With the plight of the homeless and other needy people in their hearts, a group of area volunteers stands ready to help the less fortunate in various ways.
Founded by Bristol Township resident Penny Martin in 2009, the nonprofit Advocates for Homeless and Those in Need has, among other services, established a Code Blue program in Bucks County.
When the temperature dips below a certain level, Advocates volunteers fan out to area homeless encampments and transport the homeless to one of four local churches that take turns providing shelter. The organization also transports the homeless and others to meals held at area churches.
The idea for the Advocates group started when members of the Emilie United Methodist Church in Bristol Township, including Martin, were having a valentines flowers delivery dinner in 2009, according to Martin and a history of the organization on the church’s website.
Though homeless people from a nearby encampment were invited to attend the dinner, only four or five showed up.
“We soon realized that was because they didn’t have a way to get there,” said Martin.
With the help of Bristol Township police and others, Martin and other church members delivered leftover food from the Valentine’s dinner to homeless encampments. The transportation network and other services offered by the Advocates have expanded from there, Martin said.
“I realized that God was leading me to do a mission, to do something to serve our homeless in a better way,” she said. “But this isn’t about me. It’s about God working through so many wonderful people. I couldn’t do anything without the hard work and help of so many others.”
The role of the group has no defined borders, said Martin.
“That’s why the words and those in need were added to advocates for the homeless in our name,” she said. “As examples, we try to help people who can’t pay an oil bill, or can’t pay for a prescription, or elderly people who don’t have transportation to a doctor’s appointment. Our name is definitive of who we are.”
Martin said the group recently tried to help a homeless person who was determined to end his homeless status. One of the first steps was to get him a photo ID card.
“He had a birth certificate and other needed papers,” Martin explained. “We took him to a place in Bensalem, but they wouldn’t give him the ID because he didn’t have an address. I mean, a homeless person should be able to get a photo ID. We’re not giving up. We’re going to get that man his photo ID.”
The Advocates mission statement says the group is “an interfaith ministry whose mission is to help the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless attain self sufficiency by offering, with dignity and compassion, food, clothing, resources for shelter, housing, employment, medical aid and other services. We also provide opportunities for all God’s children to be a part of this mission by using the gifts they have been given to help others.”
The churches that participate in the Code Blue program and take turns providing shelter during cold weather are: the Emmaus Road Lutheran Church on Hood Boulevard in Falls; the United Christian Church on New Falls Road in Falls; A Church of Living Hope on East Maple Avenue in Middletown; and the Woodside Presbyterian Church on Edgewood Road in Lower Makefield.
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