2023 End of the Year Newsletter

This report aims to recap 2023 and give our supporters a glimpse of how and why this ministry is helping the homeless.

2023 was an especially challenging year for our unsheltered homeless brothers and sisters. Homeless encampments under bridges and on vacant lots have been shut down, cleared out, and fenced off. Many folks are sleeping on sidewalks and other small bits of land. Tents, cardboard, and other makeshift structures are scattered around downtown Dallas, and surrounding areas. Families are living in vehicles along with all their earthly possessions.

This year’s weather was challenging. We saw flooding, rain, and temperatures from the teens to a scorching one hundred and ten.

We saw a shocking number of older men and women who are homeless. Many were in their sixties and seventies, and one gentleman was eighty-eight. Women continue to make up one-third of the homeless population.

Some folks we meet suffer from mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, and prostitution. Others are wheelchair-bound or have physical or medical impairments. Life expectancy for a homeless person is shortened by twenty years or more.

Housing and jobs continue to be their main concerns. The minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. The average hourly wage at a fast-food restaurant is $9.27, which equates to a gross monthly income of $1606.80, assuming you work forty hours a week. The average monthly rent in Dallas for a one-bedroom apartment is $1358, and a two-bedroom is $1786.                                                                                                                                    

Add in other necessities, food, clothing, transportation, and utilities, just to name a few…….   

Of the more than one thousand people we met this year, less than twenty-five were people we had served before. We are thankful for those who were able to transition into temporary housing, giving them an opportunity to find employment and, hopefully, a better way of life.

Our unsheltered friends are underserved. These folks need the opportunity to obtain housing and job training. One-on-one counseling to assess their needs could help them escape homelessness. Many we meet would love the opportunity for a new life.

We do what we can by providing a couple of days of food and water. Our bags also have socks, personal care items, and outdoor protection items, including rain ponchos and mylar blankets. Winter bags include a blanket, warm hat, and a pair of gloves.   

It is not unusual for our group to encounter folks without shoes, socks, or shirts and severely underdressed for wintry weather.

Our prayers and requests for donated clothing this year have been amazing. Church members, friends, family, and the local community have responded by donating hundreds of articles of clothing, shirts, pants, shorts, coats, sweaters, hoodies, hats, shoes, socks, bras, and other items. Folks have cleaned out their closets of unneeded items, bagged them up, and donated to this ministry. We then sort, size, clean if necessary, and put them in tubs with like items. Our team of clothiers carry neatly folded items on every outreach. About four times a year, we take shoes to give out and, when available, sleeping bags.

 Frequently Asked Questions

How often does our group reach out to the homeless?                                                                 

Our group goes out once each month.                                                                                                       

Who packs the bags we take with us?                                                                                             

Church members and friends volunteer on the Saturday before our Sunday outreach. Anyone is welcome!                                                                                                                   

Where and how do we find homeless people?            

Two of our team members go out the day before every outreach to visually locate areas where there are groups of homeless. The majority of unsheltered homeless we encounter are in the vicinity of the downtown library and in the South Dallas area.                                                                                                                            

Do we go to the same area for every outreach?

No. We try our best to go to different areas. Our desire is to reach out to as many different people as possible.                                                                                                                                              

Do we see many of the same people?                                                                                                    

No, but we are always happy to see familiar faces.

The Sunday Delivery!

A wonderful group of volunteers gathers on the Saturday before each outreach to fill the bags and ladies’ personal care backpacks. Tubs of clothing, dog food, and sleeping bags are staged and ready to go.

Immediately after our Sunday morning service the outreach team and volunteers load all the items into four vehicles. Our pastor sends us off with a prayer, and we caravan to McDonald’s to pick up burgers. We’re now off and running to our first stop near downtown Dallas.

We arrive at our first stop. Our clothing team opens and begins handing out clothing that fits each individual. We open one of the other vehicles and begin engaging folks, offering hamburgers and bags. Women also receive a backpack with personal care items. More folks begin arriving as they see us parked and want a bag. Our team members are visiting with folks and listening to their concerns and prayer requests. Some want us to pray with them, and often others pray a prayer of thanks for us! We find most of these folks are good people who simply do not have family or friends who can help during tough times. Each outing is a new experience for us. We keep a list of their first names, ages, and prayer concerns.

Our team is rewarded when we see their smiling faces as they receive the bags and backpacks. We also witness their joy when they receive a new coat, hoodie, shirt, and other items.

We also see the sadness. Life on the streets can be horrible. Most of our unsheltered friends have no access to water, food, or bathroom facilities. Eventually, we gave out all the bags for that day. We are thankful for the opportunity to help those that we could and return to the church.

We unload our vehicles, and each of us has an opportunity to share stories of the day’s events. The stories can be incredibly sad, yet some give us immense joy. We close out the day with prayer, thanking God for another opportunity to help His children. We go our separate ways, each of us appreciating how blessed we are.

Deuteronomy 15:11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore, I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

 How can you help?

·      We need used or new winter and summer clothing, shoes, and blankets. 

·      We need new men’s and women’s underwear.  

·      Financial donations help us purchase food, water, personal care, and other items for bags and ladies’ backpacks.

·      The average cost of each monthly outreach is $ 2,628.00.

·      Please pray for this ministry as we share God’s love.

Bob’s Bags is a self-supporting ministry of First Christian Church Duncanville. We rely solely on financial donations from church members, friends, family, and businesses. Please feel free to call or email me to learn more about this ministry. bob.cawthon@gmail.com  214-213-9320

Blessings and thanks for your support,

Bob Cawthon