“What would it be to take the asset of community on the streets, move it indoors, pair it with our resources to create a safe, healthy community for people to get what they need out of the place that they live?”

We invite you to take 6 minutes to watch the video above and reflect upon the vision shared by our leaders and neighbors 

The Jeremiah Community will include at least 50 small homes (450 square feet), a community center, a garden, an art workshop, and a variety of on-site supportive services. Land has been identified, and Micah is working to clear several zoning hurdles. We are developing a funding strategy and meeting with stakeholders who live and work near the identified property to understand what core elements will make the project successful.

The total project is estimated to cost between $12 to $16 million. A fund established with the Community Foundation will allow Micah to leverage The Community Foundation’s more than 25 years of experience managing and communicating with major donors. It will also help Micah to hold funds dedicated to the project separately from its regular operating dollars.    

To learn more about Jeremiah Community visit: www.jeremiahcommunity.org 

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Housing Stabilization Navigator (director)
Directs team of housing support staff that locate, support neighbors who are developing skills to maintain housing after homelessness.

Housing Care Coordinator (case manager)
Coordinates housing-focused care for neighbors who have moved from street homelessness to permanent housing. Includes interventions internal to Micah and across community partners. 

Housing Locator (tenant agent)
Networks local landlords to enhance access to permanent housing solutions for people overcoming homelessness. The Housing Locator works across the homeless response system to provide training on housing opportunities and tenant/landlord roles and responsibilities. 

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HealthBridge invites local medical and mental health providers to offer care in the Micah Hospitality Center or, in some cases, in the homes of neighbors who are struggling with health connections. Between weekly visits from Fredericksburg Christian Health Center and health clinics offered by Germanna Nursing Students, more than 228 health access connections have been made in the program’s first year. Through HealthBridge, Micah’s housing team also be partners with a home care agency, which supports some of our more vulnerable housed neighbors with activities of daily living. In the coming year, we are looking too expand upon mental health care partnerships and support groups

While HealthBridge is not an effort to provide community-based primary care, it is a “bridge” for people who are accustomed to addressing needs on a survival basis to engage with more comprehensive systems of care. 

Fredericksburg’s downtown churches began their journey toward the vision for Micah Ecumenical Ministries almost 18 years ago. We’ve now been at this as many years as there are miles to the treacherous Jericho Road of the Good Samaritan story. Along the way, encounters with our neighbors’ suffering have taught us much about the home God envisions for humanity, and how we are called to take part.

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My confession is that I like to think I have it all worked out. I like to know where I’m going. I like to believe I’m accomplishing something. And the best feeling in the world is a “to do” list and the sound of my pencil crossing something off.

The problem, when it comes to big world problems, is that I think I can tackle those too with a list, a policy, a plan, a deadline, a class or a quota.

I think I can end homelessness

I think I can personally free someone from addiction

I think I can keep my friends from dying on the street.

I think I can build a village.

And I think I can do it by tomorrow!

I do not like the void of sitting in the chaos of the world, knowing there is something that could be done about it, and realizing there is no box to check or to do list item to close out the problem at hand.

Consider that void in the context of two parallel scriptures.

Matthew 28:16-20 finds Jesus saying farewell to the disciples on a mountaintop, a peak with a decent view of the chasm of their own world problems. Where the Jews thought Jesus had come to take care of business, here he is commissioning them to GO into the great unknown—to make disciples, to invite people into communion with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to share what they had learned.

Genesis 1:1-2:4 takes us all the way back to the beginning, when the earth was nothing but VOID. Yet, God moved within it, bringing light, water, land, sky, vegetation, living creatures and humanity. None of it happened all in one day. One thing was created at a time, and each time it was good. But there was always more to do. Darkness would fall as if nothing had been accomplished in that day, but the sun would rise again each morning offering fresh light and a new start to keep working on all that God desired to fill the void.

It is from the VOID—that meaningless, empty, unknowing, unexpected place—that goodness emerges. From the chaos is an order. Whatever hadn’t been finished in one day got a tomorrow. And thousands of years after the world was created, the disciples would find themselves on a mountaintop, learning all over again that creation was still unfolding. The world may have been created in seven days, but God never stopped stepping into the latest evolution of the void.

