Grace in Action Offering the Shelter of God's Hope and Love
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CHURCHES UNITE TO HELP THE HOMELESS

BY CORY GOLDEN/ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER"
Reprinted with permission from The Davis Enterprise."

Mike Fields explains that his marriage fell apart, that he's spent more than 10 years living on the streets, that he did prison time after being caught growing marijuana seedlings.

The lowest point, though, might have come when a spider bit him.

He couldn't walk. He couldn't talk. But there was Cindy Burger, director of Grace in Action, tromping across train tracks to where Fields had camped, determined to get him to a doctor.

Fields says Burger even stopped a train to do so. Whether she actually did, the tale is a testament to Fields' appreciation.

"I was discouraged about life in general," he says. "Then Cindy came along. She didn't put any pressure to me to listen to her words (about God). It picked me up quite a bit. If it wasn't for Cindy, I would be dead."

Instead, on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, the 48-year-old Fields sips coffee and laughs often on a hand-me-down sofa inside Grace House, at 441 D St.

He's going to come in from the street now, he says. He displays a key he's accepted only the day before from his girlfriend, a woman he knew years ago in high school and with whom he recently rekindled a relationship. He's applied for work.

Burger, for her part, quickly steers any credit for her organization's success or its impact back to God.

"I'm just available and willing," she says, "nothing more."

Grace in Action is a nonprofit, faith-based outreach organization serving Yolo County's unsheltered homeless - almost a third of whom, by one estimate, sleep outside or in cars.

"It's about giving the homeless a seed of hope and encouraging them to make steps to improve their lives," Burger says. "It's about respecting them as human beings."

The organization offers food, clothing, sleeping bags and other items. It also provides referrals to other public and private agencies; helps with paperwork and job searches; compiles a calendar with places to find food, facilities and support; and gives grants for rehabilitation programs.

Volunteers make hospital visits, too. And, working with other local organizations, like the Short Term Emergency Aid Committee, Burger also has been able to put some, those sick or in crisis, in motel rooms.

Working out of the trunk of her car, Burger, 50, started Grace in Action about 2 1/2 years ago, after feeling stifled at a government-related shelter. There, she was unable to share the comfort and guidance of her Christian faith with the people she served.

Later, as the program grew, she was able to buy a van. Grace in Action began serving meals at the Davis United Methodist Church on Mondays. Then Davis Community Church gave Grace in Action a home at a neighboring house.

Since its start, Grace in Action has served 215 homeless people in Yolo County (seeing 15 to 20 on a daily basis), built a group of 30 volunteers and forged ties to with eight local churches: University Covenant Church, United Methodist Church of Davis, Davis Community Church, Cal Aggie Christian Association, Pole Line Road Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church of St. Martin, St. James Catholic Church and Davis Chinese Christian Church.

"We're breaking down the barriers of dogma," Burger says. "We're bringing churches together for a common cause."

Grace in Action provides them with kits, plastic bags holding socks, granola bars, water and lists of where to find help, allowing the church staff to avoid the difficult position of giving out money or not knowing where to send someone in need.

Besides immediate aide - "triage," Burger calls it - Grace in Action emphasizes individual goal-setting, and intern Paul McNeal provides drug and alcohol counseling.

What makes the organization different is the spiritual component.

Burger says Grace in Action helps all those in need - "we simply serve them in the manner of Christ." It does not push anyone into spiritual counseling; it simply offers it.

"We don't believe in concussion theology - we don't hit people over the head with it," says Burger, who is a Methodist. "St. Francis said, 'Preach the Gospel always and if necessary use words.' "

Stories like that of 50-year-old Terry Edwards motivate Burger and her volunteers.

After 15 years of living on the streets of Davis, sometimes coughing up or urinating blood, often struggling with his own nightmares, he now works at a church in San Diego and does painting and other remodeling work.

Speaking by phone, Edwards said Tuesday that he'd been sober for 35 days - his longest stretch in 20 years.

"Cindy just kept on me and kept praying for me and praying for me and praying for me," he said. "Then an old friend of mine, a good Christian man, drove up to Davis and offered me this chance. I didn't take any of my things, I just jumped in his truck."

Grace in Action not only provides help to those in need, volunteers say it gives a chance to strengthen their own faith by acting on it.

Patrick Giri, a 38-year-old member of St. James, was a computer claims analyst until last year, when he shattered his elbow in a bicycle accident. He's devoted his time since to volunteer work and found it led him to pray more, to understand everyone is equal in God's eyes regardless of race, religion or standing and to decide "faith isn't just a noun - it's a verb."

"You can go to Sunday service and hear the homilies and the sermons, but I dare say it's another thing to live it," Giri says. "The old adage comes to mind: 'Practice what is preached.' I don't give that much, but I get back a thousand-fold."

McNeal, a member of Calvary Christian Church who is studying counseling at Woodland Community College, had been working with the homeless on his own for about 10 years - dedication that cost him a fiancée who believed those he was helping would drag him down with them.

Working at Grace in Action has made the 41-year-old "more realistic" and "less superficial." It has rewarded him where construction and ranch work left him with a bad back and bad knees.

"It's different than getting on the freeway, driving to Sacramento and putting in your hours," McNeal says. "My mother and the Bible taught me that if you're going to do something, do it with your whole heart. And my heart is in this work."

Burger says the homeless people she's helped have taught her patience and perseverance as they shoulder problems as small as colds and as large as losing love ones without the structure or support others take for granted.

Her own job is not always an easy one. Burger is seeking more volunteers, people willing to serve on the organization's board of directors and those who can provide grant-writing help. Donations are always welcomed for a program with an annual budget of about $70,000.

She says she becomes frustrated not with, say, a homeless man who turns back to the bottle, because she understands he's struggling.

Rather it's fighting red tape and regulations that can tell a woman who earns $900 a month, then spends it all on rent, that she makes too much money to qualify for help. And, worse yet, it's battling dismissive attitudes.

"The most difficult thing is undoing the prejudices and stereotypes held by people who could help - people in church or people who have wealth or people who have decided 'he's an alcoholic and doesn't deserve help,' " she says. "It's undoing the idea that (the homeless) can do better if they'd just go out and get a job - the mind-set that just because they are homeless, they are worthless.

"It's the idea that because we have homeless that are downtown, that's taking away from someone else's wealth. We should not brush them aside or put them on a bus to another community.

"We're supposed to be a progressive community, so let's be progressive and come together to help people."

Grace in Action offers volunteer training on the second Tuesday and prayer meetings on the third Tuesday of each month. Both start at 7 p.m.

For more information about Grace in Action, call 400-5442 or see http://grace-in-action.org. Donations may be sent to: Grace in Action Inc., P.O. Box 4393, Davis, CA 95617.

Source: Davis Enterprise, Friday, February 18, 2005

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