April is a tough month for the homeless. It’s the month many of the seasonal shelters

close down for the warmer weather.  The caring people that create these rotating

Shelters are mainly churches.  Come April many close until October.

That’s when they will need a warm sleeping bag. Don’t be fooled that it is better

outside in the spring than it is in the winter.

Recently, I got a call at 10:30 at night. The caller asked if we were the people who  made the sleeping bag  he had received from a volunteer in Tomkins Square Park that evening.

We said we are one of them.  He wanted to thank us because he was cold. He continued saying that he

had a sleeping bag but it had been stolen. He said his jacket wasn’t warm enough. We were given

his emergency cell phone number and offered to help us in any way he could.

I asked him if there were any  numbers written on his sleeping bag?  He looked and replied “Yes”. I wrote down the numbers and we said our goodbyes. The next morning I went straight for the zip code book. The numbers revealed that Beach Lake, PA group had made that Sleeping bag.  Great work Beach Lake, You and your work have been Blessed again.

Our phone number is allowed to be given to a homeless person if asked. We were delighted to talk with him for a few minutes and wished him well.

Making Sleeping Bags sounds like women’s work.

Believe me it isn’t.

At our breakfast meeting every Wednesday almost half the Wednesday Crew are men.

Besides eating, they load the van for a shelter delivery. The green van (now 10 years old) holds up to

90 sleeping bags.  All of this precious cargo is delivered whenever  a call comes in for help.

Here in the North East it averages out to 3 runs a week.

Paul takes every Wednesday off to help. Daniel is our man for all seasons.

Chet, age 90, darned socks on my porch.

Josh and Clayton help the Beach Lake women by delivering 50 sleeping bags a week to our garage.

They get their supplies from a nearby resort area.

Recently, Rev Shumway was honored for his many years of volunteering

Including his work with The Sleeping Bag Project at the Dallas U.M. Church.

Len widened our driveway to three times the size so people could park or turn

around with ease. Then there is Jim, who has been committed to this Blessed

project from day one. He has told me more than once that he was going back to work

just to get a coffee break.  He is eighty years old and works at his desk every night stretching

the pennies to keep the project afloat.  God has blessed these men, and I give thanks

for their dedication. AMEN