And here we are, all these years later, still finding ourselves with a lot more questions about God and one another, than we may ever have answers.

Welcome to the VOID!

But Jesus’ instructions in the Matthew passage are still helpful as we find our way today. It is less about WHAT we do to fill the void and more about HOW we go about it.

GO with authority, not authoritatively

When we are authoritative we stop learning, we are slaves to our intellect, we are imposters that think we have all the answers. When we are with authority, we are confident in who or what we come in the name of–even if we don’t know the first thing about tackling the problem at hand.

GO make disciples

Make does not mean beating people over the head with rules, it means relationships in which people want to follow because they see Christ in you.

GO bring people into community.

It isn’t about doing something—counting tasks completed—it’s about being something—one with one another. If you are going to do anything, do life together. Listen, learn, love and embrace the goodness that comes from the creation process itself.

At different times in the life cycle of creation, humanity has stepped into the void with rules on stone tablets. We’ve misplaced our priorities and gotten lost in the wilderness. We’ve broken God’s heart and gotten evicted from our homes. After all the ways we’ve complicated creation, Jesus till comes and reminds us that the VOID isn’t going anywhere; and there is no way for us to have it all worked out! All we have do is GO, and remember the principles by which we are sent.

Not unlike the void we encounter in our own lives and work, the world often looks at our unhoused neighbors as a certain kind of VOID. Will they ever stop drinking? Will he embrace his potential? Will she show up when she is expected? When will he break free from his mental health crisis?

None of us know. But when the instructions are “GO,” the details are not for us to figure out.

The better questions might be, what goodness is inside them that no one else can see yet? What images, words or phrases might symbolize who they are in the eyes of God? How might we move within the void of our neighbors lives, as God moved and continues to move within creation on our behalf?

Recently, I invited a group of current and formerly unhoused neighbors to reflect on those questions as we prepare to set up a community garden plot. We were notably late for planting anything; and the big barren plot, among the many others that have been prepared well ahead of us, was clearly void of any TLC.

But we aim to change that. And our first act was sharing signs of goodness on the blank void of stone pavers that will be placed in the form of a cross within the barren soil of our garden.

Our hope is that we grow not only vegetables from our little plot of dirt, but we seed new relationships with people who live in and around the garden.

The beauty of their work may give our neighbors something to be proud of, but also begins to show the whole community that there is no void here. Our Micah community is but one more symbol of the ongoing process of growing and moving toward a perfection that began at the beginning of time and continues even today.

It is still, not just good, but VERY good.

Hear the Micah Clergy’s excitement for Jeremiah Community! Click here to go to our YouTube channel to hear short clips from our some of our clergy talking about the vision for Jeremiah Community!

DON’T MISS JEREMIAH CARRYING HIS BENCH ONTO THE PROPOSED LAND

Yes! That is our very own Jeremiah who is featured in the recent video release.

A fixture in downtown Fredericksburg, Jeremiah sat outside the visitor center for 27 years after becoming homeless. It took a pandemic, an oncoming snowstorm, and a group of diligent friends who loved him to finally lure him back into a house and convince him to stay. Instead of waking to the rumble of a morning trash truck and taking cover from the snow, Jeremiah now rolls his own garbage to the curb and watches precipitation fall from a screened-in back porch attached to his home. No longer tucked away on a cardboard mattress under the Galleria overhang, he snores beneath the covers in a warm room and his own bed. Yet, the work of making a house for Jeremiah his home is only just beginning.

Jeremiah is doing so well, that he agreed to help us tell you the story of the vision he inspired, a supportive neighborhood built to care for the unique needs of our neighbors. 

The Jeremiah Community will include at least 50 small homes (450 square feet), a community center, a garden, an art workshop, and a variety of on-site supportive services. Land has been identified, and Micah is working to clear several zoning hurdles. We are developing a funding strategy and meeting with stakeholders who live and work near the identified property to understand what core elements will make the project successful.

