Homeless folks have to choose between meals and work.

Most shelters serve breakfast too late for those with jobs. Once a week, we fill this gap with a meal and encouragement at local labor pools. We also open to them our Neighborly House “Christ Room” for shelter, showers, and laundry.


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0 of 8,320 Meals Served

WAKEY, WAKEY

Breakfast Brigade assemble!

Every week, in solidarity, we get up earlier than the day-laborers to make breakfast and center ourselves in prayer as we prepare our hearts to serve. We head over to the local labor pool and lay down a tablecloth, put out freshly picked flowers from a friend’s garden, share boiled eggs from our 40+ chickens, offer pastries donated from Panera and start pouring cups of coffee and orange juice.

To “pull oneself up by the bootstraps” one must first have boots.

We occasionally receive requests from the laborers for steel-toe work-boots. Without boots, they cannot secure employment or accept construction job offers. Fun Fact: Did you know that this issue is what led us to start Neighborly back in ‘09?

Other Ways to Engage

  • Many people experiencing homelessness face a difficult choice between work and food, often opting to secure a spot in line for employment at day-labor agencies instead of receiving meal services at shelters.

  • Every week, in solidarity, we get up earlier than the day-laborers to make breakfast and center ourselves in prayer. We head over to the local labor pools and lay down a tablecloth, put out freshly picked flowers, and begin our feast together.

    The menu varies each week based on what is donated/purchased but is usually comprised of homemade bread with honey butter, pastries donated from Panera, oranges, hard-boiled eggs collected from our hens, and orange juice.

  • In Ngamwa, Kenya, families who rely on rainwater face life-threatening waterborne illnesses due to toxins in the air and bacteria, such as bird feces, on roofs. During the dry season, they collect water from the Tambaya River, contaminated by cattle feces and agricultural fertilizers. Both water sources lead to easily preventable diseases like cholera, dysentery, and typhoid, which claim 2,739 lives globally each day.

  • In rural communities where there is no central location where it would make sense to dig a well for people to collect water from, it's necessary to bring water to them. We do this in the form of water purification tablets.

  • Refugees, who are fleeing persecution and war, are met in the U.S. with multiple services to help them reclaim their lives. Rarely, however, is there someone to help them navigate their new reality. That’s where people, not programs, step in. That’s where you step in.

  • The Old Testament practice of Jubilee was God's systemic plan for dismantling inequality through the redistribution of wealth. Each month at a local Neighborly House we host a Jubilee Marketplace where refugees are invited to shop through that week's in-kind donations and practice English with locals.

  • In Kenya, where school uniforms are required for education, a single piece of cloth stands between a child and their ability to end the cycle of poverty by receiving an education.

  • We partner with the families of the most vulnerable children to provide the necessary school uniforms.

  • Mother Teresa said, "The greatest poverty of all is the feeling of being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for." Seniors at assisted living homes are especially susceptible to this form of poverty.

  • The “public reading of scripture” is a sacred practice launched by Moses in the wilderness and commanded by the apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy. Since 2020, we have been upholding this tradition in service to our elders at assisted living homes who either receive no visitors, are vision impaired, or suffer from dementia.