The Story of Rick

I wanted to take this opportunity to tell the story of Rick and Home Sweet Homeless. I had the pleasure of meeting Rick at a potluck thrown by HSH at Lake Eola Park in Orlando, Fla.
When I first arrived, a good friend and I walked around the lake to tell all the homeless people we ran across about the potluck taking place nearby. The first person God placed in our path was a homeless man by the name of Rick. We sat with him for a minute, striking up conversation and directing him to where the food was. Realizing there was a lot more lake to walk around and more hungry men, women and children to invite, we told Rick we would “pester him more at the potluck.”
When we finished making the rounds and headed back to the potluck, we found Rick sitting beneath a tree by himself. I offered him some food, but he politely declined. Somewhat confused, I sat with him in awkward silence for a few minutes. As the silence broke I learned that God had placed Rick in that park more for me than for him. Rick had not come to the potluck for a handout, but rather for the company and conversation.
It turns out this is why most people came to the HSH potlucks. To be treated as a person rather than a cause.
I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with the founders of HSH since that first event and have learned that the entire purpose of the organization is to commune with the homeless of Orlando. David, 19, one of the founders of HSH, told me about a homeless man he met who said, “There are places to get food, and anyone can do that. The difference is, you kids spend the day with us and talk to us. That’s what the adults don’t get.”
To be honest, that was what I initially didn’t get. I thought I was going to feed the homeless and feel great about myself afterward. But HSH is as much, if not more, a ministry to the upper- and middle-class trendy young people in our communities. We are so comfortable where we are that we forget people may be hungry, suffering, or simply want someone to talk to, just like Rick.
HSH aims to be the bridge between these worlds.
The response has been amazing here in Orlando. High-school students, college students and those of us in our twenties and thirties leave our comfort zones every month for the potlucks put on by HSH, and others are dedicated to coming every week and pouring into someone less fortunate than themselves.
If you ever want to be broken, watch a 19-year-old in $150 jeans make a plate of food and have a conversation with a homeless man.
My experience with Rick was not unique. Thanks to HSH stories like mine are being told all over the city, and lives are being touched regardless of economic status.
HSH high-school and college-campus clubs are starting in local Orlando schools as we speak, and they will be branching out into other communities soon. Who knows? Maybe you can be the catalyst for this to happen in your hometown.

-David