November 20, 2000
Woman offers idea to assist street beggars
___NASHVILLE, Tenn.--Ever driven by a homeless person holding up a cardboard sign at an intersection and felt guilty because you didn't know how to respond?
___The November issue of HomeLife magazine offers a practical suggestion from Judy Ballentine, a member of Tallaweka Baptist Church in Tallassee, Ala.
___"I saw the ragged clothes, matted hair and cardboard sign before I ever pulled up beside him at the red traffic light," she recalls. "His hand-printed sign read: 'Homeless and hungry. Please help.' ... He looked at me; then his eyes went to the tag on the front of my car that reads 'Jesus First.' He saw the cross dangling from my rearview mirror. He looked directly into my eyes. I could sense his hope that here was someone who would help.
___"The light changed, and I drove on."
___Ballentine explains how reflection over that encounter led her to make sure she wasn't caught unprepared again.
___She prayed about it, she said, asking God to show her how to help someone like that man in the future without putting cash in his hand that might be used for something other than food.
___The next morning, God answered her prayer, she said, with a "divine plan" that is simple enough for others to adapt as well.
___Ballentine gathered small canned items such as soups, spaghetti, pork and beans, fruits, potted meats, tuna, Vienna sausage and pudding. Then she made up small bags of crackers, vanilla wafers, pretzels, cookies and other non-perishable snacks.
___She distributed these items into plastic grocery bags, which she could carry in her car and give out through the window. She made enough to keep a ready supply on a shelf at home, carrying only one bag in her car at a time. When she gives away that bag, she pulls another from the shelf to put in the car.
___In addition to the food items, Ballentine's give-away bags include small toiletry items, a dollar bill and $1 in change, a Christian tract, a copy of the Book of John and a listing of area agencies that provide food, shelter and job placement services.
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