50 Practical Ways You Can Help the Homeless

By Travis Sharpe

Have you driven past someone standing at an intersection with a sign that reads homeless, anything helps? Did you want to help but just didnt know what to do or where to start?

In Fifty Practical Ways You Can Help the Homeless, author Travis Sharpe answers those questions. He presents fifty practical ways you can help someone who is experiencing homelessness. These insightful tips offer a valuable guide for those who want to reach out for the first time or the person who desires to take their assistance for someone a little further.

It focuses on helping individuals with tangible needs like food, water, and shelter as well as other needs like finding a job or learning how to use technological and other community resources. But Sharpe also gives a reminder that homeless individuals also need a helping hand of the heart, soul, and mind, and sharing the gospel message of Christ can also buttress their efforts to find stability.

Fifty Practical Ways You Can Help the Homeless puts Sharpes many years of experience into actionable and practical steps you can use now to be a blessing to someone in need.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512793673

Travis Sharpe

Travis Sharpe has devoted his life to ministering to the homeless and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is most passionate about helping people in pain and leading them into a relationship with Jesus Christ. After receiving Christ as his savior in 1994, he soon sensed God’s calling to become a preacher. It was during his first year of Bible college that he had his first interaction with a small group of homeless men and women. That encounter changed the course of his life and ministry. Throughout his four years of college, he led a homeless ministry that grew each year. After his marriage to April in 1998, they applied and were accepted as missionaries with Baptist Missions to Forgotten Peoples, Inc. In 2001 they began the Garden City Rescue Mission in Augusta, Georgia, and led that ministry until they sensed another calling in 2009. With a desire to minister to homeless and displaced persons on a global scale, Travis began Unsheltered International in 2011. Under his leadership, this new ministry now reaches needy people in more than a dozen states. In 2015 the first international ministry was started in the Philippines. Unsheltered International Philippines has a staff that ministers daily to street children and homeless families. Travis holds a master’s degree in pastoral theology from Victory Baptist College and a doctorate degree in pastoral counseling from Andersonville Theological Seminary. He travels extensively throughout the US and foreign countries, speaking in missions, conferences, and revivals. He regularly answers the call to assist churches and missionaries who want to learn more about homeless ministry. For the Sharpes, ministry is a family affair. His two children, Hunter and Sarah, are very much involved in the daily work with their mom and dad. As a family, the Sharpes live overseas several months each year. Home base is a small farm in Logan, Alabama. They are members of Temple Baptist Church in Cullman, Alabama. When he is not on the mission field, Travis enjoys bass fishing, especially in rivers and creeks. Give him a kayak and a fishing pole, and he might disappear for several days! Contact Travis Sharpe: Unsheltered International P. O. Box 2625 Cullman, AL 35056 [e-mail] www.unsheltered.org

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 Travis Sharpe.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-9368-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-9367-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017910056

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/30/2017

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Section 1 Acts of Kindness

Section 2 A Hand up

Section 3 Sharing Your Faith

Section 4 Going the Extra Mile

Some Advice as You Put These Suggestions into Action

About the Author

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.

—Proverbs 28:27

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the men and women I have met and become friends with since my first encounter with people who were experiencing homelessness in 1996. You have been an encouragement to me and helped me to understand that you have hopes and dreams—just as I do.

You have taught me to love, respect, and appreciate people without regard to their plights or economic status. Many of you have helped me as much as anyone else ever has. You have been friends to me, and I am eternally grateful.

Introduction

W hen I first began to help the homeless men and women of Augusta, Georgia, in 1996, I was both scared and mesmerized. I found myself going to places where I had never gone before and talking to people whom I had never before acknowledged. I found myself constantly drawn to my new friends. Most of them led lives that were drastically different from mine—yet we became friends. I quickly discovered I had more in common with the average homeless person than I had ever imagined.

As I continued to visit in the downtown area of the city week after week, most of my friends thought I was crazy. Many of them told me that I was wasting my time, but I felt differently. I knew