The Jeremiah vision seeks to combine all that the downtown churches have learned in caring for unhoused neighbors these last 18 years. It is named for both our own Jeremiah and the prophet Jeremiah—whose story holds a message of hope for an exiled people in Israel. The effort it took to help our local Jeremiah off the street and continue to be part of his life after housing is a testament to the relationship many chronically unhoused neighbors need live a flourishing life.   

The total project is estimated to cost between $12 to $16 million. A fund established with the Community Foundation will allow Micah to leverage The Community Foundation’s more than 25 years of experience managing and communicating with major donors. It will also help Micah to hold funds dedicated to the project separately from its regular operating dollars.    

Donations for all aspects of the project can be made directly to The Community Foundation, www.cfrrr.org/the-jeremiah-community-fund.

To learn more about Jeremiah Community visit: www.jeremiahcommunity.org 

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Micah’s collaboration of churches feeds the “neighborhood” 365 days of the year. The community meals are not just about the home-cooked supper; they are about gathering people around the table to grow meaningful relationships. Each night a host church in downtown Fredericksburg provides a location, and up to 30 different churches take turns serving at each site. There are many different opportunities for groups and/or individuals to provide meals for our neighbors.

To join in on the Community Meals, email us at [email protected].

Fredericksburg’s downtown churches began their journey toward the vision for Micah Ecumenical Ministries almost 18 years ago. We’ve now been at this as many years as there are miles to the treacherous Jericho Road of the Good Samaritan story. Along the way, encounters with our neighbors’ suffering have taught us much about the home God envisions for humanity, and how we are called to take part.

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Community Foundation hosts fund for Jeremiah Community

VISIT CFRRR Newsletter Article

In pursuit of a community where no one sleeps outside, Micah Ecumenical Ministries is partnering with The Community Foundation to receive gifts for its planned Jeremiah Community.  

The Jeremiah Community will be a supportive neighborhood built to care for the unique needs of those overcoming chronic homelessness. The project will include at least 50 small homes (450 square feet), a community center, a garden, an art workshop, and a variety of on-site supportive services. 

Everyone who lives there will pay rent and have opportunities to engage in the life of the neighborhood, as they seek to regain stability, build hope and find healing. All homes will have front porches to encourage connection with community neighbors and visitors. As many as a dozen local service partners have agreed to establish a supportive presence in the community.  

Micah is a collaboration of Fredericksburg’s downtown churches that began caring for unhoused neighbors in 2005. It has evolved from helping people survive on the street to holistically caring for people in all aspects of their lives (i.e. housing, income, health care, basic needs, social/spiritual support).  

The Jeremiah vision seeks to combine all that the downtown churches have learned in caring for unhoused neighbors these last 18 years. It is named for both the prophet Jeremiah—whose story holds a message of hope for an exiled people in Israel—and Fredericksburg’s own Jeremiah—a man who spent 27 years living on the streets of Fredericksburg before moving back indoors. The effort it took to help our local Jeremiah off the street and continue to be part of his life after housing is a testament to the relationship many chronically unhoused neighbors need to be successful.  

“The number one thing we have learned is that people don’t become homeless when they run out of money,” said Meghann Cotter, Micah’s Executive Servant-Leader. “People become homeless when they run out of relationships. If we aspire to do more than get people under a roof and support them as they seek a flourishing life, we must be the community they desperately lack in their lives.” 

Land has been identified, and Micah is working to clear several zoning hurdles.  

The total project is estimated to cost between $12 to $16 million. The fund established with the foundation will allow Micah to leverage The Community Foundation’s more than 25 years of experience managing and communicating with major donors. It will also help Micah to hold funds dedicated to the project separately from its regular operating dollars.    

Donations for all aspects of the project can be made directly to The Community Foundation, www.cfrrr.org/the-jeremiah-community-fund.

To learn more about Jeremiah Community visit: www.jeremiahcommunity.org 

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Because 72% of unhoused neighbors have at least one disability, helping them access social security benefits is an important part of the work we do with our neighbors. Last year, Micah collected records, built the case, and walked 50 applications through the complex process. Accessing benefits is often key to helping neighbors maintain their housing, build confidence, and gain enough stability that they can meaningfully explore supplemental paid or volunteer work.

