Samuel & Juela on the street with all their possessions, holding close their icons
Profiles: Samuel & Juela
Samuel was one of our regular "customers" at the Soup Kitchen, from the beginning. From the start, we noticed that he was very different from most of the men who came to the Soup Kitchen. He was very quiet and gentle and did his best to keep to himself and to stay away from trouble. He never smoked or showed up drunk or spoke harshly to anyone. Once we began speaking to him, we found out that his wife had a myriad of health and rarely was able to come to the Soup Kitchen herself. We began to give Samuel food to take home to his wife.
We also found out that Samuel had major financial problems. He had not worked for many years and he was much too young (55 years old) to draw any kind of pension. He was spending a lot of money every week for his wife's medicines. He was also way behind on the rent for his apartment. His landlord was threatening to kick him out. Unfortunately, people tell us about situations like this all the time. Often its difficult to ascertain their real needs. We began to give Samuel some money for his wife's medicine, and to help him with his rent problem.
One day in October, Samuel came to the Soup Kitchen with the news that his landlord had made good on
his threats and had kicked Samuel and his wife out of their apartment and into the street with all their worldly possessions.
We went with him immediately after the Soup Kitchen lunch to assess the situation. The pictures on this page show you what we saw. Samuel and Juela were living in an open space under an dilapidated apartment building. This space was dark, cramped and dirty, not to mention cold and damp. Their situation was desperate. There were already people in the alley staring at them and it wouldn't be too long before the police would come and roust them out of their new "home".
They actually invited us "in" to their new home and tried to get us to drink something. They sat together quietly on there sofa holding their icons and praying. Even though it was very cold, your can see from the picture above that Samuel is sweating profusely from fear and anxiety.
We decided that we must get directly involved in this situation. Over the next two days, we worked to find a decent, but reasonably priced apartment. Samuel and Juela were able to hold out for two days until George was able to get them into their new place. We are currently paying their rent and trying to find Samuel some work, over and above collecting cans on the street.
Please pray for Samuel and Juela, and please know that your support & prayers helps us to impact situations like this!
Looking for some hope!
