Word On The Street

As we are approaching the winter we are strongly encouraging our friends living outdoors to make some serious choices about coming indoors. Pictured here is the inside of a dwelling place of two of our friends. Homelessness for these two friends was caused by a serious drug addiction which escalated into a breakdown in the family system that caused them to lose their housing. During the summer months they call it camping out but on a cold autumn night, moving towards fridged winter temperatures it’s called survival. Believe with us that our two friends make the positive choice of doing the things needed to start the housing process. All we can do is keep showing up with no judgment and loving our friends in the middle of their brokenness. We believe because of this approach our friends will turn to us when their surrender moment happens. It’s heartbreaking to see and to hear the excuses for not changing but we use love as the tool that can break down every obstacle. Thank you for your support 

Moving Towards Winter

Today’s Menu Grilled Chicken Sandwich smothered in Love. A sandwich like this can do wonders!

 We were doing outreach and heard a truck pull alongside and beep its horn. We look over and it’s Mickey working driving a tow truck working at a garage now. Mickey was homeless and we were able to get him housed, and the rest is history!

It all starts with a Lunch, Taste, and See!

Check out full story in Vlog

In this Video JD IMFK Care Manager is loving on one of our friends who is waiting to be matched with a housing provider! 

Love never fails and we will always keep coming toward our friends who are experiencing trauma and homelessness.  Check out the video and thank you for your support! Together we are Building Hope and Changing Lives 

John and Leigh Ann 

We received the news from the streets that Tim passed away in the early morning hours of July 2nd, 2022. We met Tim in July of 2016 when he was living outdoors. Over the last 6 years, we saw Tim go in and out of homelessness and one of the main reasons was his addiction. As you heard us say before that 95% of our friends who are chronically homeless suffer from drug and alcohol addiction. Just last June 2022 Tim was admitted into Upstate Hospital with cocaine-induced cardiac arrest (heart attack). Tim coded and had to be shocked back to life, he regained consciousness and left the hospital against medical advice. We saw Tim back out on the corner panhandling were the IMFK team as well as Dr. Lehmann from (House Calls for the Homeless).was able to love on and encourage him. Doc shared with him the medical consequences of the continued use of crack cocaine on his heart. The IMFK team encouraged him that we would be there for him if he chose to go to rehab and that we would be there through the whole process. Tim was obviously shaken by the health event that he went through but also shared with us the mental struggles of turning away from the drugs. Tim shared with us the emotional trauma that he has been through since childhood and the drug use is a means of escape from the noise in his head. We were able to assist Tim months ago in navigating himself into housing but the continued drug use kept him going back out to the corner to panhandle. Tim was a participant in the Hire Ground Day Labor program and while working he showed a great work ethic. Over the last month, a lot of effort went into encouraging Tim away from drugs and to think about a different way of living. Unfortunately, one thing that we have learned at IMFK is that we can not supersede someone’s will to make a change. We can’t want it more than our friends, they must want to leave the drugs behind. Sadly Tim has now become 1 of 55 friends that we have lost to the streets of CNY. The one thing that we can say with confidence is that we gave and showed TIM love beyond measure. Tim knew that He was NOT Invisible! This was a hard loss for our Team, please keep us in your prayers as we continue to fight for our friends outdoors. Please pray that our friends will take the hand that is being extended to them. Pray that they take the opportunity to leave behind drugs and alcohol and that they will truly realize that we will be with them through their transformational journey. Thank you Sous Chefs for your support

IMFK Team

We received a call from the County Executives office with a clean-up request for our Hire Ground Crew. The job was to clean up around the campus of the old Shoppingtown Mall.

Things looked pretty dark for Shoppingtown when, after years of stores and shoppers abandoning Central New York’s first shopping mall, it closed its doors in March 2020 and was acquired by Onondaga County.

But its prospects for a new life brightened last summer when a group of four Central New York companies agreed to purchase the vacant property for $8 million and invest at least $300 million in redeveloping it for housing, entertainment, restaurants, and hospitality, retail and office space.

Seven months later, the county still owns the vacant mall. But Ryan Benz, the developer who is leading the redevelopment effort, said the group is still working hard to make it a reality.

The Hire Ground Crew is up for the task and will do what we can to keep the outside grounds looking good for the residents of the area. These opportunities give IMFK moments to show our friends that they are needed and valuable. These jobs give our friends a sense of dignity even though they are still struggling with the chaos going on in their lives. We are believing as our friends beautify the community that their lives will also start to turn around. Its all about a hand up, not a handout.