Fredericksburg’s downtown churches began their journey toward the vision for Micah Ecumenical Ministries almost 18 years ago. We’ve now been at this as many years as there are miles to the treacherous Jericho Road of the Good Samaritan story. Along the way, encounters with our neighbors’ suffering have taught us much about the home God envisions for humanity, and how we are called to take part.

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Ecumenical Worship Opportunities

In the coming week there will be several opportunities to join the downtown churches in an ecumenical Holy Week. 

On Palm Sunday, several of the churches will gather in Hurkamp Park for worship at 10am, followed by a procession and waving of palms. 

Good Friday, we will gather at Micah, 1013 Princess Anne St., at 2pm and walk throughout the downtown, stopping at various places to remember significant moments on Christ’s journey to the cross. The walk will take about an hour and includes about one mile of walking. Strollers are welcome. Wear comfortable shoes and bring water.  

Easter Sunday, join us at the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds, 2400 Airport Ave., at 6:30am for a sunrise service. 

In addition: Martin Luther King, Jr. Vigil of Remembrance

Join the downtown churches on April 4 at 6:01 at Shiloh Old Site Baptist Church, 801 Sophia St. We will remember Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose assassination occurred at this exact time on this date in 1968. The service is a time for honoring the exceptional life of Dr. King, and the ways his story now lives on in exceptional people in our own community. 

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In partnership with Rappahannock Area Community Services Board, Micah hosts a mental health outreach worker. This expert meets people as they frequent Micah’s Hospitality Center or travels to meet them where they are dwelling in the community. Throughout the year, this outreach worker makes nearly 300 connections with people who otherwise might not receive help.

Fredericksburg’s downtown churches began their journey toward the vision for Micah Ecumenical Ministries almost 18 years ago. We’ve now been at this as many years as there are miles to the treacherous Jericho Road of the Good Samaritan story. Along the way, encounters with our neighbors’ suffering have taught us much about the home God envisions for humanity, and how we are called to take part.

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Join Micah’s downtown churches throughout the Lenten season for ecumenical worship services. Each Wednesday at noon, one of the downtown churches will host with a guest preacher from a different Micah congregation. Our community of faith is excited to resume this important, pre-covid tradition.

Micah Street Church is an ecumenical worshipping community of current and formerly unhoused neighbors (and those who love them). Although only three years old, it is becoming an inclusive place for neighbors to gather, sow seeds of faith, and grow as a missional community.

Fredericksburg’s downtown churches began their journey toward the vision for Micah Ecumenical Ministries almost 18 years ago. We’ve now been at this as many years as there are miles to the treacherous Jericho Road of the Good Samaritan story. Along the way, encounters with our neighbors’ suffering have taught us much about the home God envisions for humanity, and how we are called to take part.

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165,000 Times: Thank you!

To say that our hearts are full from the showing of community that we experienced Saturday night could not be more of an understatement. A total of 509 people showed up to walk, 56 volunteered and so many others showed their faith in the dream of being a community where no one sleeps outside. More than $165,000 was raised to support the work our downtown churches are doing through Micah and bring the vision for Jeremiah Community to reality. 

I’m forgiving because I have been forgiven

 

#loveyourneighbor  

By Kristen

I grew up mostly in Maryland, some in DC and Howard County. Out here I’m still growing up—so Fredericksburg.

I came to Fredericksburg because  I had an aunt that lived in Hartwood. I came here when I was pregnant. It was a pregnancy that no one wanted me to do, so I moved out here and got assistance from my aunt for a while. And then I got an efficiency.

I have two children and some grandchildren, as well. There’s one I’m especially fond of because I raised him for a while.

I used to do dry cleaning or waitressing. I really like waitressing because you can be yourself and give people what they need.

Some of my favorite childhood memories include being at my grandparents house in DC, spending time with my father. I have come to think differently about my mother, but at the time I didn’t think it was so good because she was really strict. But now  I sort of get it. It has taken me a while to get it.

