Austin, Texas, Mar 7, 2017 / 02:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Austin, Texas, like any hipster city worth its organic, non-GMO salt, is known for its food trucks.
There are about 1,000 food trucks that roam the streets of the Texas capital, offering barbecue, breakfast tacos, and gourmet grilled cheese to the masses of Pabst Blue Ribbon-swilling millennials who have recently flocked to the city.
But among them, and before them, there was Alan Graham and Mobile Loaves and Fishes.
Mobile Loaves and Fishes is a Christian non-profit founded by Graham and five other men that delivers about 1,200 meals and essentials from 12 food trucks to homeless people on the streets of Austin every night.
The ministry also recently started a village called Community First!, a place where the formerly homeless, volunteers and those desiring a simpler life live together in a village of tiny homes and recreational vehicles in what Graham calls “an RV park on steroids.”
In his newly released book Welcome Homeless, Graham recalls the story and the people behind his ministries, in his raw, straight-shooting, and often humorous voice.
In October 1996, Graham, a convert to Catholicism, had gone tentatively on a men’s retreat. At first, he was counting down the hours until the “hugs and hand-holding” were over. The retreat was too emotional for his then-very intellectual faith.
But by the end, he experienced a profound change of heart and adopted a philosophy of “just say yes.”
Several yesses and a couple of years later, Graham and his wife, Tricia, found themselves having coffee with a friend who was telling them about an initiative in Corpus Christi, Texas, where multiple churches would pool their resources to provide food for the homeless on cold winter nights.
An entrepreneur at heart, Graham immediately envisioned a catering truck that could deliver meals to the homeless (this was before the food truck boom; at the time ,Graham called them “roach coaches”).
“I woke up the next morning knowing we could franchise it, and bring it to every church, every city, and every state to feed the homeless,” he recalls in his book. “This is how entrepreneurs think: one truck becomes a thousand.”
Through his church group, he recruited six more men to join him and invest in a food truck for the homeless (they started calling themselves “The Six Pack”). One of these men turned out to be an especially key player: Houston Flake.
Socks and popsicles
Houston, who met Graham through the men’s group at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, was poorly educated and illiterate, but understood the Gospel like no one Graham had ever met.
Houston had experienced chronic homelessness throughout his life, and became a key tour guide for Graham and his crew, who were “clueless” about life on the streets as they began their ministry.
During one meeting, the group had discussed how great it would be if they could get phone cards (pre-cellphone times) to hand out to the homeless whom they would meet.
“Houston looked at us and said, ‘That is the dumbest idea on the face of the planet. They don’t need phone cards. No one wants to talk to them. They don’t want to talk to anybody. You need to put socks on that truck,’” Graham recalled.
To this day, socks are the most desired item on the trucks.
Houston also took Graham out to his “conference room” – to meet some of the homeless who were his friends. It changed Graham’s whole perspective on the population he was about to serve.
Not long after Mobile Loaves and Fishes began, Houston was diagnosed with bladder cancer and given mere weeks to live.
For his dying wish, Houston didn’t want to travel or eat a fancy steak dinner – he wanted to deliver 400 popsicles to homeless children on a hot summer day, a treat those kids rarely experienced.
“He wanted them to choose: Pink? Red? Blue? Purple? Green? He wanted to give that which they did not need but might want. He wanted to give them abundance in fruity, tasty, frozen form,” Graham wrote.
That philosophy carried over to the food trucks. The people they serve are given options – PB&J, ham and cheese, tacos? Milk, coffee, orange juice? Oranges or apples? It’s a shift from the scarcity mentality found in soup kitchens founded in the Great Depression, to an abundance mentality that is possible in the most abundant country in the world, Graham explained. They are “the little bitty choices that people who live a life in extreme poverty don’t get to make often.”
The solution to homelessness is not just housing
Since the first truck run, the ministry quickly grew. Hungry people would chase down the food trucks as they saw them making their way through the streets of Austin.
The ministry has now expanded to the cities of San Antonio, Texas; Providence, Rhode Island; New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. To date, Mobile Loaves & Fishes has served over 4 million meals, and with more than 18,000 volunteers, it is the largest prepared feeding program to the homeless and working poor in Austin.
