Word On The Street

Our Sous Chefs are the Best partners always assisting us in serving our friends who feel Invisible! Meet Sue “The Muffin Lady” Sue offered to make home-baked Muffins for our friends once a month so that we might be able to bring something special in the midst of chaos! Sue Loves to Bake and this wonderful addition is a perfect side for our homemade lunches. Sue works at Hospice Care of CNY and has a heart for those who are suffering. Every time I meet Sue at the door of IMFK she always has a smile and a warm hug for me. What a blessing to be your hands and heart extended to our friends who feel Invisible. Sue these special Muffins are a God Send thank you for your commitment to our MISION and our FRIENDS!

With a Saddened Heart we announce the passing of one of dear friends. Neal was known to us over the last 3 years. We met him in 2019 during street outreach and He became a participant in our Hire Ground Program. Your battle is over my dear friend. No more pain no more suffering #imwrecked

Neal Allen-Murray February 7, 2022, Neal C. Allen-Murray, 31 of Minoa, passed away unexpectedly on Monday, February 7th. As a youth, he enjoyed being in Boy Scouts, playing soccer, and Karate. He is predeceased by his step-father, Tony Zappala. Neal is survived by his mothers, Colleen (Maria Berrigan) Murray and Terry Allen-Zappala; two step-sisters, Ashley and Brandi Zappala; grandparents, numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins. Services will be private. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to In my Father’s Kit

We met Tiffany in October 0f 2015 homeless living outdoors and addicted to Heroine. We were able to love her through that time by feeding her, clothing her and getting her connected to housing. Many times housing someone is the first step in the journey to even think about getting sober. Many of our friends do continue in addiction after being housed, but not our Champion Tiffany. She is sober reconnected with her children and doing awesome. Here is a thank you note we received from her last week after she read a post of ours regarding assisting the under served.

Tiffany God bless you John!! 5 years sober and still to this day I remember how you impacted my life! I was just telling a friend recently who did not believe I was once homeless, addicted, flying signs by the mall for money and how this kind man used to bring us amazing food! He bought me boots and jackets! That was you! Love that your still out there helping others. Times are harder now out there then years ago when I was! God bless you all and much love!!

IMFK We sent her the pictures from the past when we were assisting her as well as getting them indoors 

Tiffany Oh wow!!!! Its so crazy to look at!! I cant even imagine being back in that position!!! You never realize how bad it really was until you step away for some time!

IMFK How are your boys doing ?

Tiffany Boys are doing great. Getting good grades in school. Healthy. I was given my mothers home and she moved into my grandmas house when she passed last year. So I’m a home owner. Have all my kids. Working for the nys health department remotely from home. Its a whole new reality now days. Im out in the country. Enjoying nature! Praising god! My faith has never been stronger! Just amazing what can happen when you turn your life to god and step away from drugs and alcohol!

If you would like I don’t mind if you use my first name. A lot of people know my story and I’m ok with that. I’m not ashamed, and hopefully it inspires someone that recovery is possible. A normal life is possible, getting your kids back is possible. Its all possible. With Jesus its definitely possible. I had a lot of family praying for me those 10 years and putting in prayer requests all the time and I truly believe that prayer works! Early in 2020 i was baptized by the lighthouse church in Mexico and watch their services online (due to pandemic). Listen to scripture & read scripture. Pray and talk to god through out the day. Blessings just keep on coming. Jesus works in our lives when were ready to accept him! God spared my life a few times during addiction. So now I owe it to him to serve!

 Great talking to you and for us who made it out of the mess and were graced with your help we never forget! Always appreciate what you did for us and others! God bless!!

Tiffany

Sous Chefs with your support we are making stories like this Possible!

Food on the streets is a big component to building relationships with our friends. Today’s lunch on the street was lasagna, the lasagna is a homemade recipe that I learned from my mother who’s passed it down to me and today we’re bringing it out to the streets to show our friends that they are not invisible. Dignity and Value can be shown to our friends first through the quality of the food we serve them.
One of the amazing things that starts to happen when someone meets us for the very first time is the big smile we get from their surprise of the quality of food given to them. They love to get their lunches but the amazing thing is at one point the lunch become secondary and they look for the true relationship that was established between two people. Food brings people to the table and today’s lasagna brought many individuals to a conversation where true change can happen in someone’s life. Sous chefs with your support will be able to continue to bring out these wonderful lunches to the streets for our friends, those who feel invisible, together we are building hope in changing lives

Many times when our friends get situated from living outdoors to indoors there old spots become abandoned. This location was on the Creekwalk in the heart of Syracuse. There were many calls from community residence regarding this spot that was left unattended, we dispatched our Hire Ground Crew to clean up the area. Our crew on this day were friends who are experiencing homelessness staying in our local shelters. Homelessness is a real thing for many reasons BUT we are doing everything possible to assist our friends on their journey back to a real place they can call Home, home is not under a Bridge!