a second chance.  Darren told me that earlier that night in his despair, he cried out to God in the subway station and right after that, this team of Don’t Walk By street volunteers approached him, offering to take him back to the anchor church!  I was just floored and we prayed in that moment for God to continue the work that was started in him that night. 

We’re praying for Darren and the countless other men and women living on the street who have been impacted by the Don’t Walk By events.  We’re also thanking God for the hundreds of Hope for New York volunteers who are helping make this massive outreach a reality, who, on four Saturday nights in February, are deciding not to walk by and, instead, engage and love and minister to the poorest of the poor in our city.

Want to read more about Don't Walk By? Visit the Don't Walk By Facebook Page for photos and updates, or follow the outreaches on Twitter at @dontwalkby.