John Tumino

Today’s Meatball Sandwiches lead us to assist a Friend that was stuck and in need. While doing Street Outreach we came across a friend who was in a bad spot not knowing that his personal physical safety was in jeopardy. Addiction is Real outdoors and there are times that after using that  you are not aware of your surroundings. This was that instance, our friend was in the middle of a Dunkin Donuts driveway nodding out from Heroine an clueless that he was there. We quickly pulled in Kevin jumped out to talk with him gave him a lunch and asked if we could get him somewhere safe. He refused any assistance anywhere received the lunch with appreciation and said he was OK. The hardest part of what we do is seeing someone in their full blown brokenness knowing they are vulnerable and then hearing them say they are OK, knowing that they are not! The struggle for our friends is real and the challenge to help can become frustrating. We realize that you cant force someone to change but by loving our fiends consistently over time establishes trust were we believe when their surrender moment happens they will reach out to us. The scary part about leaving a situation like today is knowing there might not be a tomorrow with serious addictions. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and thank you so much for your Support.

John and Leigh Ann

What a Great Day today assisting our 197th Friend indoors. We met Ally 5 years ago and have seen her go up and down the emotional homeless roller coaster of life. Well today the homeless ride has come to and end and she is safely indoors with her dog Benji. Its amazing to me that over the last 9 years we have been able to house 197 friends by collaborating with our wonderful Housing and Homeless Coalition of CNY. Collaboration with Ally was the key to assisting our friend, from Doc Lehmann treating her on the streets to the County of Onondagas partnership with our Hire Ground Program. Ally has been connected to a Housing Provider in our Community who made a way for her to get indoors. The other Huge piece for IMFK is YOU our supporters who pray for us as well as financially support the work that we are doing. All these moving parts allow us to serve our friends with Dignity bringing Value to someone who feels Invisible. Ally is not Invisible and here she is safe and indoors. On behalf of all our friends outdoors we say THANK YOU!

John and Leigh Ann 

This Needle and the poison it puts out is Enemy Number One on the Streets of Syracuse. Since 2011 IMFK has lost over 30 friends and just about half were overdoses. Today’s we came across a woman who was physically suffering in her body, it was so heart breaking and it was all related to a bad Heroine injection site. The struggle is real with addiction there is no easy way out its all about the pain of discipline. Many of our friends want to break away form the monster of Heroine but the fear of withdrawal as well as the moving away from all they know can be scary. Its amazing to see the physiological battle that must be fought first before an attempt to clean the body of this toxin. Thats why Relationship Building is so important when assisting our friends outdoors. They need to be able to trust us enough that they will allow us to lead them down their sober roads. Our mission is to Love our friends and show them love when they feel like no one sees them. Everyone has a surrender moment and our hope is that when our friends are ready for change we will be standing right there with open arms waiting for them. Today we met our new friend in trouble believe with us that she will start to trust us enough to assist her out from under the bridge. Together with your support we are building hope and changing lives.

Today’s Bacon Cheeseburger made away for first contact to be made with a woman who was suffering.

We met our new friend sitting under a bridge and in severe pain. She had an infection going on with her foot from injecting herself with a dirty needle. Dr. Lehmann asset her and gave her a prescription of Antibiotics. We were able to feed her get some vital information and make some calls for her. Today was day 1 believing that as our relationship moves forward we will hear more of the Story behind the Cardboard sign.

Today was a great day for Hire Ground not only did they clean up our community they also received a Surprise Visit from Mayor Ben Walsh. The Mayor was passing through the City seen our work Crew and made a stop not just to thank them but also to encourage them and to let them know that He and the City are behind them. He encouraged them to stay connected and to take advantage of the services that Hire Ground can connect them to. He shared with them the origins of the partnership between the City, County and IMFK. When the Mayor was Deputy Commissioner he road out with Our street outreach and was able to meet many of our friends outdoors including our Friend Steve. Ben met Steve when Steve was living outdoors and was able to reconnect with Steve for a visit when He was running for Mayor after Steve made a move to come indoors. Fast forward two years and now Mayor Ben Walsh is a true advocate as a City leader in coming up with out of the box strategies to assist all our friends who feel Invisible. He was able to see first hand that true change is possible for our friends if we can just collaborate as a community for those who are suffering. Mayor Walsh we not only thank you for your support but we want to say thank you for believing in our mission to Build Hope and Change Lives

John and Leigh Ann