Hopping Off the Homeless Merry-Go-Round
Red Door Newsletter - June 2011
“You’re doing a great job, Ryland. Unfortunately, we have to let you go.”
Ryland was crushed. For the second time in just a few months, he had lost a job because of the bumpy economy.
“I was frustrated, sad, mad. I didn’t know where I was going to sleep,” he remembers.
For a week, he alternated between sitting on a park bench and riding the train. Park. Train. Park. Train. Then he found The Bowery Mission and stepped off the homeless merry-go-round.
Ryland says this was the best advice the Mission gave him: Stay focused on what you want … don’t give up … don’t quit before you see what God has for you …
Taking that advice to heart, he says, has changed his life.
“God is rebuilding me,” he says. “Everything that was missing in my life, God is providing.”
“The Mission has given me a roof over my head and food at a time when I didn’t know where my next meal was coming from,” he continues. “They’ve also helped me get my GED and encouraged me to go to barber school.”
But it’s not just help with his career path that Ryland is grateful for.
“Through chapel times and Bible study, the Mission has taught me how God works through people,” he says. “I didn’t have God in my life before. Now I’ve learned a new way to think about God.”
When you give to The Bowery Mission, you offer people like Ryland hope … and new life. Thank you for your continued support.
“You’re doing a great job, Ryland. Unfortunately, we have to let you go.”
Ryland was crushed. For the second time in just a few months, he had lost a job because of the bumpy economy.
“I was frustrated, sad, mad. I didn’t know where I was going to sleep,” he remembers.
For a week, he alternated between sitting on a park bench and riding the train. Park. Train. Park. Train. Then he found The Bowery Mission and stepped off the homeless merry-go-round.
Ryland says this was the best advice the Mission gave him: Stay focused on what you want … don’t give up … don’t quit before you see what God has for you …
Taking that advice to heart, he says, has changed his life.
“God is rebuilding me,” he says. “Everything that was missing in my life, God is providing.”
“The Mission has given me a roof over my head and food at a time when I didn’t know where my next meal was coming from,” he continues. “They’ve also helped me get my GED and encouraged me to go to barber school.”
But it’s not just help with his career path that Ryland is grateful for.
“Through chapel times and Bible study, the Mission has taught me how God works through people,” he says. “I didn’t have God in my life before. Now I’ve learned a new way to think about God.”
When you give to The Bowery Mission, you offer people like Ryland hope … and new life. Thank you for your continued support.