Youths Minister to Homeless in Halifax

Shailey Letford remembers the homeless man in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, who put a hand on her shoulder, calling her “a little Jesus.”

She had simply been listening to him — his name was Beaver — tell his story. The experience hit her in different ways.

“He said, ‘You will not be forgotten.’ Funny, God sent me there .... not only to help others, but God intended to change me, too, and I know one thing’s for sure .... that I am different because of the experience," she says.

Letford was part of the 15-member Halifax Mission Trip 2013, a group of youths and adults who did ministry for eight days last month with the homeless in Halifax.

Ranging in age from 12 to 51, the team came from a Christian Reformed Church congregation on Prince Edward Island, a CRC congregation in New Brunswick and three from Nova Scotia.

“We set out to bring a little bit of hope by helping the hungry, hurting and hopeless of Halifax,” says Pastor Albert Huizing, youth pastor for Charlottetown CRC on Prince Edward Island.

Before leaving, they held a food drive and brought 30 bags of groceries to donate to the Parker Street Food Bank, the Halifax food bank where they served.

They arrived on Friday and then early Saturday started making desserts that they handed out to more than 200 homeless people who came to the food bank on Sunday evening.

“One-on-one serving and food always generates a lot of discussion and is a great introduction to our week, because many of those we speak with, we see in other missions, projects, drop-ins and ministries throughout Halifax the rest of the week,” says Huizing.

Servicelink, the office that helps to recruit and train volunteers for the Christian Reformed Church, helped to coordinate the trip.

Members of the short-term mission team worked at the food bank on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and also helped to set up for the opening of a second food bank in a nearby town.

On Tuesday and Thursday, says Huizing, they split up into teams and were involved in various ministries — at a heroin treatment facility, a youth drop-in center, a soup kitchen.

They also did maintenance at All Nations CRC, where they were staying. In addition, says Huizing, members of the team made sure to do “their more important jobs of chatting, playing games and  serving those that lived on the streets of Halifax.”

Team members say they were especially struck by interacting with people on the streets.

There was Gnosh, a Sudanese refugee who is a Christian and “has been through many bad things”; Tony, who was living out of his car, showering in public fountains and had no job; and Chris “who just seemed like normal father trying to provide for his family.”

“My high for the week was just getting to serve all these people, and knowing that I was helping people,” says one person.

Elna Siebring, All Nations CRC's Community coordinator, says  “these young men and women had conversations with homeless people, brought food for the food bank, made desserts for the homeless, shared food with those who hungered, scrubbed floors, painted walls, cleaned toilets, sorted food and other tasks.”

Besides all of the work they did, they spoke and prayed with honesty.

“It was very humbling to listen to their thoughts and reflections at devotions.”

Becoming more aware of “the invisible” people on the streets and of the work that Christians in Halifax are doing to meet their needs are lessons Lia Alkema, the classis youth ministry coordinator for Classis Eastern Canada, has brought home with her.

This was her first short-term missions trip.

“There were definitely times when I was stretched and way-out of my comfort zone and even afraid,” she says. 

“The daily debriefing and prayer time we had were very important to process those feelings.”

She was also “so impressed with each of the youth that were part of the team and so glad to get to know them better.”