Operation White Flag Helps to Save Lives

This week has been a very difficult one for those who find themselves homeless. The hot weather made it extremely difficult, exaggerated by the ozone alerts. Many of the homeless are just not prepared for these extremes. The Mission participates in Operation White Flag, a program of the Coalition for the Homeless. During Operation White Flag a flag is actually positioned on the front of the building signaling to the homeless that the Mission is participating in the program. We relax the rules during White Flag. The city allows us to use overflow space to house people and the Good Samaritan Patrol is on the street daily looking for those caught off guard by the weather. With God’s help we are able to accommodate many more people in need of our services.

If you were up at 5:00 AM this morning you might have seen Wayside’s “Down by the Wayside Choir” competing on Morning Glory, a Gospel choir competition sponsored by WAVE 3 and Mom’s Music. If you go to www.WAVE3.com you can link to the Morning Glory page and VOTE for the Mission’s choir. You can also see a short video of the performance. If we win the choir will get 30 minutes of TV coverage and 10 hours of recording time at Mom’s Music. The choir is a great witness for the power of Christ in the lives of people.

All week we have had several groups of young people working around the Mission helping with several projects. Passport, an ecumenical youth mission project, has supplied hundreds of young people to work on a number of projects at both Market and Jefferson Street locations. The French Speaking Baptist Church of New York arrived Tuesday and worked in the kitchen serving food to our guests.