Without Help, It’s Too Bad To Be True

The past couple Thursday afternoons I have been able to help Project Prevention as they make food deliveries to families at risk of losing their children to foster care due to poverty. Until my recent experience, I did not realize this was even possible, and I wish it were not.

Our first stop was a single mother living with her two children. Before she found help at The Dream Center and Project Prevention, she and her young boys had little food and no furniture, including beds. After listening to her story and seeing how much she loves her children, I cannot imagine the pain she has already gone through and the thought of potentially losing her very own boys. On a daily basis she is faced with more pain and anxiety I have ever felt in my entire life, but her smile week-after-week challenges me and my attitude.

Next, we stop on a corner occupied by a small convenience store. After heading up a narrow stairway leading to apartments above the property, we knock on the door of another single mother living with her five children. That alone would be difficult for almost any single parent, but as I unloaded the food on a small table that could tightly seat two, I notice there is only one bedroom in the apartment. I realize this entire family lives in an area about the size of my college dorm room!

While I thought about my college years, I spoke with the eldest child, a boy who is going to be a senior in high school in the fall. He told me about his plans after high school, which includes attending college in the Los Angeles area next year. I was impressed by his attitude and the fact that he did not use his current situation as an excuse.

After receiving many “thank you’s” from the grateful family, we made our way to a few more stops before heading back to The Dream Center. Sadly, each one had a similar sad story of parents struggling to provide the basics for themselves and their children. Thankfully, as I have seen so many times, whether with Project Prevention, on Skid Row, or in the housing projects of South Central Los Angeles, there is a sense of peace and hope in those with so little to the naked eye. But through sharing Christ and taking the families to church, many have found the strength needed to make it through each day.

Thanks to those who work with Project Prevention every day and those who support the ministry, we are able to give hope to those with not much else.

- Jesse