I’ve been around, on and off the street, since before there was a Micah. It’s been a struggle. At least here you can get food and a place to take a shower. There was none of that back then, so you either connected with someone who could help you or you didn’t. Micah has become sort of like a home, a family unit to me; and without this I don’t know what I would be doing.

Alcohol had a big of my becoming homeless. I slept outside, under bushes in a park. That’s what I’ve been doing off and on. It’s especially difficult as a female because there’s not many females out here. There’s a lot of men, but not a lot of females.

The churches have played a very important role in my story. With my first daughter, Brianna, I took her around to different churches. I wasn’t raised going to church, but I had a really good friend in Maryland when I was much younger who was really big into AA. He used to come in the coffee shop where I worked and try to convince me to go to meetings. He introduced me to the church. Then, when I had my daughter, because of the spiritual experiences I had had been through, I thought it was important for her to have that upbringing.

I took her around to all the different churches back then. She’s 32 now so this was when she was 3 or 4. She sat still at the Fredericksburg Baptist Church. She wouldn’t have any part of the children’s program, but she sat still in worship. I’ve been through a lot, but I continue coming back to the church when I’m struggling because I get peace.

At one point I used to think I don’t have any regrets because its all made me who I am. Then I get older, and yeah I do have regrets. My mother was strict with me but I was a straight up jerk and I’m paying for that now, and I get it now. When you ask me about fond memories, ironically a lot of things pop up with my mother. I regret that I haven’t been a better daughter. I regret that I haven’t been a better mother. I regret some of the crazy stunts that I’ve had to go through on the street. I wish I could make things up to my mother who now has dementia and my father who is now deceased.

I’m most proud that I’m still here, that I’m still alive and I’ve been able to make it through all the stuff that I have made it through.

I currently got housing right before Christmas. I stayed at the respite house, and eventually the housing kicked in. I’m not having to sleep under a bush or wonder where I’m going to sleep under a bush or wonder where I’m going to sleep, or slide that cardboard box under something outside, which is what I had been doing. Things are different now. I’m in a place where I have running water and food, and things like that were neglected.

I have a couple goals right now. I’m going to complete AASAP—a program for people who have had DUIs—which I started many years ago. There is a lot of things in my history that I haven’t completed. I’m paying off the electric company what I owe them, and just trying to work on the things that people sort of do and that I have always gone away from.

I’ve learned that some of that has to do with post-traumatic stress disorder. You can say I’m impulsive and I’m this or I’m that, but I also have PTSD and these are all symptoms of that too. I’m working on those things. I’m seeing my Therapist. Its nice to the day. It’s nice to be in from the rain and all the craziness. I’m very grateful for that.

I’m sort of the epitome of love your neighbor. I don’t know where that fine line is. I’m really forgiving, because I have been forgiven. Loving thy neighbor, to me, is sort of everybody. 

When you walk down the sidewalk and see someone outside it is so important not to judge, but to give people a chance, to acknowledge others—it goes a long way. 

Unhoused neighbors experience a variety of cultural, educational, economic and situational barriers that keep them from re-entering the workforce by traditional means. Many desire meaningful work, but require community support and creative approaches to successfully transition into the workforce. Last year, 36 of our neighbors have engaged in employment support with Micah. Fredericksburg’s downtown churches began their journey toward the vision for Micah Ecumenical Ministries almost 18 years ago. We’ve now been at this as many years as there are miles to the treacherous Jericho Road of the Good Samaritan story. Along the way, encounters with our neighbors’ suffering have taught us much about the home God envisions for humanity, and how we are called to take part.

I a’int where I supposed to be, but I a’int where I used to be

By Rudy

I’ve known Micah for more than five years.

I grew up in Washington DC. I came out of a split family. My mom was there for me. She was like a mom and a dad. My dad left my mom with five siblings. 

I ended up coming to Fredericksburg and getting married, but my wife passed away.  I was staying in my wife’s family home for like seven years, working and paying the rent. Then they decide they were going to sell the house and that’s how I became homeless. 

I slept in my car. Then the car had problems, but I didn’t have money to fix the car. Someone had told me about Micah and I decided to go downtown and that’s how I got affiliated with Micah. 