But it didn’t stop there. A little over 5 years into the ministry, Graham envisioned an “RV park on steroids”, with the philosophy of “housing first”, which holds that the homeless need housing before they can solve any of their other problems.
However, Graham knew that mere houses were not enough. What these people need and desire, like everyone, is to be known and loved – they needed community. He envisioned a place where people lived life together, knew and cared for each other, sharing kitchens and gardens and conversation.
“It developed from this idea back in 2004, where we went out and bought a gently used RV and lifted one guy off the streets into a privately owned RV park,” he said.
Because of zoning laws and other issues, it took awhile to get the idea off the ground, but the Community First! Village project was finally able to break ground in 2014.
Today, 110 people, most of them formerly homeless, call the village home. Soon, there will be enough housing for 250 people. There are brightly colored tiny homes that would give HG-TV a run for their money, as well as recreational vehicles and “canvas-sided” homes (sturdy tents with concrete foundations).
The homes provide the basics – they are essentially bedrooms – while everything else is communal. There is a communal kitchen and garden and bonfire, and places everywhere to sit and have a conversation.
Our @mobileloaves_genesisgardens chicken coop was definitely a top destination for everyone visiting #CommunityFirstVillage today. We loved having y’all out here, and the chickens definitely loved all the attention! ???? #divas
A post shared by Mobile Loaves & Fishes (@mobileloaves) on Apr 2, 2016 at 2:21pm PDT
“It’s all centered on Genesis 2:15,” Graham said. “Just after God created the Garden of Eden, he took the man, and centered him in the garden to cultivate and care for it. And so the foundation for our entire philosophy of the community is centered on God’s original plan for us, to be settled, to be at peace with each other, to live in community, to be cultivating with the gifts that he has given us, and to serve him by caring for each other.”
What needs to change
The solution to homelessness, Graham said, is not going to be found in new government policies or agencies, but rather in Christians and other people who choose to take care of each other.
“I believe it’s like the old African adage ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’” Graham said. “We have to step in, the village should step in and care for its own. What we’re doing right now is abdicating that responsibility to our government, which … tries to resolve this issue transactionally, but I believe it’s a relationship issue. Our Kingdom desire is to be wanted by each other, not ‘if you buy me a house I’m going to be happy.’ That’s not where our happiness comes from.”
One of the foundational goals of the ministry is to change the stereotypes that people have about the homeless, so that they are seen as brothers and sisters rather than as other, Graham added.
He recommended that anyone who wants to help the homeless start building relationships with them – say hello, ask their name, shake their hand, give them a sandwich or a gift card to Chick-fil-A. And then find an organization to volunteer with in your city.
“There’s a giant stereotype around the homeless, and we’re very good as Americans at stereotyping, and so the homeless population (is projected) to be drug addicts, mentally ill, criminals; they’re usually depicted as unkempt or that they don’t pay attention to hygiene, so we develop these preconceived notions that won’t even allow us to roll down our windows anymore to say ‘Hello’ or ‘God Bless,’” he said.
“Those things just aren’t true,” Graham said.
“We have five major corporate goals, and goal number one is to transform the paradigm of how people view the stereotype of the homeless. When we change that paradigm, it changes our culture so as to be able to go and love on our brothers and sisters.”
That’s one of his hopes for the book, and the reason he made sure to tell the stories of so many homeless men and women who have directly touched his life.
“What we want to do is spread the kingdom message of a better way to love on our neighbors, so I’m hoping the book will go broad and deep, and people will be inspired to go out there and begin doing what it is that we’re doing, that’s what I hope.”
Because “what’s happening here in Austin, Texas is nothing short of a miracle.”
[…]
What woke nonsense. Wake up, people.
Actually, for the reasonably skeptical, any marriage between a rugged man and a beautiful woman, especially popular stars in their professions is like a jab of vitamin B12 in the arm of a morally weakened culture.
Know that the end of the world is coming upon us when we start looking to Taylor Swift for cues about how to live 🙄🙄. Lord have mercy.
Well, Athanasius, no one I look up to is perfect, and I myself am far from perfect, but I still attempt to help raise my grandson to be a godly little boy who loves Jesus and wants to serve him, and I have the audacity to confess my sins and approach Jesus in Holy Communion and hope that He will not turn His Face away from me and my continued struggles with certain besetting sins.
