I am arrested by this poignant pictorial post about a home that once knew Love. A home whose lovely bones bear witness to better times; moments when it's grandeur was acknowledged and admired. C-Tann's simple statement says it all...'Someone once loved this home.'
To love a thing or someone is to proffer one of life's greatest gifts. Love clothes life with dignity and respect. Love grants us the courage to face life. When we loose the ability to give love to ourselves and others, our dwelling places also begin to reflect the winter of our despair.
Abandoned homes and abandoned people are becoming increasingly more difficult to ignore. Varying forms of economic affliction have scourged communities across the nation. In America's heartland, neighborhood landscapes are littered with the carcasses of homes whose owners have left. Folks no longer whisper about the condition...they simply sigh with resignation as lawns become overgrown with weeds and houses begin to sag under the weight of neglect.
This past Monday, agents of Audu Real Estate took a different kind of educational field trip. I contacted Marge Palmerlee who is the Executive Director for Dégagé Ministries in the Heartside district in Grand Rapids, MI. She invited us to come down and take a look around her place.
It was a cold rainy day, and as we arrived the crowd had thinned out. The center closes down at mid-day and re-opens in the evening. Tables and chairs were being stacked and the floor and kitchen cleaned. The earlier buzz of activity had thinned out as folks had gone to jobs while some who had no place to go lingered around the tables or outside. You see Dégagé, a ministry which started in 1967, is an outreach of Love to foster dignity and respect for those amongst us who have lost everything. It is all about the power of re-building community through the power of Love.
As we toured the facility, I was struck by how clean it was. Marge explained to us that the patrons were largely responsible for the upkeep and care. Many of these individuals are homeless, some live in low-income housing and the majority are struggling with some form of mental illness. Through the ministry of Dégagé, folks are being given the opportunity to rebuild their lives.
Support services at Dégagé include: job location assistance, lockers to store personal items, laundry facilities, bathrooms with showers, a State ID program, referrals to local health care professionals, low cost meals and counseling. It is this the loving life renewing work of many members of the community which serves as a mortar to begin the process of re-building. Supporters of Dégagé include individuals and businesses.
Karen's story is one example of how this mortar of Love works. Marge shared with us about how Karen's life had hit rock bottom and she found herself at the ministry, broke and broken. You can read the full account on Dégagés' website. Through the support of the programs at Dégagé, Karen began to put in place the building blocks of her life. One day, an area employer came calling. Marge recommended Karen for a job and supported her through the job interview process. Today, Karen is gainfully employed. In fact, she came back to Dégagé to give a gift to the ministry in gratitude for the care she received.
This is a template for what it's going to take to get back on our feet as local communities. It's going to require all of us rolling up our sleeves and setting about the re-building of lives. It starts with mowing the grass around the abandoned home, sweeping the stoop littered by trash. It continues with reaching out to a neighbor and inviting them to your home for a meal...
Alienation is a human condition. Our physical space merely mirrors it's presence. The cure for this malaise which leaves our communities forlorn and our souls' forsaken is Love. You and I are our brother's keepers. Through the power of Divine Grace, we become the instruments which God uses to mend broken lives. This truth is a fundamental foundation of the building blocks of life and of healthy neighborhoods.
Dégagé Ministries ~ 144 South Division
Grand Rapids, MI 49503 (616) 454-1661
Copyright 2008 Audu Real Estate All Rights Reserved
Other Related Posts & Topics to check out include:
inspiration: What I Know To Be True...
inspiration: Forgiveness is not human...it's Divine
inspiration: What It Means to Walk Through the Fire.
Lola Audu~Real Estate Broker/Owner Grand Rapids, Michigan Real Estate — View Home Listings in Greater Grand Rapids, MI
Posted by 
;)
;)
Lola, thank you for your kind words, I appreciate the mention. This is an awesome post! I am bookmarking it and flagging it for a feature. I'm off to check out the link to the ministry. Enjoy your evening. Regards, Carolyn.