Growing up, I was a boxer. I boxed for four or five years at the neighborhood gym in DC. I got in some trouble, but not a whole lot. Just like normal kids that don’t have a father around. My mom would send me to the boy’s home and I would stay there back and forth. Then when I got myself a little bit together I went in the Marine Corps. I was in the Marine Corps for about 12 years. After I got in the Marine Corps, I became homeless again. I guess I didn’t have my head on right. 

That’s when I came to Fredericksburg and I met this lady named Brenda. We got married had three kids; and that’s when the story came to fruition. She died from gastro-bypass four days after she had the surgery. That’s how I ended up in her family home. When she died, I became homeless.

I’ve always worked, mostly security, construction, labor finders. I had some pretty good jobs, but my head wasn’t on right. When my wife died it really took a toll on me. I hadn’t really been outside homeless until then. It’s different from being homeless and running away from home because you can come back. When you are really homeless, you don’t have no home to go home to. 

I didn’t come around Micah much unless the cold weather shelter was open. I had a lot of pride. I always had a job. When I used to come down to Micah, it was to take a shower, get what I needed and leave. 

When you are homeless, your nights are days and your days are nights. It’s no fun being homeless regardless if it’s summer or cold. It’s really worse in cold. Summer you can fend for yourself. But just being homeless where you can’t take a shower, when it rains you have to walk around and people look at you different too. 

I don’t like to ask for help, even though I’m not homeless anymore. I felt like I wanted to do it myself, and I wanted to prove to myself instead of anyone else. I should have taken some help because I really needed some help and I still struggle with getting help, but I wanted to do it on my own. If help is there for you, and someone is reaching out trying to help you, regardless of whether you mess it up or don’t want the help, you should get that help. I found out Micah would help me. 

God has been present in my struggles of being homeless. When you are homeless and you are struggling from anything you are going to call on God regardless if you believe him, regardless of if you accept God in your heart. I think I’ve gotten more closer to God when I got with Micah too, and started going to the churches and helping set up the tables and stuff. Every day I would go there was someone there telling me about God. I’m not saying I found God when I was homeless. I already knew God, but I got closer to God. 

My mom died. My father died. The rest of my family, two sisters died. I have one sister in Florida and I have a brother in Michigan. My kids are in Baltimore and DC. Other than that, they’ve just gone and passed away. Losing people has been my downfall. When you are around death all the time and you lose a family member, and you are already homeless, the struggle is harder. I’ve been circling around death all my life, but I’ve come to not so much embrace it; but I try to deal with it better now that I’m closer to God. 

I try to stay in contact with those that are still living; but Micah is a family where I didn’t have a family. I take that dearly to my heart. If it wasn’t for Micah I don’t know where I would have ended up at.  Micah has become a family to me because Micah has always been a mentor for me. They found me housing, where I’ve been for five or six years. I have a job with Micah working on the furniture truck. The furniture truck is for people that need furniture that donated to Habitat and Salvation Army and other places. We go in and take the old furniture out and put new furniture in. The other job is at the Cold Shelter, which houses people that don’t have housing like I was. 

I go back and give back to Micah because Micah has given back to me. God don’t want you to restore what you learn and what you get. He don’t want you to preserve it, he wants you to give back and to pass it on. This is my way of giving back to Micah, my family. 

I ain’t where I s’posed to be, but I ain’t where I used to be neither. It’s almost like I got a testimony.

I want to say to all the churches, I thank all the churches that I got to know on my journey when I was homeless. Now that I a’int homeless, I still go back to some of the churches and try to do things around the churches and let them know that even though I’ve come through my struggle, my struggle a’int over. I got to stay prayed up, hang around good people and hang around the churches to direct me in the right direction. I really mean that. 

