Mobile Loaves & Fishes Blog

LIFT Literacy Program

Reading.  If you’re like me, I use this skill everyday and don’t really give it much thought, but now I ask you, “how much of your day requires reading?”  Grocery lists, grocery labels at the store, street signs, the news crawling at the bottom of your TV screen, email and so on.  How different do you think your day would be if you struggled with this basic functional and social skill?  The impact of losing this skill would be huge!  Your self esteem would diminish and the ability to be successful would be a challenge.

Having successfully been taught how to read, we apply rules that make up our reading skills.  For example, ‘tch’ and ‘ch’ are the same sound as in match or church.  In this example, which spelling rule to apply to achieve that sound is based on the preceding vowel or consonant, but a subtle spelling difference of match vs. mach result in two different words each having a different pronunciation.  You remember these rules from your grade school years, right?

Many adults in our homeless community have never learned basic literacy skills - at an early age they struggled with school or dropped out of the education system.  Their low levels of literacy place them at a disadvantage as compared to others, leaving them tied to a reliance on social assistance programs.

Literacy Impacts the Future Today (LIFT) is a new organization that is driving an initiative for defining and executing an adult reading remediation program to improve the literacy of homeless adults.  Utilizing uniquely trained reading specialists, LIFT has teamed with Mobile Loaves & Fishes, to work with individuals to improve their: (a) skills and knowledge to understand how speech sounds are connected to print; (b) ability to sound out unfamiliar words; (c) ability to read fluently; (d) reading comprehension; and (e) interest in and motivation to read.

LIFT will be participating in the Uncorked 2009 “10th Anniversary Wine Tasting, Dinner, and Auction” on Saturday May 9^th.  Please stop by our table to learn more about this new program sponsored by Mobile Loaves & Fishes.  Until then, please visit our *new* webpage www.mlfnow.org/LIFT  to learn more about this ministry.

-Dave Sekel, MLF Board Member and LIFT Co-Founder

Mobile Loaves & Fishes Gets Hearing Before Texas House Ways & Means Committee

Tony Carmona, Chairman Rene Oliveira, Linda Carmona & Alan Graham, originally uploaded by Mobile Loaves & Fishes.

What a great day this is! HB 2628 was heard before the Ways & Means committee. Sponsored by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez the bill is designed to exempt the Jenifer Gale Village (http://www.mlfnow.org/HOW) from the payment of real property taxes so that our operating costs and therefore the rent to our brothers and sisters is as low as possible. Just to get a hearing before this esteemed committee was an accomplishment thanks to the following volunteer lobbyists:

Dennis Kearns with BNSF Railroad
Myra Leo with K & L Gates
John Phillip Donisi with Drenner & Golden Stuart Wolff LLP

Also present with us in solidarity was former Congressman Mike Forbes from New York 1 which is Long Island, New York.

Thank you, thank you Chairman Oliveira for helping us get the hearing and for your leadership! We still have hurdles but this was a big one.

-Alan

The Grapes of Wrath and the Milk of Human Kindness

Dr. Judy Knotts of Austin, Texas has been taking homeless citizens to see the Zachary Scott Theatre's stunning rendition of The Grapes of Wrath. 

The performance, which benefits us here at MLF (thanks ZACH Theater!), is running until May 10th.  We are sure that after you read what Judy has to say, you'll want to check it out for yourself.

Dear actors/artists! Thank you for the inspiration. I attended the Sunday matinee with two homeless folks. Two more were to come but they got gun shy. 

As Janelle, Jarret, Marc, and Xochitl heard from Kim and Harold, this was their first live performance of any kind.  Imagine that! They were nervous to come and I was right with them in the anxiety department. This was like going to another world. They had so many practical issues, where to store their stuff? Solved, in my car. Where to sit, what to do with the ticket and what if they lost it, what to do when it got dark in the theatre, and would they miss the Mobile Loaves and Fishes food truck? To allay their fears, we planned a dinner stop at Sandy's on the way back to the park which made them relax a bit.

At first the language was a hurdle for them. They had to listen harder. On the streets people don't use such long sentences or talk about life. They got most of the humor and felt the poverty personally. The music was refreshing, giving them, and the rest of us a minute or two to catch our breath from the intensity of the action. They learned so much... that theatres have nice bathrooms, that there is an intermission where people smoke whole cigarettes and don't scrounge for butts, that you don't talk while the play is going on, that people get paid to be in plays (I know,  not enough!), that people go to the theatre to see this kind of thing and be entertained and inspired, and that you show your appreciation by applause.

