Sharing God's love in
Richmond's inner city by Shawnee Weitzel Hansen
I was brought up in
a wonderful Christian home in Hershey, PA. My father died when I was six
years old, the eldest of five children. My mother was an amazing role model.
Although a struggling widow, she always reached out her hand in kindness to
anyone who was alone or in need. Every holiday found an assortment of most
interesting local town folk around our dining room table. It was a real
lesson in sharing God’s love.
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I saw a young boy and two
men fishing around in a large trash bin...they pulled out a turkey carcass
which the boy began clawing at and eating.
My personal
relationship with Christ, however, did not begin until I attended a
Billy Graham crusade in 1974 in Phoenix, AZ. I was enthused to learn that
God had a plan for my life… and I just knew he had something exciting and
unusual in store for me!
In the fall of
1986 I was living with my husband and two children in Midlothian, VA. One
November evening, on the six o’clock news, I saw a minister asking the
community for Thanksgiving turkeys to help feed the many homeless he was
housing in an abandoned funeral parlor. I happened to have three turkeys in
my freezer and was happy to find a good place to donate them. I roasted
them, took them down to south Richmond, and told him I would come back for
my pans a few days later. When I returned to his neighborhood, I saw a young
boy and two men fishing around in a large trash bin at the side of the road.
To my horror, they pulled out a turkey carcass, which the boy began clawing
at and eating. Now this wasn’t some third world country, or even Appalachia.
This was just ten miles down the road from where I lived! It was at that
moment I knew God’s call in my life.
We are
serving as many as
2,300 meals every week.
I began an
organization called Richmond Friends of the Homeless. Our mission is
to strengthen and enrich the lives of the disadvantaged and homeless
men, women and children in our community. We began providing a
nutritious, hot lunch every Monday through Friday in the
Bainbridge/Blackwell area of town. We also provide blankets,
clothing, personal hygiene items – anything that can make life a bit
gentler. Fifteen years later we opened a second program site in the
Jackson Ward/Gilpin Court area. My daughter, Camille, runs that
location. She grew up helping me and loves the opportunity of
showing God’s love to those who are hungry. Between these two sites
we are serving as many as 2,300 meals every week and have enlisted
the help of over 80 congregations of all denominations to help.
We began special mentoring programs for the many children
we got to know through our work. We began to invite them to come to church
with us and hear God’s word for the first time. They feel safe and loved and
cherished as they make First Baptist a part of their lives. It has been a
joy and privilege to share with them in their decisions to accept Jesus as
their Savior and follow His as their Lord. Many of the children we see for
only a short time. Their family situations are often ones of transience and
turmoil. Yet, we are honored to be a part of their lives, if only for a
short time.
I consider myself a “work in progress.” God continues to
teach me and guide me. I depend on Him in every way and for every
need in both my personal life and my work with those less fortunate.
I strive to be a good and faithful servant and follow the call He
has placed in my life. He is my all in all.
FBC exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ through joyful worship, caring fellowship, spiritual
nurture, faithful service & compassionate outreach in the Richmond area and throughout the world.
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