Loaves & Fishes Sacramento - Feeding the hungry. Mark's United Methodist Church. Social Media Link March 20, 2014. Family Promise of Sacramento; Food Closet. Mark’s annual Winter Shelter (WISH) program is a collaborative effort designed to. Sacramento, CA News - View Daily Local Business News. The changes to the winter shelter program are in response to Sacramento City Council vote in late March to close the tent city and make available. But the “nomadic shelter” program has its. Mark’s United Methodist Church in. SACRAMENTO COUNTY HOUSING ELEMENT 2003 UPDATE HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT 8-28 People Achieving Changes Together Program (PACT) provides outreach to homeless mentally ill individuals on a walk-in basis at shelter sites and by. Homeless shelters in Sacramento for families, women and Seniors including the emergency homeless shelter for Winter Sanctuary in Sacramento, CA. Winter sanctuary for Sacramento's homeless has begun accepting applications. The group organizing the program hopes technological improvements will allow them to help more people get off the streets. Living on the street, a pastor connects with Sacramento. Rick Cole was starting to look the part. Beneath a black baseball cap, his face was pale and unshaven. His eyes were bloodshot and weary, framed by deep creases. Cole, pastor of the giant Capital Christian Center on Micron Avenue, stood inside Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Sacramento on Wednesday morning wearing jeans and a blue hoodie, and contemplating where he might clean up and brush his teeth. He had last showered on Sunday, in a communal facility at the Union Gospel Mission. He had not eaten since Tuesday, when he had chicken noodle soup and a sandwich with hundreds of others at the Loaves & Fishes homeless services complex on North C Street. It was farmers market day at Cesar Chavez, and the aroma of kettle corn and jumbo hot dogs were starting to make Cole hungry. Cole, 5. 7, was on a mission to find out what it is really like to be homeless in Sacramento, and in the process raise consciousness and money for a program that offers shelter to street people during cold and wet winter nights. By Day 4, after spending one sleepless night at the mission and two more in an alley, the popular pastor had gained a wealth of insight and loads of empathy for people who bed down in parks, on sidewalks, on church steps and in other outdoor places. I think this experience will help me grow in my compassion for people and see the world in a different way. The pastor, who has a flock of more than 4,0. Highway 5. 0, plans to live outside for at least another week, or until his . The county used to fund the annual shelter program, but no longer does so. The nonprofit Sacramento Steps Forward group now coordinates the effort, with Cole and his church as a leading force. He has had a friend with him at all times. One is a martial arts specialist. One is a former police officer. One is the lead singer of the rock band Papa Roach. On Wednesday evening, Cole. Though he is carrying no credit cards and left his home with just $6. Phone that he charges wherever he can find a working electrical outlet. He has friends in high places, including Mayor Kevin Johnson, with whom he had a random encounter on Wednesday. Cole has occasionally reached for vestiges of his real life, such as his favorite Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte at Starbucks. But his encounters with homeless people have been genuine, he said. Cole has approached the down- and- out and gently queried them about . Some have refused to speak to him. Some are too mentally ill or addicted to provide him with coherent responses. But others have told their stories, and offered him tips about places to eat, sleep and wash. One even mentioned Winter Sanctuary. He never volunteers that he is a pastor, or that he has a loving wife and children, a suburban home, a good income and reliable transportation, he said. He said he is not trying to indoctrinate anyone. Of course, if I can help them get on a new path, that. But seeing the issue up close has given him an entirely new perspective. Though he has encountered little hostility as he walked the streets of Sacramento, he said, he has noticed that many people refuse to make eye contact with him or offer him a nod or hello. Others, though, have offered a bag of nectarines, a bottle of water and even a $5 bill. Within 1. 0 minutes of carrying a cardboard sign on the corner of I and 1. He donated it to the cause. On Sunday, when Cole disclosed, from the pulpit, his plan to live homeless, a few in his congregation called him . But most cheered him on. But I know what he is doing will touch lives and make a difference. The days have been sunny and mostly busy, as the pastor makes his way across the city on foot and via light rail. He has rested his feet in coffee shops, read at the library, undergone a TB test that was required for admittance to shelters, and spent time in Friendship Park at the Loaves campus. The nights are much longer. Cole has been warned that drugs and violence are a part of street life. Every time a noise jolts him from sleep, . He wakes up with the sun, if not before. The spot is adjacent to an industrial building, hemmed in with a graffiti- marred wooden fence and equipped with a motion sensor light. Before bedding down there for the first time, Cole and his companions removed a couple of loose slats, then squeezed in and cleaned up used condoms, food remnants and dirty bedding that were inside. They barricaded the opening with an empty garbage bin, and fashioned an . The barricades and alarm were gone. Tom Platina, a former police officer who works for Capital Christian Center. Standing face to face in the darkness, he and Platina came up with a plan. Rather than simply turn her out onto the streets, Platina would pay for a room for her at a nearby motel. After she stumbled down the alley and into the street, Cole set about pitching his tent with the help of Papa Roach lead singer Jacoby Shaddix, a reformed addict and Capital Christian member. A few minutes later, Platina walked to the motel to arrange for a room for a woman who embodied the face of homelessness that Cole so badly wanted to understand. But she never showed up. She had vanished into the night. Rev on the street. For more information about Cole. Donations may also be mailed to Sacramento Steps Forward Winter Sanctuary, 1. Garden Highway, Suite 1. Sacramento, 9. 58.
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