Kim was a real promoter after seeing the play. She told a group of homeless people in the park that she had a "lump in her throat at the end of the play" and urged them to go if invited. If at all possible, I would love to bring another group the Sunday after Easter... only if there are extra seats.

Personally, while not passing out candy bars and playing mother hen, I was awe struck by the play itself and your acting. You were not the people I knew, you were the Joad's full of pain and promise. Thank you all for sharing your gifts and giving the audience, especially Kim, Harold and me hope.   

-Judy

You can read about the performance straight from the horse's mouth here.

Enjoy!

-Rachel

Angie Deep In Prayer

Angie Deep In Prayer, originally uploaded by Mobile Loaves & Fishes.

One of my favorite photos from our first Street Retreat ever. Angie Yeo deep in prayer in Wooldridge Park where we meet each day while on the retreat to center ourselves in prayer.

Larry Daniel (r) and Friend on First Street Retreat Apring 2003

Larry Daniel (r) and Friend on First Street Retreat Apring 2003, originally uploaded by Mobile Loaves & Fishes.

This photo takes me back 6 years to our first Street Retreat in the Spring of 2003. We have now done about 14 retreats. Powerful experiences. Check out http://www.mlfnow.org/streetretreat.

-Alan

Kim Feeding Our Non Human Friends

Kim Feeding Our Non Human Friends, originally uploaded by Mobile Loaves & Fishes.

Jerry Marlowe dies...But Not On the Streets!

Our first Street Retreat of 2009 began on March 20th for 48 hours.  Pretty quickly God had a few members of the team encounter Jerry Marlowe.  Jerry was recently released from Brackenridge diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and given 90 days to live.  Our guys on the streets coldn't stand the injustice that this brother would have  to live out his final days and die on the streets.  Unconsciencable really.  So under the leadership of Bob Woods they made arrangements to get him into Austin Hospice Christopher House.  This was on Sunday March 29th.  Jerry passed away surrounded by friends from the streets with dignity on Wednesday April 8th.  May he rest in the arms of our Lord.  Here is the email from Bob Woods.

-Alan

Jerry Marlowe died tonight just after Deb and I left praying with him at Hospice of Austin's Christopher House and surrounded by his friends from the street, Tim and Mark. 

 

 

Jerry was homeless and no next of kin but a great guy with a bunch of good friends. I met Jerry 3 weeks ago on the South side of the library just after my weekend on MLF Street Retreat. Chris (whom most of you will remember) introduced me to his friend who was "dying". Jerry walked to Brackenridge Hospital on March 13. The ER doc woke him up  and said, "You have cirrhosis of the liver, get you ducks in a row and get right with God. You have have 90 days to live...and oh by the way we are discharging you.". He only made it 23 days.

 

I can say that MLF Street Retreat changed my life. I am still trying to figure out what it all means and what "help" to these folks truly is. One thing I did figure out over the last few days with my new friend Jerry is how important and uncomplicated it is to just slow down and take the time to be a friend. There are many more Jerry's in Austin.

 

I was blessed to have known Jerry and while I will miss him, I pray that he is in a better place. A memorial at the Homeless Memorial Tree on Town Lake is being planned.

 

His,

Bob Woods

Street Retreat Thoughts, Musings & Video Blogs

WOW!!  I wish I could articulate well enough to give you a feel for exactly how powerful the Street Retreats are.  But I can't so I will do the best that I can.

For me it has been 7 days on the streets over the past 2.5 weeks.  Over 50 people total participated; about half of them members of the Diocese of Austin Diaconate Class of 2012.  Two retreats were 48 hours and this one of Holy Week was 72 hours.

Simply, the retreats are transforming.  You go in one way but come out another in thoughts and understanding of who you are spiritually and how you view all of our brothers and sisters.

In addition to this blog you can go to http://www.mlfnow.org/streetretreat and there you will find several archived videos that we live streamed from the streets while on the retreats.  You can also go to http://www.youtube.com/mlfnow to see other archived videos filmed from our Flip Camera while on the retreats.  And you can see some of the pictures we took by visiting http://www.flickr.com/mlfnow.  Or if you really want the Street Retreat taste on steroids you need to join us on one.  The first video below are snippet thoughts from those who participated.

Gina Chavez Sings Embrujo on the Street Retreat

Noted Austin musician Gina Chavez borrows a guitar in Wooldridge Park at the beginning of our Street Retreat and belts out an original titled Embrujo.