One day while sitting with a woman who was trying to reclaim her life from the streets, I listened to her as she began lamenting how if she only had $75.00, she could get her BCI fingerprints for a good job. At the time, I had no money to offer her.
Later, while driving home, I began to think of all the times I’ve heard people say, “If only I had …..I could…” And that’s when it hit me. I COULD provide a way for people trying to reclaim their lives. I would start a nonprofit to address those needs that are needed NOW….not in weeks, or months…but NOW. I call it addressing the IMMEDIACY OF NEEDS.
What is the immediacy of needs? It may include helping an ex-convict by providing a lawn mower and lawn tools to start a business. It may include giving the single mom money to repair her broken car and/or bus fare to continue working. It may be giving the suddenly single mother a hotel room for a few nights until she can find accommodations for her family. It can be providing a rental deposit for a returning veteran who is down on his luck. It can provide a refugee family help with utilities for heat and water, or mattresses to sleep on. It can provide much needed help with living expenses with families struggling with the chronic illness of the family provider. It can help buy food for the family of a loved one recuperating from a severe accident. The list goes on and on. The needs are unending.
It has been my privilege to have led a life in which I was honored to work with and help those in need. Now, I realize it is a time like never before to do something…