Feel The Power

During his childhood in Gary, Indiana, Jessie would never have believed that he would be homeless someday. Back then, Gary was a thriving town where most people made their living in the steel industry.
But then came automation, and the steel industry took a dive. Like a whole lot of other folks, Jessie lost his job—and his world came crashing down. Under the strain, Jessie’s casual drug use escalated, and things got worse. “My wife took as much as she could,” he recalls. “She just couldn’t take any more...I lost my family, I lost my hope and I was unemployed.”

That’s how Jessie came to be homeless. And so hopeless, he was close to giving up. Memories of those days on the streets are painful. Panic was his constant companion, and at times Jessie thought he was going insane. “I went without food, and I remember changing clothes behind a tree,” he shares. “You can’t really describe what it’s like to try to carry everything that you’re going to need...you might have on two or three pairs of pants...and in the summer, the heat becomes your enemy, also.” With every passing day, Jessie grew more desperate. He left Gary and came to Omaha in search of something better. At first, Jessie wondered if he had made a bad decision. He was still homeless, jobless and addicted to drugs. Yet when he heard about Open Door Mission, he stayed away. As he says, “I came to Omaha to not give up. So to come to a Mission seemed to be defeating the purpose...”

Finally one day, hunger and homelessness drove Jessie to our door. It wasn’t at all what he expected. “Not only did I get something to eat, I got a warm welcome,” he explains. “I was able to go through a food line and I was served hot food by smiling faces...I was allowed to eat and maintain my dignity. After the meal, they had an open Chapel. There were pictures and hope scriptures on the walls that just depicted that I was not alone. There was Someone greater than me that loved me and was willing to help me. Everywhere I looked I saw signs of that. It started to slowly rebuild my hope.”

That was only the beginning! At the Mission, Jessie renewed his relationship with God and began to reconnect with his family. He’s back at work, and no longer has to fear life on the streets. As he makes plans for the future, he is open to God’s leading and has a deep desire to serve others. “I will gladly take a cut in wages to have the opportunity to serve God’s people,” he says. Jessie knows his life has been restored through the generosity of caring friends like you. As he says, “...there is no way they can feel the power of what it is that they actually do for a person who is hopeless...” That’s the power of love—God’s love, working through your generous compassion!

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