The Friendship Room Needs Water!

Folks, I have a very important request from The Friendship Room.

There is going to be a severe heat wave in Steubenville this week. Temperatures are going to get at least above 90 for the next few days, and heat indexes are expected to reach 110. The Friendship Room serves as a warming center during the winter, but this time of year it’s all about keeping people cool. They have an air conditioned room for people to cool off, a wading pool with a slide for children, a shaded backyard with fans, and lots of ice pops and iced drinks. They also leave bottled water on the porch whenever they have to be closed. They regularly save the lives of prostitutes and homeless people outside all day in the summer. They provide a haven for poor people suffering without air conditioning, people without cars who have to walk wherever they go downtown.

I have a selfish reason for wanting to help The Friendship Room especially in the summer months, because they helped me one summer when we were a lot worse off than we are now. This was before they had a house, when they were helping people survive the summer out of a tent in a parking lot.

And now, just in time for the extreme heat to set in, the Friendship Room has run dangerously low on bottled water.

I’m asking my readers to rush them some.

People who live in or near Steubenville can pick up a few cases and bring it to 419 Logan Street, Steubenville, the duplex with the blue doors right next to Saint Peter’s Church. Bring them some popsicles and fresh fruit too because there’s nowhere to buy any downtown and they go through as much as they can get. The best produce is soft produce because so many poor and homeless people don’t have good teeth– peaches and oranges are more useful than apples. They also go through tons of bagged chopped salad.

If you’re not local, you can still help in several ways. You can donate cash at their Paypal button here, or mail them a check at Center of Hope/Friendship Room, PO Box 53, Steubenville, Oh, 43952. You can have them rushed cases of water and sports drinks from Amazon Grocery. Keep in mind that you can go to smile.amazon.com, select The Friendship Room as your charity, and shop as you normally would, and a small donation will be made to The Friendship Room at no cost to you. They also take shelf-stable food for their little free grocery and good books for their little free library. If they don’t go through everything you send during this heat wave, they certainly will by the end of the summer– and this is Steubenville. Summer can last until October.

Imagine how irritating this summer heat is to you. Now imagine you don’t have air conditioning or any access to a pool– or maybe even an electric fan, a house to go inside, a change of clothes or a cold shower. That’s what the poor in Steubenville are suffering. That’s what Christ is suffering in their midst. Thank you so much for helping me relieve that suffering.

(image via Pixabay)