We’re all flawed people, and sadly, flawed people, including plenty of Catholic flawed people, get divorced. Sigh.
Taylor and Kelce are as flawed as the rest of us, but…it’s sure nice to see an old-fashioned dating relationship (for 2 whole years, not just 2 weeks!), a traditional engagement (complete with a on-the-knee proposal and an engagement ring!), and plans for a wedding that no doubt will include Kelce’s and Taylor’s mothers in the planning stages! I think a lot of young girls will be inspired to find a boyfriend who will treat them the way Kelce treats Taylor in public.
I hope their marriage lasts longer than most celebrity marriages (sadly, some only last for a few weeks), but there are some celebs that stay married and are faithful to the same person for decades–one example is Robert Patrick (the original Terminator!), who has been married to Barbara for over 25 years and still going strong! I think their active status in their church has something to do with this, along with his commitment to AA and staying sober–something that Barbara told him he had to do before she would even consider marrying him!
I think, or at least I hope, that the long-time dating relationship, the equality of their “celebrity” status, and the presence of very strong and involved moms will help Kelce and Taylor.
And of course, being billionaires hopefully won’t hurt either!
Have they both committed themselves to Christ? Are they committed to walking with Christ in obedience as His disciples? Are they committed to making Christ the center of their marriage? Are they both active in a local church?
These are, of course, rhetorical questions with answers that are quite clear. It’s not appropriate to celebrate or elevate this couple.
This seems rather harsh.
Do you not attend weddings of people who are not committed Christians? Of course that’s your choice, but marriage is certainly better than shacking up.
I doubt Taylor and Kelce attend or are “active” in any church because of the expense (millions of dollars and a staff that most cities and towns can’t muster) that would happen because of the need for security and the disruption to the church service or Mass that would ensue as the thousands of fans converge upon the church, the parking lot, and the church neighborhood. Both of these celebrities have to be extremely careful of criminals or mentally unbalanced folks who could easily do them harm if the celebrity lets themselves be too accessible.
But that doesn’t mean that they are not involved with “church” in some way, perhaps online as most of us were during COVID, or perhaps donating monies, probably with the admonition that no one knows who is actually donating except the church treasurer or accountant.
We cannot say whether they are Christians–both grew up in good homes, and the fact that they honor their mothers and families in public and private speaks well of them.
There is a very active group of Christians in NFL, but again, I doubt Kelce takes a visible role in any of these groups because he doesn’t want to attract a crowd of fans that might make it difficult (or dangerous, if the fan was unbalanced) for the group to meet and get anything done.
There are also groups of “stars” or “celebrities” that hold Bible studies and prayer meetings. Again, I can’t say whether Taylor is involved in any of these, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she stays away so as not to be disruptive, as she attracts so many fans–actual mobs–if she is in public.
I don’t think Taylor’s songs are “Christian” in any sense and I think her costumes are immodest, but if you go to Mass, you will see plenty of younger girls and even grown women wearing outfits that alarm you and make you wonder how they will ever be able to kneel or even genuflect or sit down! It’s not my place to tell the parents of these kids to step in, or to make a comment to another woman! And when you think about it, female stars have been pushing the boundaries of immodesty vs. modesty ever since women got involved with the performing arts–the flappers come to mind. It’s not right, but…our saying so won’t make any difference. And at least, she seems to be dating rather than shacking up.
I don’t want to elevate “stars” to an exalted level, but I think that they work harder and have more pressure to succeed than pretty much anyone, even doctors. I have a daughter who works in professional theater in stage management (and is very successful)–and she works harder than anyone in our family–long hours, different gigs going all at once, constant promotion and interviews with hopes of being hired for another gig, lots of pressure to make no mistakes, long times between meals or snacks, and lots of missed holidays and family gatherings. She is a Catholic, but she doesn’t shout it out to her co-workers–she just does a really good job, encourages her co-workers and the “stars”, and works hard to make sure everyone gets the support that they need to do a good job, too.
I guess until we are in a celebrity’s shoes, we can’t really understand their lives and judge their faith or lack of faith in God.
Diogenes above (1:24 a.m.) – There’s such a thing as being too cynical. If you look up Brad Wilcox, I think you’ll agree that “woke” isn’t a particularly accurate descriptor of him.