Article Contributed on: 1/14/2009 5:03:56 PM
It's a chilly night in Lakewood, around 6 p.m. Jan. 13. A group of about 15 volunteers huddle together to pray before they head out into the night. They ask God to watch over them as they prepare to meet with people in motels and shelters to provide them with food, clothing and perhaps, a sense of hope.
This is Mean Street Ministry and founder and chaplain
James Fry has been heading this mobile unit for the past seven years. Volunteers pack into a couple of vans and go out into the community on Monday and Tuesday nights to deliver necessities to people living in motels and temporary housing along Colfax Avenue.
Mean Street Ministry offers burritos, pastries, clothes, shoes, books, toys, Bibles, diapers, baby formula, toiletries, bus tokens and resource guides to those in need. The organization began because Fry felt a call to be out in the streets living out his faith, and not just teaching it in church.
"Being a mobile unit, our success stories are great," said Fry. "We run into many kinds of people - whether it's an old drunk who's been disconnected from his family, or families who find themselves unable to pay rent and been evicted."
The group works at night to accommodate those with day-labor jobs. Typically, they start at around 6 p.m. and go until 8:30 or so. The volunteers split into two groups to cover the areas along Colfax's corridor.
Fry's group heads to the Aristocrat, 4855 W. Colfax Ave., which isn't a motel, but rather a respite for patients at Denver Health and temporary housing. As Fry opens up the back of the van, immediately a group of people crowd around them. A woman asks for a hat. Another woman asks for bus tokens. "I just started my job at 7-Eleven," she said.
As Fry takes down names and hands out bus tokens, volunteer
Stan Blackwell hands out clothes and books. One man approaches him for a Bible. He laments the one in his room has very small print. Blackwell hands him a Bible with bigger print.
"Perfect!" he said. "I can read my daily bread."
"It's amazing how much they appreciate it," Fry said. "What we try to do is provide that little bit of help, but continue to walk with them."
After the Aristocrat, Fry and the others head to Trail's End Motel, 9025 W. Colfax Ave. There, they team up and take baskets of food with them as they knock on doors and offer help.
Fry and Blackwell run into a family in need of baby formula. At another room, they come upon a woman who's eaten dinner, but asks for a resource guide. One man turns down food, but asks for prayer. As the man holds hands with Fry and Blackwell, he gives thanks for Mean Street Ministry and asks for continuing help.
"We believe that prayer works," Fry said. "We're often the only church they get. We help them reconcile with God and their community."