Check Out a New Charity at a Local Parish

You know by now that I’ll be painfully honest with you if there’s something cruel or suspicious going on in the Diocese of Steubenville.

And, you know by now that I’m merciless with making fun of bad Christian proselytizing art.

So, with that in mind, can we all take a moment to enjoy some excellent Christian clip art? And to admire a charity that put up this poster?

I saw this picture in the back of a church in town, and was drawn to it immediately:

Isn’t that a nice composition? I like the simplicity of the lines. I like how Jesus posed as if He’s carrying his cross, but instead of a cross, it’s a mattress. I like how the other person Jesus is helping is hidden behind the mattress so you only see Jesus. I’d like to see some more of this artist’s work.

I took such a long time enjoying the drawing that it was awhile before I read the text about the charity they’re advertising. That’s as brilliant as the art is.  This is an ad for the “Neighbors in Christ Bed Program,” which provides mattresses and simple bed frames for formerly homeless people transitioning out of the shelter. You might not know this, but a lot of homeless people have trouble getting into housing because while there are programs available to get them food, medical care and a HUD apartment eventually, there isn’t really a similar program that provides furniture.  Sometimes this leads to a person finally getting a place to live but having to sleep on the floor. And, as this article from my local paper outlines, sometimes it leads to not being able to have custody of your children, because CPS doesn’t consider housing adequate if your children don’t have a bed to sleep in.

So the people at Triumph of the Cross came up with a solution. They’ve put together this little charity specifically just to buy simple beds for poor people starting over in a new house, working together with the volunteers at our homeless shelter downtown. A $146 donation gets somebody a twin frame and mattress.

If you’ve read my book and my writing here at Patheos, you know that my family started off extremely poor when Adrienne was born. We were never homeless, but ten years ago we had an emergency move from one house to another at the last minute to avoid homelessness. The old house was furnished and the new house wasn’t, so we had nothing. We ended up salvaging some chairs and mattresses and a broken table from old things neighbors left out for Bulk Trash Pickup. This seemed like a good idea until I woke up with itchy bumps all over my skin, and that’s how we discovered the bugs. That’s my personal not-having-a-bed story.

I also know a poor family in the neighborhood who temporarily lost custody of their children when their slum house was declared unsafe. When they got into an apartment, they ended up getting into a financial mess with a furniture rental business in order to furnish that apartment and get their kids back. Another family had their child sleeping on the cushions from a sofa stacked end to end like a twin mattress.

So of course, when I saw this poster, I was thrilled that somebody is addressing the problem. This is a very simple, inexpensive way to help someone have a much better quality of life.

This is the kind of thing every parish should be doing: find out what the poor around you need, and get together to give it to them. Simple as that!

Do give them your support if you’re able.