No one should suffer alone through the crisis of homelessness!

When someone has lived on the streets, they are chased by self-hatred and hounded by the devil. They have sustained shock, PTSD, crisis, and trauma; they are old weatherd men with cancer, young lonely men desperately hoping not to go back to jail, women escaping from domestic violence, or parents with three children fearfully checking into the Homeless Shelter. There are those experiencing mental illness , social isolation, or circumstantial desperation. They are also stuck in a drought of safe and supporting relationships, and an overwhelmingly slow and complex system of services where misinformation and inhospitality abound. And in this mess of despair are the individual souls and dreams of each person whom Jesus knows intimately: they are our brothers, our sisters, and our mothers.

Our core heartbeat as a 501c3 non-profit is to partner with Jesus as He reaches into his bag of limitless Love and Mercy to throw heaping handfuls onto the lives of men and women on the streets of SLO. We are following Jesus in His joy by befriending the homeless through consistent relational connection with them in their world! We are becoming God's tangible hands and feet, His listening ears and warm hugs. Our hope is that the smell of His Life will flow with every cup of coffee and act of kindness , will wake people up, offering a bright flash of hope to the person who is desperate.

If our own father, or mother, or brother, or best friend somehow ended up homeless on the streets of SLO, wouldn't we do way more than avert our eyes and just walk by, or give them a dollar or maybe the leftovers from our expensive downtown meal? The Bible teaches us that those in the most crisis in our community deserve the most robust forms of support (e.g., Deuteronomy 24:17-24; Isaiah 58:1-14; James 1:26-2:5). Yet, although there are churches shining on many corners of the downtown area, the homeless community in SLO is still in a devestating drought of supportive care.

Brothers & Mothers seeks to practically express God's LOVE for our homeless friends by providing a relationally-mediated social, emotional, and spiritual support system for those who are experiencing the crisis of homelessness in San Luis Obispo. Across our four different "footprints" in the homeless community, we have 15 volunteers spending a weekly total of 6-8 hours of direct relational contact with the homeless. We love this community of unsheltered friends dearly and are dedicated to increasing our supportive presence among them: in the shelter, the creeks, the streets, coffee shops, libraries, or parks. Wherever they are, we want to extend our hands as we would toward family.

We express the Love of God practically through these four different footprints in the SLO homeless community:

• Weekly "Jesus Coffee " at the Prado Homeless Shelter: A rotating team of 3-4 volunteers create relational bridges with those staying at the Shelter by serving local Jobella organic coffee, hot cocoa with whip cream and sprinkles, along with all the condiments ( half and half, sugar, honey, cinnamon, marshmellows: only the best for our friends!). We serve 75+ people for 2-3 hours, during which time we are shaking hands, hugging, praying with people, listening intently to their story, taking long chunks of time for conversation, writing down prayer requests, and sharing our lives face to face with our homeless friends. It is our privilege to serve coffee and cocoa to all the Prado Shelter staff as well.

• Women's support group/Bible study: Twice a month, 2-3 volunteers set up the conference room at the Prado Homeless Shelter with tea, cookies, Bibles, and various pieces of hospitality. The homeless ladies that our volunteers have built relationships with will come in for an hour of simple Bible study, personal prayer, support and encouragement. Who wants to walk through crisis alone? We exist to support our friends through their crisis.

• Men's support group/Bible study: Twice a moth, 1-2 volunteers meet with homeless men for a simple Bible study complete with donuts and spritual, social, and emotional support. These men need so much encouragement, exhortation, and faithful friendship to make it through the stress of their season.

• BroMobile Street Outreach: On Thursday and Friday afternoons of every week, for about three hours, a team of two will go downtown on bikes to spend time with the downtown homeless crowd. We serve coffee, pray for people, share the beauty and healing power of Jesus, belly-laugh and trade jokes with, mediate community resources and work hard at building long-term supportive relationships with those downtown.

To find out more juicy details on any one of our four footprints in the community, please check out the services tab in the menu.

If you desire to financially partner with us, volunteer, or join our prayer team, please click on the links below where you will find a variety of ways to join our little Brothers & Mothers movement. We thank God for you!