It really makes a difference for an unhoused neighbor to spend their first night in their new house with essentials that make their house a home. Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore serves as a clearinghouse for people in the community who wish to donate gently used furniture. Items from Habitat are paired with new mattresses from Ashley/Trivett’s furniture. Furniture donations are accepted at the Re-Store, 2378 Plank Rd., Tuesday through Saturday from 12pm to 5pm. Any time someone moves into housing, homeless service partners request items needed, and Habitat offers them free of charge. Volunteers from area churches pick up and deliver items to homes. Cleaning supplies, pillows, trash cans, towels, sheets, shower curtains, kitchen and cookware, can be dropped off at the Micah Hospitality Center, 1013 Princess Anne St., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10am to 2pm. Fredericksburg’s downtown churches began their journey toward the vision for Micah Ecumenical Ministries almost 18 years ago. We’ve now been at this as many years as there are miles to the treacherous Jericho Road of the Good Samaritan story. Along the way, encounters with our neighbors’ suffering have taught us much about the home God envisions for humanity, and how we are called to take part.

God has been present through all of it

#loveyourneighbor By Andrew “I grew up in Mechanicsville, Virginia. I was born in Roanoke but grew up around Richmond. I ended up in Fredericksburg in 2012 when I was in a group home on Plank Road. That was where I aged out from foster care at 21. Mentally I was going through a lot and I was trying to escape. I don’t really have a bunch of great memories from when I was a child. I was adopted when I was five and a half months old. It was kind of a miracle adoption to be honest. I was on an IEP from Elementary school onward. In fifth grade I started having an aide and all that. I got pawned off on group homes right after I finished my Sophomore year of High School. I was an A/B student at that time, but I went south pretty quick. I barely graduated high school.  My first time on the street was in 2012 when I ran away from the group home. I got back in, aged out and then went to live with my adoptive parents again until January 2013.  Since then, I have quite literally lived all over the country multiple times over. Previously, I’ve  traveled for females, being a free bird, wanting to do what I want to do when I want to do it, essentially being a spoiled little brat. That’s what I was doing before. Then the last few years, it’s been just me trying to find who I really am. As cliche as it is, it kind of was a soul searching. I didn’t realize it when I left Fredericksburg the last time. But these last three years have been a soul searching time for me, which honestly has been very extensive for me. I’m currently a student at university of Mary Washington. I’m also doing a lot of dance stuff, hip hop, contemporary, jazz funk, which is probably the biggest part of my career right now. I’m debating between three different majors right now. Theater is a staple, but I’m thinking about double majoring. The other two I’m debating between are music and linguistics. I’m still trying to figure out what God wants me to do.  I’m in a full load of classes–13 credit hours, five classes. I’m teaching dance lessons, for now, but I think I’m going to take a break from that to focus on school. I’m also trying to get an on campus job, if possible. I auditioned last week on Saturday for something called PAC–performing arts company–at UMW. I’m going to be performing in a contemporary piece. It’s a big show they have in April. Music and dance are top two for me. Those are very big in my life. Music has always been something that I wanted to do. Dance, I didn’t know that was what God was calling me to until a lot later in life.  God has been present through all of it, every single solitary bit of it. My whole life story, which is way too long, has been God showing up time and time again. I haven’t always had a good attitude about my situation. This attitude I have now didn’t start happening until the last few years. That’s part of what came with the soul searching. It’s the contentment of where God has me, but also continuously striving to be better and do better and to be more faithful to God. That means to me what the scripture says, loving your neighbor as yourself and your neighbor being everyone. Jesus had a parable about it. The Samaritan was the one that acted like a neighbor because he reached out when the guy needed help, when others scoffed. I can’t speak for anyone else, but what I can say is that Micah has been a very good resource. It’s better than it used to be, but I’m better than I used to be. What Micah means to me is helping us progress if you want to progress.  Have faith, love God, treat people how you want to be treated, and be willing to put in the work for what you want.

As social distancing and stay-at-home orders trended in early 2020, the Micah community committed to be a lighthouse in the storm. For two and a half years, pandemic resources made it possible for Fredericksburg to be a community where no one had to sleep outside. Community meals transferred compassion to a mobile delivery model. And services and support, traditionally offered from offices, relocated to hotels where the majority of unhoused neighbors were sheltering. Fredericksburg’s downtown churches began their journey toward the vision for Micah Ecumenical Ministries almost 18 years ago. We’ve now been at this as many years as there are miles to the treacherous Jericho Road of the Good Samaritan story. Along the way, encounters with our neighbors’ suffering have taught us much about the home God envisions for humanity, and how we are called to take part.

