Category Archives: Society

Society

Pregnant & Homeless in St. Paul

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Mark Horvath Talking to Ka'e k'eA couple weeks ago homeless advocate Mark Horvath (aka @hardlynormal) came to town on his national InvisiblePeople.tv road trip. Last year when he came to town I accompanied him to downtown St. Paul as he handed out socks and talked to homeless people, capturing their stories in poignant, uncut videos.

This year we made a shorter trip and talked to fewer people, but it was even more impacting. Because we talked to Ka’e k’e, a 20-year-old homeless pregnant woman. As Mark would say (and did say), I’m wrecked.

Her story is hard to watch because she’s so painfully honest. She’s pregnant because for a while she was couch surfing, and at times that meant survival sex was the only thing keeping a roof over her head. That’s right, men would tell her to take her clothes off or get out, and in the middle of a Minnesota winter walking out the door doesn’t seem like a good choice. As a result, she doesn’t know who the father of her child is.

She says she doesn’t believe in abortion, so here she is, pregnant and homeless at the Dorothy Day Center in downtown St. Paul. That says something about what pro-life advocates need to be doing.

She also admits to doing drugs, even though she knows it isn’t good for the baby. When Mark confronts her, she says it’s hard not to turn to something when you’re under such stress. I don’t condone what she’s doing, but I understand it. A hard day with the kids and I turn to food and drink as comfort. Others turn to alcohol and in worse conditions I can imagine turning to drugs seeming like a good idea. It’s obviously a horrible idea, but you try living on the street and not wanting a little escapism.

Ka’e k’e also has a 5-year-old son out there. I don’t know the story there, but I can imagine. She also has a family out there somewhere—some kind of family.

This is the reality of homelessness in America.

When I told Yeshumnesh about meeting Ka’e k’e, she said her heart was worried. I had to explain Mark’s concept of being wrecked. Because that’s what this story is.

Homelessness is real. Ka’e k’e is someone’s daughter. She’s someone’s mother. And her and millions of others like her need help.

Watch her story, open your eyes and do something.

Society

You Did It: A Well in Ethiopia

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A week ago today I started a big push to raise $2,146 for charity: water by Sept. 30. I wanted to finish my campaign to raise $5,000 and build a well in Ethiopia and get that money to people who need it right away. I wasn’t sure if we could do it.

But today the final bit came in and we raised $2,147 in eight days! You just built a well in Ethiopia. You provided clean water for an entire village. That is so beyond anything. I’m not even sure what to say. Thank you doesn’t cover it.

So far $628 has come in from my book, Addition by Adoption, and an amazing $4,385 has come from direction donations (Yes, if you do the math that’s $5,013—just because we hit $5,000 doesn’t mean we have to stop). That’s so cool. And proof that this is definitely nothing I did on my own—I had the help of a whole lot of people who donated, bought books and told their friends. So cool. Thank you.

I’ll have more to say about all of this, but right now I’m just grateful and honestly a little bit in disbelief.

Thank you.

Society

Build a Clean Water Well in Ethiopia

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I’ve been trying to raise $5,000 to build a clean water well in Ethiopia through charity: water.

We’ve raised $580 from sales of Addition by Adoption.

Another $2,275 has come in from direct donations.

But we need another $2,146. And I’d like to raise it by Sept. 30.

charity: water puts a limit on how long these campaigns can go on, and I’ve already extended this campaign twice. I want to get this money to the field as soon as possible. So let’s build that well!

Of course raising $2,146 in 15 days is no easy feat. I can’t do it alone. I need your help. Will you help me spread the word?

I’ve learned that’s the most important thing. I can’t do it alone. Most of my friends already know about this. But your friends don’t. My friend Julia proved how true that is by raising nearly $800 for this campaign in one week. I couldn’t do that—but Julia could. Can you help me out like that?

Here’s How You Can Help
Post this to your blog, Facebook or e-mail it to your friends and family:

Help my friend Kevin build a well in Ethiopia. Clean water=life. He needs to raise $2,146 by Sept. 30. You can help:

  1. Make a donation to charity: water. Any amount helps.
    http://mycharitywater.org/addition
  2. Buy a copy of his book, Addition by Adoption:

You can post this to Twitter:

Help @kevinhendricks build a well in Ethiopia. Clean water=life. He needs to raise $2,146 by Sept. 30. Donate: http://ow.ly/2EEWm

Every little bit helps. Thanks.

Society

We Are Visible: Connecting Homeless People

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Mark Horvath is at it again. The founder of InvisiblePeople.tv has put that Pepsi money to good use and launched WeAreVisible.com, a site that connects homeless people to social media.

I can see folks scoffing already—why do homeless people need Facebook?!—but those are the folks who don’t get the power of social media. Those are the folks who don’t realize that Mark Horvath has been doing this since 2008 and funded two cross-country trips with the power of social media. These are the folks who don’t realize the power of having a voice.

Homeless people are often powerless, voiceless and invisible. But they’re not helpless. WeAreVisible.com educates them about tools that can make them visible again.

