Homelessness

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Dr. Robert Marbut and Billy Baldwin Talk with Megyn Kelly About Fentanyl Film

On National Fentanyl Awareness Day, Senior Fellow Dr. Robert Marbut appeared on The Megyn Kelly Show alongside actor Billy Baldwin to discuss their new documentary, “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated.” They talk about the lethality of fentanyl, where fentanyl is coming from and how it is getting across U.S. borders, and the legal and social difficulties of getting people into treatment. Find Read More ›

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sleeping by the church door
Image Credit: Kenneth Summers - Adobe Stock

Good Friday Reminds Us to Suffer With the Homeless

Christians are supposed to get used to bad/good Fridays. Communist-turned-Christian Whittaker Chambers wrote, "a man can scarcely call himself a Christian for whom the crucifixion is not a daily suffering." The idea of "suffering with" homeless people and others in danger (the literal meaning of compassion) is central in Christianity because it was central in the life of Christ. Read More ›
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a homeless person lying on a bench, with city traffic in the background
Image Credit: G.Go - Adobe Stock

Warm-Hearted, Tough-Minded Compassion: An Interview with Bob Coté

Next month I’ll lay out my upcoming book on homelessness, but the book will only make sense if you understand the process of Step 13 and Springs Rescue Mission that I’ve laid out in this first quarter of the year — so here’s part of an interview I did with Bob Coté 16 years ago. Read More ›
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Young man in casual clothes is sleeping near the mug of beer on a table in pub, another man is waking him up. Get drunk man.
Image Credit: F8 Suport Ukraine - Adobe Stock

Remembering a Pioneer: Bob Coté

This year I've written about what I learned in Colorado Springs at the Springs Rescue Mission. But when I stayed there last year, I also thought of the pioneer who, starting in 1983, built a predecessor of SRM just up the highway in Denver. His name: Bob Coté, a six-foot-three-inch ex-amateur boxer who in his forties changed his life by not drinking his usual half gallon of vodka for lunch. Instead, he poured out the bottle's contents and became in 1983 one of the original residents of a new program, Step 13. Read More ›
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Oakland Residents Demand Accountability and Change

We are on the ground in Oakland, CA and some neighborhoods are an absolute disaster. A sense of lawlessness overwhelms the streets. But Seneca Scott is leading a movement that could help bring in a new mayor and turn around this failing city. Transcript Imagine dealing with the worst homeless crisis in the Bay area, crime spiraling out of control, and Read More ›

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Brian Chandler’s Journey from Addiction to Service

In this episode of Restorations, Caitlyn McKenney is joined by Brian Chandler of Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. Brian shares his incredible journey to UGM and the innovative work the mission is doing to build government relationships for the greater good of the city.

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Holding hands, support and closeup with trust, solidarity and community on a home table. Therapy, diversity and gratitude of friends together with hope, respect and love for grief empathy and forgive
Image Credit: Donson/peopleimages.com - Adobe Stock

Dueling Definitions of Compassion

“Compassion: Suffering together with another, participation in suffering.” The emphasis, as you can see from just looking at the word — “com,” with, and “passion,” from the Latin pati, to suffer — is on personal involvement with the needy, suffering with them, not just giving to them. The OED also includes a second definition of “compassion:” “The feeling, or emotion, when a person is moved by the suffering or distress of another, and by the desire to relieve it.” Read More ›