The Beginning of Something

At some point in February or March earlier this year, 2009, Nik and I started spending time with homeless people near the area I live. What we do started when one day I considered several things I was learning about or had known for some time. I had know that fasting was an important and expected part of Judaism and early Christianity. I was reading a book by Shane Claiborne called Irresistible Revolution. The section I was reading at the time was about his experiences in college while spending time with homeless people. So I decided to fast a pray for a day, and that day I decided I would like to break my fast with homeless people. So often homeless people receive food from others but no real meaningful exchange occurs. I thought I would make a meal for myself and another person, go to an area where I knew homeless people would be, and ask if one if he or she would like to share a meal with me. Originally I planned to do this on my own, but I thought I would be safer with another person just in case anything went wrong. So I told Nik about my idea and asked him to come with me.

Nik and I live in Bakersfield, CA. I live at the eastern edge of what is considered downtown Bakersfield near Union Avenue. We met at my house and ride bikes to Union Avenue, what used to be a very trafficked street when our parents were young. In fact it was the north/south highway at the time. I don't know if the areas around Union were ever really "nice," but they aren't now for the most part. It seems that rundown homes, businesses (especially hotels in the southern part), and empty buildings and lots line Union for the most part. There used to be a big homeless community at Central Park. But it was cleared out, dug up, renovated, and renamed Mill Creek. The homeless people who lived there have since dispersed.

Some of the homeless people live off of Union between about 21st and 18th. And these are the people we have been spending time with every wednesday night. Here are some stories about our time with them.