Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8 — The Georgia Bulletin, November 7, 1985
Shelter Ministry
(Continued from Page 1)
to help them get back on
their feet.
He still feels close to one
of the first men he helped,
hears from him occasional
ly and knows their friend
ship remains. “Phil” had
lost wife, children, job,
home. He turned to alcohol
as many do. John Bray en
couraged him to find a job
through the labor pool,
staked him to his first
week’s rent, $35, at a room
ing house. “He used to come
home with me for a day or a
weekend. Judy would cook
him a meal. She was open to
it, she supported me.” His
children, Tony, 13, and An
nette, 17, welcomed the
stranger who sometimes
played with them.
If John Bray’s red and
white polka dot cap, red
T-shirt and dungarees are
his “uniform” for most
every occasion, his faith is
always his armor.
“I’ve got a lot of trust in
the Lord and I feel like 1'ma
fairly good judge of people I
meet (at the shelter). Phil
was the first one. I saw that
some of these folks could
get out with a little help.”
It took him several years
but now, he said, he “tries
to discern which ones the
Lord wants me to help. I
haven’t been good in some
of my judgments. Some of
them fell down, but with lots
of support from my com
munity I’ve finally come to
realize that I can’t help all
of them.”
When he first started at
the shelter he used to stay
overnight. “Now I guess
I’ve come up the chain of
command, I don’t stay
over. I’m the street person.
I keep it orderly on the out
side and let them in. I'm
also a trainer for the (new)
overnight volunteers. After
everyone is in and if
everything is quiet, I can
leave.”
“When his truck pulls up
in front they are so glad to
see him,” Ms. Knott said.
“The street people love
him, respect him. He has a
marvelous rapport with
them.” She recalled the
night, the first year he
worked. when the
volunteers he was there to
train, wouldn’t let him in.
“They thought he was a
street person.”
“He is so pained by the
suffering of these people.
He’s helped a lot of them get
back on their feet. It’s hard
to accept that you can’t help
everyone,” she said.
He took a major role in
getting the Jonesboro
shelter started. About five
years ago, he and Mary
Iezzi and Judi Carroll,
fellow parishioners at St.
Philip Benizi and shelter
volunteers, heard Ed Lor-
ing from the Open Door
Community speak of the
need for shelter all over the
metropolitan area and
neighboring counties. This
prompted them to try and
get a shelter in Clayton
County. Two years later,
after much apathy and
discouragement, the
Jonesboro Presbyterian
Church congregation a-
greed to let the Task Force
on the Homeless, a coalition
of church, Saint Vincent de
Paul, social service, mental
health and hospital people,
use the second floor of the
Sunday school building as a
night shelter.
Now the Jonesboro
shelter can accommodate
50 people. “Our shelter is
not so much street people
but people who get evicted
and some transients. We
have enough rooms so we
can put up families.
“My job this year is
trainer coordinator. I have
to train the volunteers the
first two weeks (the
Jonesboro shelter opened
Nov. 1). It’s like the Lord
lets the work slow down in
winter so I can do the
shelter work. As long as he
doesn’t let it slow down too
much. He hasn’t let me
down."
John Bray might have
thought the Lord let him
down when he was laid off
from his night shift job at
the Ford plant in Hapeville
during the recession. Now
he views this as a gain, the
Lord’s way of leading him
and making him open to the
shelter ministry. He started
out on his own as a contrac
tor and, offered the chance
in 1983 to return to the night
shift, he decided to stick
with his own business and
the night shelter.
Earlier, during the night
shift years, another event
deeply affected his life. His
wife Judy, born and raised
in the Baptist faith, ac
cepted a neighbor’s invita
tion to go to the Catholic
church with her. Later, she
took instructions but didn't
tell John who hadn’t gone to
church regularly since he
left home to go to college.
Shelters For Homeless
Opening Around Atlanta
The night shelter at Cen
tral Presbyterian Church
near the state Capitol in
downtown Atlanta will open
on Friday, Nov. 15, accor
ding to Betti Knott, a
member of the core com
mittee of volunteers.
Anyone who would like to
help at the night shelter can
call Ms. Knott at 753-3600.
The shelter accommodates
75 men and a number of
women and children.
Members of the core com
mittee are: the Rev. Joan
na Adams, staff person for
Central Presbyterian
Church; Elizabeth Eve and
Beth Webb-Woods, both of
Central Presbyterian;
Mark and Katie Bashor,
Debbie Wolcott and Sister
Margaret McAnoy, of Sts.
Peter and Paul; Bill Payne,
Holy Cross; Brenda Griffin,
Immaculate Conception;
Kathie Massima and Ms.
Knott, Christ the King, and
John Bray, St. Philip
Benizi. A member of the
committee must be on duty
each night.
