December 7, 1999

Homeless in Pinehurst for Christmas?

Through A Glass Darkly, by John Myers, Internet Photojournalist

"You've led a charmed life," someone once told me, and I must agree. I was raised on a farm and always thought we were sort of poor, at least compared to some of the kids at school who would show up after Christmas or a birthday with presents I could only dream about.
I remember one Christmas when I got a pair of Western cap pistols I wanted and I was so happy, until I went back to school after the holidays. I proudly wore my new pistols and holsters to school (back in the good ol' days when you could take your guns to school without calling out the SWAT). But the first thing I was confronted with when I walked into class was another kid who was wearing an entire Cowboy outfit: hat, shirt, pants, boots and six-guns. "Draw!" he shouted at me, and though I played along, I was green with envy of that "rich" kid.

It's only now in my declining years that I have come to appreciate how blessed my childhood was. My two hard-working parents saw that us five kids never really lacked for any need: food, clothing, shelter and toys, too. And of course, the most basic of all needs, lots of love.
So I can't imagine what a Christmas would be like to lack for the essentials of life, much less toys. But one of the sad facts of life here in Moore County, North Carolina, is that there are kids who not only may be disappointed to find no toys under the tree this Christmas, they may not even have a tree, or a home to put the tree in. These kids will be, in the vernacular of the day: homeless for Christmas. Or they would be if not for the work of the Sandhills Interfaith Hospitality Network.
This local organization to aid the homeless is a coalition of Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics and nondenominational Christians who take seriously the words of our Lord in Matthew 25, where He commands us to help the helpless and house the homeless.

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in," Jesus will say to the righteous on Judgment Day.
"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in…?'"
Jesus' answer to those who showed mercy to the needy will be: "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."

The coalition has opened a network office in Aberdeen, NC, provided by First Baptist Church, one of the sponsoring churches, where homeless families will receive support and guidance from a full-time network director during the day. Evenings will be spent at the host congregation church facilities, where volunteers will also provide meals and work with the families.
But this coalition with such an unlikely acronym, SIHN, has struck a stump. Three of the 12 church congregations are located in Pinehurst, NC, where the village zoning rules are being interpreted as a roadblock to allowing churches in the village to temporarily house the homeless.
Surely this group called SIHN falls on the side of the angels, despite the acronym, and the Village of Pinehurst is on the other side. I find myself in rare agreement with the editorial writer at the local newspaper,The Pilot, who has suggested that SIHN must follow a higher law than Pinehurst zoning. If you will pardon a pun, it will be a sin if SIHN isn't allowed in the Village of Pinehurst for Christmas.

Mike Thamm and his wife Jackie are coordinators for the Sandhills Interfaith Hospitality Network at Culdee Presbyterian Church of Eastwood, one of the 12 local congregations which will provide nightly accommodations for up to 14 people for one week at a time at their facilities.
Mike sent me an email concerning an earlier column I wrote in The Pilot and suggested I write this column about the homeless in Moore. Since he's one of the people working with this mission, I'll quote his email to me about the work SIHN is trying to accomplish:

"This program gives shelter and sanctuary to homeless families in Moore County," Thamm writes. "Seems as though we are being challenged in the Village of Pinehurst, but I do believe when all is said and done the good citizens of the village will accept the network for what it is ... a Christian mission.
"Being a rural county many of our homeless go unnoticed because they sleep in cars, abandoned homes and ... well to be honest, the woods!! My wife is also coordinator for Friend to Friend, which is the crisis center and women's shelter in Carthage. She says that she gets three to five calls a week concerning shelter for the homeless.
"SIHN (I agree we could have picked a better acronym) offers shelter for homeless families only. Individual homeless people still have few resources in Moore County. The host churches in Moore County for SIHN are equipped to deal with 14 people, and the Human Coalition in Southern Pines says we will have that many most of the time. Unfortunately we don't take a census of homeless, and the SIHN will be a good barometer for homelessness in Moore County. I think people will be surprised at the number of homeless here," Thamm concludes.

To that, I can only add, "Amen." Now let's all join in a chorus of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and women and children, too, even in the Village of Pinehurst this Christmas.
If you would like to assist the coalition, you can send a donation to: Sandhills Interfaith Hospitality Network, P.O. Box 1173, Aberdeen, NC 28315. Or if you want to lend a helping hand in other ways, call the office at (910) 944-7149.