Hugh’s January 2008 Newsletter

Dear Friends-

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are having a happy new year. Having survived the rampant commercialism of the season, I look forward to the austerity of Lent and the future promised by Easter. I long for green seedling sprouting from the soil, birds chirping and buds on the limbs of the oak trees.

Here in Raleigh things move forward, albeit slowly. The rush of help everyone gave over the holidays is gone now, the lines of volunteers who wanted to feed the homeless has dwindled, the gifts of blankets, gloves and food has returned to pre-holiday levels and the local churches have resumed ignoring the homeless, their guilt assuaged by their seasonal efforts.

If I sound bitter, it is temporary, I assure you. Living among the folks I do, seeing the hopelessness of some of their situations causes one to doubt the wisdom of such work. If, like me, you were raised with the idea of ’success’, of goals and objectives and completion, then urban ministry can be difficult at best and often frustrating. Doing this sort of work calls for a new definition of success and an understanding of what Mother Theresa of Calcutta meant when she said she was not called to succeed, but to be faithful. I pray often that I will be faithful.

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Writing has always come easy for me, but sometimes just what to write is the problem. I want to share with all of you, my supporters and friends, what I do, but also there is the desire to shield you from the ugliness of what I see and work in. However, I was talking with a friend and he told me that nothing conveyed exactly what it is I do here so much as the anecdotes of the people I talk to. With that in mind, I have decided to share with you a bit of what I see and do here on the streets of Raleigh. The following items are a brief sample of my interactions over the last two weeks.

Item- He is 50 years old, has been homeless for seven years and found out three days before Christmas he has HIV. Over the last two weeks, I have spent time and energy finding him a social worker, getting him plugged into the Medicaid system and applying for various Government programs to help pay for the very extensive medication he will require (His story is on the blog, under the title No Slack Jesus).

Item- A young homeless couple I have helped for a few months found out her grandmother’s house had burned to the ground. This is always bad, but the grandmother has custody of their 2 year old child. Luckily the grandmother had insurance and everyone made it out OK, but the trauma of knowing your child almost burned to death while you live on the streets 50 miles away is very real. In times like this, you just need someone to hug you, to listen to you cry and to care. I thank God I was there.

Item- He makes $22 an hour. He is intelligent and well spoken. He lives under an overpass. An alcoholic and a crack addict, he is in love with a crack addict and sees no way out. He gets paid on Thursday and is broke by Sunday, where we met as he ate the free food we gave out at Moore Square. He has had sporadic attempts at sobriety, sometimes going as long as three years. I convinced him to go to an AA meeting last Sunday afternoon… as I write this, I am waiting to see if he will show up again today.

Item- She is new on the street, having just been discharged from the local mental health facility. She is in her early twenties and quite attractive, but apparently very bipolar and needs to be medicated. Last Thursday she was gang raped by four men who she had just met. Because of her paranoia, she refused to let any of us call the police or ambulance. When we did anyway, she ran away before they got there. I saw her last night and the bruises and cuts are healing now, but who knows what new scars are added to her addled and confused psyche. I found out today she has been “adopted” by a local pimp, who took her in.

Item- She is 27, but if you talk to her, you have to do so on a 12 year old level. She is mildly retarded and like so many people with her mental problems, she is very affectionate, which is often either misinterpreted or deliberately taken advantage of. When the men she sleeps with reject her the next day (ie. don’t want to be her ‘boyfriend’) she is confused and hurt and feels rejected. I spent three hours one Saturday afternoon listening to her cry, feeling her pain and trying to convince her she is worthwhile. This morning, after months of working on her to do it, she called home and her father is sending her a bus ticket so she can come home. I will be taking her to the bus station on Friday.

In addition to the above, there is the day to day of listening to troubles, letting countless folks use my phone to call parents and social workers and helping people open checking accounts, fill out job applications and other paperwork and trying to wade through the red tape of government “assistance”. Having been on the streets here now for almost five months, I no longer have to “look” for people to help; now they come find me.

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Those of you who pray for me or have sent gifts and support, I thank you so very much; know that I also thank God for you. It is a sad fact that there are some problems only money can solve; thank you for helping me help them.

If you want to help, the following items are always needed by the folks I work with:

• Net-10 and trac-phone phone cards (Get them at Wal-Mart for the best prices)
• Long distance phone cards (Sam’ and Costco usually have the best prices)
• Gift cards to Kroger (any amount)
• Mcdonald’s gift certificates or gift cards (any amount)

Of course, blankets and clothes are always needed, but since many of you are out of town, mailing those things are impractical. If you are in Raleigh, however, let me know and we will work out the details.

If you want to send money so we can help defray some of our costs, just make the check or money order out to “merge community church” and mail to

Hugh Hollowell
Box 18142
Raleigh, NC 27619

Please put the words “Moore Square - Hugh” on the memo line. We will get you a receipt and all for your taxes. You are under no obligation to help, but if you want to, we sure won’t send the money back.

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I feel so very fortunate to be here. I thank God (most days, anyway) that I am able to see him in the people I work with, and I go to bed many days physically depleted with my mind racing about everyone’s problems, concerns, worries and conditions.

Knowing that many of them will not change, at least not in any way a missionary would value, does not matter to Jesus; he loves them anyway, so I must. Knowing that they are incredibly valuable to him means they have worth and value regardless of their addictions, their afflictions or their sins.

Until he returns, I am here, on the front lines, creatively showing his love to the hurting and marginalized. Until he returns, I revel in the love of the God of the second chance, the God of new beginnings, the God who loves us.

Love wins. Always.

Hugh Hollowell

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