These free night shelters
will be opening or are
already open in the Atlanta
metropolitan area:
St. Bartholomew’s Epis
copal Church — Oct. 21 —
serving families.
Jonesboro Presbyterian
Church — Nov. 1 — serving
men, women and children.
St. Mark’s United
Methodist Church —■ Nov. 1
— serving women and
children.
The Temple — Nov. 1 —■
serving couples.
Trinity United Methodist
Church — Nov. 1 — serving
men.
St. Anthony’s Catholic
Church — Nov. 15 — serving
men.
Shearith Israel — Nov. 17
— serving women.
Druid Hills Presbyterian
Church — Nov. 17 — serving
men.
All Saints Episcopal
Church — Dec. 1 — serving
men.
YEARROUND
The Born Again Christian
Center
Clifton Presbyterian
Church
The Community of
Hospitality
Must Ministries of
Marietta
First Presbyterian
Church of Atlanta
Gospel Light Rescue Mis
sion
Morningside Baptist
Church
Oakhurst Baptist Church
The Open Door Com
munity
Phyllis Wheatley YWCA
Shelter for women and
children
Wheat Street Baptist
Church Temporary Shelter
for women and children.
The Friday night before
the Easter Vigil Mass in
1974, she recalled, she told
him he had to go to church
with her Saturday night.
Then she told him why. She
was being received into the
Church and she had per
suaded the priest to let him
be her sponsor. “I told him
it would work out.”
Another big change for
both of them came in 1978
when they made cursillos
(weekend short course in
Christianity). By that time
John Bray was back in the
Church, “more in tune, try
ing to discern what He
wanted me to do. When
someone needed me, I tried
to be there.”
“I just see him as having
a gift,” his wife said. “He
gives 100 percent of himself
to everybody.”
John Bray is going to ease
off this winter. Instead of
going to the shelters four or
five nights a week, he said
he will only be going two
nights. First, though, he is
going to the Jonesboro
shelter every night these
first two weeks it is open to
train new volunteers.
He gets depressed, tired,
emotionally drained. And
there is a constant need for
people to help. “I'm always
looking for more people in
terested in helping. "
He doesn't hesitate to say
how volunteering at the
shelters has changed him.
“It made me aware of the
needs of people I didn't
realize were there. Not only
their physical needs but
their emotional needs. It
made me appreciate the life
I have, both spiritually and
way we could do it without
the peace and grace of the
good Lord...You’re going
THE MESSAGE of the banner speaks for
John Bray.
materially. We re supposed
to look for the good in peo
ple. I think the Lord has
shown me the good in these
people."
“But there’s no way you
can do it on your own,
there’s no way. Betti
(Knott), Joanna (the Rev.
Joanna Adams, staff per
son for Central Presby
terian) and all the super-
involved people, there’s no
through the valley and see
so much, you can’t do, ex
cept to give them a place to
sleep and something to
eat.”
“Where I am right now in
my spiritual life is doing
what I can and praying. It
took me a while to get to
that peace. I put myself on a
lot of guilt trips. Now I use
whatever I have for His
glory.”
St. Anthony's, SVDP
Plan Turkey Dinner
Do you have much to be thankful donate desserts, which should be
for 9 brought to the church the week of
Thanksgiving.
Give thanks by extending a hand
:
to celebrate Thanksgiving with St. The jointly sponsored dinner has
Anthony s soup kitchen and St. Vin- traditionally served between 300 and
cent de Paul as they host their fifth 4qq people, including elderly from
annual Thanksgiving dinner at the west End neighborhood, street
West End parish. people, residents of the St. An-
. . ; :
Usually to fill the plates with a Sony’s night shelter and families in
turkey dinner and all the trimmings, need, including patrons of the St. An-
St Vincent de Paul publishes a Sony’s lunchroom which regularly
gargantuan shopping list that in- provides food for over 100 people a
eludes dozens of turkeys, bushels of da - v -
vegetables and quarts of cranberry
::
sauce to be donated by generous sup- The Thanksgiving celebration
■
porters. begins with 10 a.m. Mass at St. An-
: ' : V' •
thony's on Thursday, Nov. 28, and is
This year, because the food dona- followed by the dinner served from
tions sometimes came in at the last n a.m. until mid-afternoon.
ill!
minute and left the cooks with
creative challenges, they are asking Volunteers, including families.
!I!!H
for financial support to fund the din- are also needed to help cook the food
,
ner. Donations for the dinner should in advance and to help serve it on
be sent to St. Anthony's Church, 928 Thanksgiving Day. Those who would
Gordon St., S.W.. Atlanta 30310. In like to help should call the church at
addition, people are still invited to 758-8861.