Getting up is what’s important

#loveyourneighbor By Debbie “My name is Debbie. I’ve been with Micah for a while. I grew up in Madison in the mountains. I stayed in a foster home from the time I was seven until I was 15 to 18, something like that. I’m 62 now. I came to Fredericksburg in 2010. My daughter and I actually came up this way when we were offered a job in Chancellor at a daycare. Things went wrong, so then we had no where to go. We lived at the Thomas Jefferson Motel for quite a few years, but things happened and I couldn’t afford it anymore. I have four children all together, a son and a daughter that are mine and another son and daughter from my ex-husband. My mom and dad were not around for much of my life. Once they took us away, none of our family was allowed to so much as ask where we at or how we were doing. But some of the principals would let my nanny and my aunt Mary sneak into school to see us. That was pretty awesome. As far as anyone else, they wouldn’t let us see them. I learned to cook from my foster mother.She was from South Carolina, so her cooking was really good. I’ve done convenience store work and fast food restaurant work. I used to work at the college doing housekeeping. I worked for Spotsylvania schools as a custodian. I’ve done a lot of landscaping and tree work, but I can’t do that right now even if I tried. I found Micah when someone told me about it. I just walked in one day and asked for help. they pointed me in the right direction. I’ve had some bumps along the way, but I finally have pretty much everything straightened out. I finally got an apartment. March 31 will be a year. I still want a house in the country so I can have a garden and chickens. If I don’t get it, oh well. I’m happy here. It’s nice. No body bothers you. At least it’s a place I can call home. My kids and my grandkids can come visit me. My baby sister finally got to come see me. That’s a miracle that we reconnected, because all my siblings were adopted out. We got to spend Thanksgiving together, and that’s the first Thanksgiving we’ve had together in almost 53 years. it was just amazing. I was homeless off and on for 10 to 11 years. I’ve had two actual places since I’ve been up here. Thanks to everyone who helps people pull through. Y’all have everything there, all the people have to do is choose to accept the help and do. Loving neighbor means helping out, being there for someone to talk to, being a listening ear. For me, it’s cooking. I love to feed people and if I can do it, I love doing things for people and doing things with people. With the booster home, the first one they put us in, they taught us that. I was also raised up in the Baptist Church. We always did for less fortunate people. Plus, I know what it’s like not to have food to eat. I know what it’s like to go to school hungry or with raggedy clothes; and you don’t like to see anyone having to go through that. I think that’s what it is. You never know what that person is going through. I’ve been in tears before and someone will come up and talk to me, and it makes a difference. It’s being there and treating someone good and nice. You never know what’s going on in their head or out here or whatever. I’ve been to a lot of different places. God has always been there for me. He has looked out for me in ways that I can’t explain. I know he’s here. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here. You know sometimes, when you are in a rush to go somewhere, and you are running late. Well, you might be five or six cars behind where you would have been.Then, BOOM. If you had been where that car was, you wouldn’t be here. Through all the ups and downs, I’ve managed to get myself back up. I’ve learned a whole lot. It doesn’t hurt to fall down, but getting up is what is important. I think I’ve done good this last go round.”

Years ago, unhoused neighbors would be released from the hospital with doctor’s orders to go home and get better. They didn’t have a home, so they would often be readmitted, face worsening conditions and accrue thousands of dollars in bills neither they, nor the hospital system, could afford. Micah Respite, in partnership with Mary Washington Hospital, offers a vital safety net to neighbors requiring temporary or terminal care. It serves approximately 75 people each year and has a demonstrated track record of reducing readmissions, shortening inpatient stays and offering better patient care. Fredericksburg’s downtown churches began their journey toward the vision for Micah Ecumenical Ministries almost 18 years ago. We’ve now been at this as many years as there are miles to the treacherous Jericho Road of the Good Samaritan story. Along the way, encounters with our neighbors’ suffering have taught us much about the home God envisions for humanity, and how we are called to take part.