And it works. The site includes stories of homeless people who have been empowered by social media.

I love seeing Mark in action. I just wish my InvisiblePeople.tv book was out and raising support for efforts like this. Soon. The book is so close.

Society

A Class Reunion of Sorts

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I had a weird dream last night. I was visiting my high school (Yes, I have reoccurring dreams about school—you’d think at 31 these dreams would go away, but no. A few weeks back I dreamed about having to go to school with Yeshumnesh!) and while stopping by the room of a former teacher (who suddenly had a ginormous office complete with fire place) half of my graduating class showed up. It was some kind of bizarro reunion, but I was seeing all these people I hadn’t seen since high school (and I couldn’t remember half their names). Unlike most of my high school dreams this one wasn’t traumatizing—it was hopeful and uplifting.

Which is all very fitting because that’s pretty much what happened yesterday (not the bizarro reunion part, let me explain).

Julia Music is an old friend from middle school and high school. We were really just classmates back then, but today I consider her a friend as we’ve bonded over adoption and long waits. She’s been a big supporter of my book, Addition by Adoption, and even got an unnamed mention on page 50. She heard about the slow but steady pace of my effort to build a clean water well in Ethiopia through charity: water. A portion of the proceeds from my book go to the well and a lot of folks have donated above and beyond that. Since April we had raised $2,046 of the needed $5,000, which is pretty remarkable.

Well, Julia stepped in and decided to help me get to halfway in one day. That meant raising $454 in one day. She started bugging people on Facebook and didn’t stop. She posted well over 150 times on people’s Facebook walls, asking them to donate to my cause. Some people call that annoying. I call it life-changing. Because the money started coming in.

It was $10 and $20 at a time (and sometimes a little more) and it started adding up. Since launching the book and this campaign in April I’ve had 10 people make donations directly to my charity: water campaign. Yesterday 21 people donated. Many of them were people I went to high school with.

By midnight a total of $475 came in, putting the campaign at $2,521—just over halfway.

We’ve been so busy lately—busy with our second Ethiopian adoption—that I’ve hardly had time to think about promoting my book or continuing to beat the drum for clean water in Ethiopia. $5,000 was beginning to feel like it would take forever. And then someone else comes in and carries the load for a little while.

As Mark Horvath of InvisiblePeople.tv would say, I’m just wrecked. I’m humbled that my former classmates would rally like this. I’m full of gratitude and overwhelming thanks. “Thank you” hardly begins to cover it.

A class reunion indeed.

Only $2,479 to go until we can build a clean water well in Ethiopia.

God, Church & Stuff, Society

“I’m Not Anti-Muslim. I Just Don’t Like Muslims.”

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So this whole “ground zero mosque” story is kind of incredible. It just keeps going. Makes me very weary of election years. No wonder nobody votes. I especially love how both sites throw out the ol’ “Anyone with common sense can see that,” argument. As weary as I am of talking politics, the way we talk about this issue keeps getting more interesting.

The other day I came across this blog post about a Washington Post article about Islamic critics, including blogger Pamela Geller. The short version is that folks like Geller are really mad that the Washington Post called them anti-Muslim. Incredulous, the blog post exclaimed, quoting some examples. It starts with Geller defending herself:

“I am not anti-Muslim. This is a slanderous lie. I love people. All people.”

But then Geller has also said:

“It’s the Muslims who are dragging the rest of the world with them, in their genocidal dreams of annihilating goodness, creativity, production, inventiveness, benevolence, charity, medicine, technology, and all of the gifts of the Jews.”

From a quick and dirty look at her site, it seems Geller likes to find examples of Muslim extremists and then blame all Muslims for their actions. The second quote above was about Arab youths attacking Jews in Germany, a shameful and despicable crime for sure, but not one my moderate Muslim neighbors are guilty of, no more than I’m guilty of picketing the funerals of U.S. soldiers because Christian extremists have done that.

Robert Spencer, another writer who resists the “anti-Muslim” label has also written:

“I have written on numerous occasions that there is no distinction in the American Muslim community between peaceful Muslims and jihadists.”

So he’s saying all Muslims are terrorists. Including, I’d guess, these Muslims in Minnesota who are teaming up with the Methodists to pack food for earthquake victims in Haiti. And somehow that whitewashing of an entire religion of 1.6 billion people isn’t anti-Muslim?

As bizarre as all of that is, I’m interested in something else.

What Message Are We Sending?
What Geller, Spencer and the like are effectively saying is “I love all people, but I don’t like what these particular people are doing.” It’s fine to say that, but when you make that statement about an entire group of people, you’re going to be labeled as anti-“those people”.

I can’t help but wonder if that sounds anything like the evangelical Christian response to homosexuality? It’s the old “hate the sin, love the sinner” axiom. It’s Christians saying “We love gay people, but they can’t have the same civil rights everyone else has.”

I’d guess Geller’s insistence that she loves all people sounds just as absurd as Christians who insist they love homosexuals while campaigning to undermine their rights.

