On June 1, 2109, our team of eight volunteers distributed clothes, food, dog food, socks, band-aids, hand wipes, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, soap, toothbrushes, and batteries to eight homeless people.

This outreach, we provided some of the same basic necessities that are usually needed. The most popular item was AA and AAA batteries. The homeless people usually run out of batteries the fastest because they use them to listen to the radio or other electronic devices. 

On May 17, 2109, our team of six volunteers distributed clothes, food, dog food, socks, band-aids, hand wipes, toilet paper, soap, and toothbrushes to eight homeless people.

As we celebrate the resurrected Jesus and His power within us,
may you experience anew the glories of His grace.

On Saturday, March 2, 2019, a team of 9 volunteers gathered to relaunch our homeless ministry in San Jose. This was our first time back since last year, and we got to reconnect with a lot of the same people we helped previously.

It was good reconnecting with people we haven't seen in a while, and we got to catch up with each other. It was a satisfying experience due to the fact that we have established real relationships with these people and were able to catch up like old friends.

​We told them that we were going to be out more consistently and jotted down any items that they might need. We are also teaming up with another church called Christian Worship Center, as we have done before in the past, so things have been picked up where we left off. 

​On Saturday, May 12, 2018, a group of 7 volunteers was able to serve 14 homeless people. This was a two-part outreach.

During this outreach, we got in contact with my friend Nelva, who goes to church at the Christian Worship Center. She supplied pastries, breakfast burritos, and fruit for us to pass out. This was an event where we were able to set up tables, and have the homeless come to us, and whatever extra we had, we went out to the encampments and passed out.

On Saturday, April 21, 2018, our team of 8 volunteers went out to serve 8 homeless people. We distributed socks, food, toilet paper, water, hand wipes, bug spray, lotion, toothpaste, batteries, and toothbrushes. 

​Most of the items we handed out are staples for the homeless, but the items that impacted them the most at this time were the bug spray and AA batteries. A lot of them like to listen to the radio during the night time; meanwhile, since summer is coming soon, mosquitos have become quite troublesome, since they live near the creek.

In the picture below, we took a group picture with Jerry, who is an African-American with the blue button-up short sleeve shirt right in the middle of the picture. 

On Saturday, March 10, 2018, a team of 14 volunteers went out to serve the homeless. We distributed socks, beanies, food, blankets, water, hand wipes, and rain ponchos to about 11 homeless people.

​During this season, it has been extremely cold and raining profusely. We wanted to provide items that will help keep them warm and dry. Normally clothing items are very helpful since they don’t have much opportunities to wash their clothes. 

​We got to have conversations with the people we see on a regular basis. We talked about possibly taking them out to lunch and getting to know them personally. We are trying to show them the love of Christ, and to get to know them on a personal basis. We are hoping that this will open doors up for them to come visit our church and accept Jesus Christ. One of the people we help out named Mike isn’t really for church, but he said he would be open to visiting Echo Church, which is our local church, one Sunday. 

​On Saturday, February 24, 2018, our homeless ministry had its first meeting for the semester. We did not do any outreach because we wanted to go over goals and plans for this semester. Also, I wanted to go over the rules and provide an introductory meeting for newcomers. We had 9 volunteers show up. During the meeting we enjoyed fellowship over some Chinese egg rolls and got to know more about each other. This semester we have 8 returning volunteers and 6 new ones.

​My goals for this semester are to get our volunteers to grow closer together and to build a bond beyond the homeless outreach. God has put it on my heart to put love as our goal, loving the people we serve, and also the people we serve with.

​I explained to the volunteers about how we love Christ because He first loves us, and that Christ’s love compels us. I wanted to explain to the volunteers that it’s not about the items we hand out, or what we say, but it's about if the people see genuine love from us, and that if we consistently go out there and remember each one of them by name. 

Santa Clause wasn't the only one getting free cookies at Christmas. On December 23, 2017, we handed out holiday treats, along with practical supplies, to our homeless neighbors.

​Normally people only think about bringing basic necessities to the homeless, which is a great thing to do, but we decided to do something different this outreach. We focused on bringing things like cookies and candy to brighten up their holiday spirits. We wanted to go beyond just providing the basic necessities, by providing them things they would truly enjoy.