Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
I posted the other day about gambling, which led to people sharing Las Vegas stories. So, I thought I'd share one as well.
Ten years ago, my wife and I took a year to visit every state. We documented the trip with a blog and later a book.
Here's one of our first posts about how the year began in Las Vegas (Tuesday, January 5th, 2016):
"Would you like some homemade cookies?" I asked the woman walking along North Las Vegas Blvd.
"You can take those cookies," she answered, "And stick them up..." Well, I won't complete her sentence. But I'd much rather eat the cookies than do what she suggested.
Mindy and I went out Saturday morning with our new friend Kathleen Quirk to deliver cookies to street people in the less touristy locations in Las Vegas.
Kathleen has been baking cookies and handing them out for about four years now. It wasn't long before that Kathleen was living on these streets herself, but now she's the kitchen director of the kitchen at Las Vegas Rescue Mission. I had read online about her ministry, Cookies and Hope, in an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. We connected on Facebook, and I asked her if we could join her on her cookie run.
And most of the street people, unlike the woman mentioned above (who didn't seem to be having a good day), were quite appreciative of the cookies. Kathleen says that when she was on the street she would pray for someone to come her way and give something to her. She hopes she is the answer to prayers made by people on the street.
I asked Kathleen about her favorite memory of handing out cookies, and she told us about the time a man put a gun to her head. Initially she'd met a young woman on the street and started a conversation, giving the woman a business card with her phone number, so the woman could call her she ever wanted to get off the street. Not too long after, the woman called. Kathleen went to help the woman. A man was there, probably the woman's pimp, and he put a gun to Kathleen's head and told her to stay away from his girl. Days later, Kathleen was driving and saw the woman, who got into Kathleen's car. Kathleen called someone who could take the woman to safety out of state. That woman returned to her family and is doing well today, partly due to some cookies.
We did go on to visit every state (and D.C.) in 2016, always visiting at least one church, one bar, and a movie theater. And we still are in contact with many of our friends we met along the way. Kathleen no longer works for the mission, but she is still well. She has since married and is a cook in one of the casino restaurants. We've met her husband and eaten at her restaurant (the first time I tried avocado toast).
As I mentioned in the other post, I'm not a gambler. But because of the friends I've met, I love Las Vegas.
Discussion (26)
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
I would like to care about helping the homeless, but I quickly tired of it. When I lived in Houston, our church youth group made packets of snacks and a bottle of water that we could give out to homeless at the underpasses. No one wanted the food and water. They wanted cash. I think all the homeless should be rounded up, put in detox to dry out, and then sent to work camps to earn their living.
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
There's too much government money available for Me to care.
If a vagrant wanted assistance there are many ways to get it.
I already contribute enough (pay taxes) and it's not voluntarily.
Remember way back when such people were called "charity cases?"
MODERATOR
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
My Bible study group gives out sack lunches in Detroit. Often the recipients will also want a prayer, and we will pray either with them or for them. Generally the people are grateful for the sack lunch, or are pleasant and courteous when they say "no thanks". We hand them out at locations selected by a local Detroit preacher, who also invites the people to come to his church services. A good experience for everyone. Thrivent Insurance ( former Lutheran Brotherhood and other Lutheran insurance companies merged ) will often give us grants to help pay for the lunches.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
But individuals matter. I worked five years at a Mission in Seattle. There were men and women who desired change. I saw God take men and women from living in a tent on the street to sobriety, work, and self-sufficiently. And faith in Christ. I also saw plenty of people crash and burn. I'm glad there are still people like Kathleen who care.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
The government money and programs are for the most part useless. But there are still programs and people (usually faith-based) that can make a difference. But tough love is required.
You're seeing five of 26 comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.