Day to Day
You’ve probably read the vision and the mission, and there’s a decent chance that you’re still unclear exactly what it is that I Love Evelyn does.
When we traveled across America over the course of the year, we noticed that there were shelters, soup kitchens, and work centers. Each one of these provides a great service to those in need, but the nature of these services are not relational. During the day many of our homeless friends had no place to go. So we had the idea to open up buildings in the heart of the need in each city that feel a lot like a coffee bar, or a music venue. Why? Because these types of atmospheres promote conversation and friendship.
So when we opened I Love Evelyn, we built a bar, a stage, and brought in couches. We put in computers, a flat screen TV that shows movies all day, and a sound system to play music. Check out the photographs below to see the I Love Evelyn in Texarkana.
It’s in this type of atmosphere that we are able to carry out our vision and mission of reversing the very origins of homelessness by providing Christ-centered community. In a normal day, I Love Evelyn will open it’s doors at 9:30 AM to 20 or 30 people waiting outside. We make coffee or hot chocolate for everyone, while asking about how their previous night was. Throughout the day we have a bartender who is constantly serving free coffee, giving out bottled water, making sandwiches, or handing out snacks to those who come in. Men and women will sit at the bar and share their life story. Others just sit at the bar and watch whatever movie it is we have playing. Others will be sitting at the tables playing cards, while some just lounge on the couches, and others browse the internet. We close at 5PM, right after serving dinner. Over the course of a normal day at ILE, we see over 100 people. Some come in needing specific things, and we try our hardest to meet those specific needs. For the most part, we just spend time with the people that come in. Sit on the couches with them. Play cards against them. Help them find loved ones through the internet. Help them get their identification back. Everything we do is done in a relational manner.
Here are some photographs of ILE in motion.
We don’t view people as clients, but as our friends. People don’t have to sign anything to come in. They are welcome to freely come and go as they please.
Throughout the last year, we’ve seen God work in some amazing ways through ILE. In a world that measures success by what we have or don’t have, we’ve been able to reverse that way of thinking by showing people who they are in Christ. We’ve seen the chains of bondage broken. We’ve seen the distrusting trust; the silent speak; they broken healed. It’s been a beautiful site to see people’s lives transformed through something as simple as love. I guess why Jesus said that love was the greatest.
In addition to just spending time with the men and women each day, we do provide other resources. We have a relational job program where we will personally take them to get applications, help them build a resume, and then take them back to drop off the resume, all the while reminding them what it means to have a job and encouraging them to see the big picture. We work tirelessly helping men and women get back their identification. Most of the people who come in have no birth certificate, social security, or state issued ID. We give all our homeless friends a mailing address, and access to a telephone. If there is a unique need that we encounter, we do whatever we can do to meet that need - regardless of how extravagant it is.
I Love Evelyn is based on relationships. The only way brokenness is healed is through love, encouragement, community, and most importantly, Christ. Anything that falls outside of allowing us to be relational is not something that we do on a day to day basis.
