David Miller

David Miller | Special To The Sentinel

Orlando Sentinel
June 7, 2008
You have heard the saying, “You never know a man unless you have walked a mile in his shoes.” I would alter that to, “You never know a man until you walk alongside him for a mile.”

I’m referring to the homeless in Orlando.

I no longer hand a man on the side of the road $5 and feel good about myself. I now buy us a $5 meal to share and learn his story, his wants and needs, and to walk alongside him.

People loving people will change our world — not because we feel bad or guilty, but because we are compelled to help. There must come a time when we stop observing our community and its problems and strive to step into the community and find answers.

In the past eight months I have become involved with an organization called Home Sweet Homeless ( www.hshomeless.com).

The founders are three young men who made a connection with a homeless man named Alfred. When they got to know Alfred as a human being, they were unable to live the same as they did before.

Orlando is a tourist destination. We all know that. But what you may not know is that a significant portion of our taxes are paid by tourists who enjoy theme parks or downtown.

In order to “Keep Orlando Beautiful,” the city in 2006 adopted an ordinance that restricts how many people can be fed in city parks, effectively banning any single group from holding large feedings more than twice a year.

The city believes that feeding more than 25 people in a single sitting at Lake Eola, for example, encourages the homeless to congregate together in populated areas, thus hurting the city’s clean image and driving away the tourists.

There is no such ordinance prohibiting the feeding of dogs or even ducks; a person can feed them whenever he or she wants, just not human beings.

Seems to me the city has it all backward.  

To be honest, I did not always feel this way. There was a time that my mind-set lined up more with the city’s than having compassion for the homeless.

I managed a restaurant for a few years and would send the staff outside to chase the homeless away from our customers as they begged for money or dug in the trash. I didn’t want our customers to be scared off. So I treated the homeless like animals; I shooed them away as if they were birds or dogs.

After my experience with Home Sweet Homeless, seeing for myself the human side, I find the Orlando ordinance unjust.

I am not alone. You can now find a group of people walking to a club or a bar in downtown Orlando, and, rather than walking past the homeless — all the while trying not to make eye contact for fear of being asked for help — they are breaking down socioeconomic walls and talking and sharing.

Since the inception of the group, more than 400 are consistently being fed and having their humanity restored. Churches, community centers and individuals are joining our mission, and the media are taking notice. We are no longer a small group of college and high-school students, but a citywide movement that grows with each event.

Home Sweet Homeless has joined with an organization, The Destiny Foundation (www.battlepoverty.org), which provides food, medical care and the opportunity of government aid. With the foundation, Home Sweet Homeless is an advocate to help hurting families “grab the bottom rung” of the socioeconomic ladder and end the cycle of poverty. This gives the volunteers the opportunity to do more than love through community; it gives them the chance to love through action.

The Destiny Foundation is in its first year and has aided in bringing more than 100 families out of poverty.

My life is forever changed by this experience.

Will you join me?

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Finding Joy In Our Struggle – David Miller from Discovery Church on Vimeo.Finding Joy In Our Struggle – David Miller from Discovery Church on Vimeo.

Status Family Vacation Promo – Segment 3 from Brent Christy on Vimeo.

I wanted to take this opportunity to tell the story of Rick and Home Sweet Homeless. I had the pleasure of meeting Rick at a potluck thrown by HSH at Lake Eola Park in Orlando, Fla.
When I first arrived, a good friend and I walked around the lake to tell all the homeless people we ran across about the potluck taking place nearby. The first person God placed in our path was a homeless man by the name of Rick. We sat with him for a minute, striking up conversation and directing him to where the food was. Realizing there was a lot more lake to walk around and more hungry men, women and children to invite, we told Rick we would “pester him more at the potluck.”
When we finished making the rounds and headed back to the potluck, we found Rick sitting beneath a tree by himself. I offered him some food, but he politely declined. Somewhat confused, I sat with him in awkward silence for a few minutes. As the silence broke I learned that God had placed Rick in that park more for me than for him. Rick had not come to the potluck for a handout, but rather for the company and conversation.
It turns out this is why most people came to the HSH potlucks. To be treated as a person rather than a cause.
I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with the founders of HSH since that first event and have learned that the entire purpose of the organization is to commune with the homeless of Orlando. David, 19, one of the founders of HSH, told me about a homeless man he met who said, “There are places to get food, and anyone can do that. The difference is, you kids spend the day with us and talk to us. That’s what the adults don’t get.”
To be honest, that was what I initially didn’t get. I thought I was going to feed the homeless and feel great about myself afterward. But HSH is as much, if not more, a ministry to the upper- and middle-class trendy young people in our communities. We are so comfortable where we are that we forget people may be hungry, suffering, or simply want someone to talk to, just like Rick.
HSH aims to be the bridge between these worlds.
The response has been amazing here in Orlando. High-school students, college students and those of us in our twenties and thirties leave our comfort zones every month for the potlucks put on by HSH, and others are dedicated to coming every week and pouring into someone less fortunate than themselves.
If you ever want to be broken, watch a 19-year-old in $150 jeans make a plate of food and have a conversation with a homeless man.
My experience with Rick was not unique. Thanks to HSH stories like mine are being told all over the city, and lives are being touched regardless of economic status.
HSH high-school and college-campus clubs are starting in local Orlando schools as we speak, and they will be branching out into other communities soon. Who knows? Maybe you can be the catalyst for this to happen in your hometown.

-David