A recent article from Relevant Magazine explores the next generation’s approach to gay marriage. It’s characterized by a lack of political fervor, a yearning for real conversation and plain old tolerance. I imagine that lack of rhetoric is what we need in the debate surrounding Muslims.

It’d be nice if in this debate we could find that tolerance and appropriately separate the extremists from the moderate Muslims. Let’s condemn extremist actions but celebrate religious freedom for the moderates.

And if you really want to revel in the Islamiphobia, you can check out Loonwatch.

Politics, Society

Raggedy Edge, Women Vote! & Homeless Vet’s Home Impounded

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“So here is us, on the raggedy edge. Don’t push me and I won’t push you.”

I think that quote from the beginning of Serenity sums up my life nicely right about now. Too bad I’m feeling pushed.

Moving on to better things.

Go Women
Today is the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. It’s hard to believe that before 1920 women couldn’t vote in this country.

Go Mark
And my friend Mark Horvath is traveling the country again, telling the stories of the homeless. Today he told us about Johnny (or is it Jimmy? Update: It’s Johnny), a disabled veteran who needs $350 to get his mobile home out of the impound. You can help by making a donation. Here’s the full story on what happened to Johnny.

Update: Johnny got his home back. Thanks!

(And wow, that felt like a disjointed blog post from 2004.)

Domicile, Society

Embracing the Inner Cheapskate

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I’ve been writing a “statement of need” for an adoption grant application and been trying to explain how poor we are. Not poor enough that we can’t handle the adoption of course, but poor enough that we need help. Which raises the question of what’s “poor enough”? After all, who doesn’t need help, especially these days?

It’s been an interesting exercise. At any rate, I found myself trying to describe our family as financially responsible and frugal and trying to give realistic examples to back it up. I kept wondering what other people do to be cheap. After all, one person’s frugal is another person’s extravagance. One person’s necessity is another person’s luxury.

I want to share a few areas where I think my family is being cheap—not to brag, but to share some thrifty ideas. I hope you’ll share your thrifty ideas in the comments. It’s kind of a touchy subject because everyone has different values (cable TV may seem like an extravagance, but if it’s your only entertainment expense and you never go to the movies or buy DVDs that might be pretty economical), but I hope maybe we can learn something from how others have done it. Saving money is always good, but especially in this economy.

Continue reading Embracing the Inner Cheapskate →

God, Church & Stuff, Society

Fourth of July Perspective

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Native American pastor Jeff Yellow Owl shares a helpful perspective for the Fourth of July. He recalls attending a church service on July 4 and the pastor spoke about “the great sacrifice of the forefathers who established this country.”

“I was so angry,” Jeff admits. “I felt like a cold knife was plunged through my heart. All I could think of was, what about my forefathers and the blood of my people that has been spilled on this land?”

That’s a sentiment I’ve often felt as church worship strays from Creator to country. The freedom we have in America is worth celebrating, but it becomes dangerous when we whitewash our history in a red, white and blue frenzy. It becomes too easy to swell with pride and forget our failures. That kind of blind celebration becomes a slap in the face to those who endured injustice. As we celebrate our freedom we should remember our failures and steal ourselves to correct current and future failures.

The Fourth of July isn’t just an excuse to blow stuff up. It’s a chance to celebrate and move forward, towards a more perfect Union.

Jeff Yellow Owl eventually found the strength to do just that:

But forgiving the past was “a process and didn’t happen all at once,” he says. “That kind of forgiveness has to be supernatural.” …

He prayed: “I want to be healed from my anger. I don’t want this feeling in my heart anymore.”

Society

Spending the Night at Church with Homeless Families

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One month a year my church hosts the county’s overflow shelter for homeless families. It’s called Project Home and it’s something I’ve supported for a while now. It’s the organization we were raising money for when we spent a night homeless.

This week I finally volunteered for the organization, sleeping over at my church on Monday night as an overnight volunteer and spending Tuesday evening there as well. There were four families spending the night at our church, five adults and 11 kids. They spend the day at family shelters, finding services they need, working or whatever they need to do, and come to our church for around 12 hours, from after supper until the morning. We offer snacks and breakfast, and then provide whatever they may need. Usually that means keeping the kids entertained while the adults relax.

It’s an eye-opening experience. These are families being chewed up by poverty and the economy. You can see how out of sorts the kids are, in a strange place with new volunteers every night and parents who are pushed to the edge. And I said we’re the overflow shelter—we’re actually the overflow for the overflow shelter. Some months there’s even a third overflow shelter. The need is tremendous.

I’ve been wanting to volunteer with Project Home for a long time, and this year it got to the point where I don’t think I could face my good friend Mark Horvath if I hadn’t volunteered with Project Home. Mark is good at kicking my butt that way.

While I’m glad I finally volunteered, and I’m up for doing it again, I felt completely inadequate. I’m not the outgoing, talkative person who strikes up conversations with ease. I did my job, but I never felt like I did it very well. I guess I felt like these families deserved something more. And they do.