Cough Drops

Kyle, a regular homeless guest at Kansas City Rescue Mission doesn’t like the cherry-flavored cough drops we distribute at the front desk. But unlike so many of our clients, he took action instead of complaining. Today, he donated two giant bags of honey lemon cough drops for our day room. Now guys will have a choice! But we’ll always hold a few back for when Kyle comes in.

24 Hour Run for the Homeless

From 6 p.m. on Friday October 29 to 6 p.m. Saturday October 30, 2010, “Barefoot Rick” Roeber will be running barefoot for the Kansas City Rescue Mission to benefit the homeless. The location for the event is Lee’s Summit North High School, 901 NE Douglas Street in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

When asked why he would put his body through such torment, Rick responded with the following.

“Our Pastor shared one of my favorite stories yesterday. About the first Moravian missionaries that left Hamburg Germany in 1732. These two young men had sold themselves to a wealthy plantation owner in the Caribbean. This landowner swore that no missionary would ever come to his island. Well, these young men sold themselves into slavery so they could minister to those 3,000 souls on that plantation. When they were asked “why” would they do this, one shouted from the deck of the departing ship ‘May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.’
 
You may have heard that story, but I believe that the men at the mission are SO valuable. They have been dragged down by hell itself because the devil saw something in them of such intense value that he felt like he must throw all hell against them to keep them down. Jesus is worthy of these lives. We must reach them.”

It’s a mind-boggling perspective.  What if the homeless we serve at KCRM and those we see on the streets of Kansas City are so cherished by God that the devil has decided to throw everything he has at them?  What if these are the ones who the devil has picked out to personally destroy because of how much God loves them?

As Rick put it, “Jesus is worthy of these lives.  We must reach them.”

Click the link to learn how you can support Rick and learn more information about the upcoming 24-hour run.

RUNNER ALERT! Join $24 for 24 to Benefit KCRM

For Immediate Release

$24 for 24 Hours Barefoot Run for the Homeless – October 29 & 30, 2010

From 6 p.m. on Friday October 29 to 6 p.m. Saturday October 30, 2010, “Barefoot Rick” Roeber will be running barefoot for the Kansas City Rescue Mission to benefit the homeless. The location for the event is Lee’s Summit North High School, 901 NE Douglas Street in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

Roeber’s goal is to provide much needed funds for Kansas City’s homeless this upcoming winter. Roeber is asking for donors to pledge $24 for 24 hours of running, or whatever they can for every mile he runs barefoot. With every loop of the track, Barefoot Rick hopes to help fulfill KCRM’s vision to provide for the homeless of Kansas City throughout the upcoming season.
Although Roeber has completed his last 54 marathons (26.2 miles) barefoot (he did 18 before that with shoes), the furthest he has ran without shoes is 40 miles in 9 hours and 11 minutes at the Patriots Run in Olathe KS. According to Roeber, this will be a new “feat” that will challenge him physically, emotionally, and spiritually. “I love the homeless,” Roeber states. “As someone who was on the streets, I know what it feels like to be all alone with no one that seems to care. Places like the Kansas City Rescue Mission provide a hot meal, a bed, and most of all hope to many men who otherwise would have no other recourse. God has given me so much through His redemption that I feel compelled to help these men and women I love. If one day of discomfort means that others are helped, then I have succeeded. My prayer is that my soles would enable their souls to come to the mission, and to ultimately know that Jesus Christ and others love them.”

Rick and KCRM invite runner, walkers and the curious to join the event, too! Download a pledge form at KCRM.org, come out to the track to watch or participate … and take pledges from your family and friends for your own time on the track. KCRM will also have barrels to accept donations of new men’s socks, good used or new men’s shoes and men’s winter clothing.

More information:

http://barefootrunner.org/kcrm/kcrm_24hourrun.htm

or

https://www.kcrm.org/24for24/

Rick can be reached at (816)-668-8763, email: barefootrick@barefootrunner.org or contact Julie Larocco at KCRM, (816) 421-7643, email: jlarocco@kcrm.org

A Christmas Call

For Timmy*, a homeless guest at KCRM, Christmas Eve was an anniversary of suffering. It had been years since he’d had the nerve, much less the money, to call his daughter who lived several hours away. And, there was no way he was calling collect, enduring the shame of her rejecting the call or, worse, asking what he wanted from her.

On this particular Christmas Eve, Timmy sat in KCRM’s dayroom wishing the holiday season was over. That’s when two brothers from the Herring family walked in, and offered each homeless guest there a chance to call loved ones on their personal cell phones. “It’s become a Herring family tradition,” a family member says. “We do it to give back.”

Timmy decided to chance his daughter’s anger and give her a call, and it turned out to be life-changing! “I hadn’t seen her in 20 years, but there she was on the other end of the line forgiving me and telling me she loved me,” he says. Timmy learned that despite hardship, his daughter had just graduated from nursing school and was now an R.N. “She even set up a time for us to get together in the next few days!”

We’re grateful to the Herring family for establishing a Christmas tradition of caring at KCRM. A simple act of compassion — calls from a cell phone, a batch of decorated cookies, a homemade greeting card, a game of chess — means so much to the homeless men who seek shelter at KCRM. For some, the gift can be life-changing.