PIN Ministry Weblog

Have you seen the new Quiznos commercial for the $5 sub sandwiches where they have someone eat a $5 bill. Every time I see that I think about homeless people. You might wonder why that commercial reminds me of homeless people, let me explain. A homeless person goes to the Emergency Room with an ailment, because no one accepts their HMO (no insurance). The emergency room has to see them; then they give them minimal treatment and send them on their way with a prescription. Here is the issue unless they can eat that piece of paper to get well it’s useless, because most of them don’t have enough money to pay for the prescription.

Here is the problem, because of limited access to adequate showers, and being in close quarters with people who are already sick. It’s not a matter of if you will get sick but when. Since, I’ve started going full time with PIN I’ve had at least one really bad illness every year. So you have a choice to make you can do nothing or you can do something, I don’t see any other option. If you decide to do nothing that is a choice.

So maybe you’re thinking if you help with prescriptions you are enabling people, and you need to have them stand on their own so they can get it for themselves. I believe it is possible in some cases this could happen, but if you are a Christian you should go read Luke 10:25-37. Go ahead read it right now…. go ahead I’ll wait…….. I know you’ve probable read it a million and one times. Read it again but this time concentrate on the man that is beaten, what do we know about him, nothing… We know nothing. He could be a bad guy, he could be corrupt. He could have been doing something illegal we really don’t know. Maybe he was selling drugs and got caught in a bad drug deal. I think Jesus doesn’t tell us much about him because that really doesn’t matter. What matters is that we show mercy always in every circumstance. So I would argue that you have to disobey Jesus to do nothing. So then that leaves us with really only one choice.

PIN currently has 6 nurses and 4 doctors that rotate to provide health care for the homeless; PIN has provided prescriptions for every homeless person that has come through our ministry the last two years. So we have done enough, I don’t think so!!!!! PIN has a vision to have a fully functioning clinic for the homeless at the Virginia Beach oceanfront. So if you decided you want to help with the clinic, you can pray for this clinic. You can support us financially; it’s going to take a lot of money. You can also get the word out about the situation that homeless people live in to your friends.

Over the next two weeks I will be posting a 6 part series dedicated to the vision that I believe God has given PIN. People often ask me where PIN is headed in the future, so here is the big answer….. Wherever God tells us. The reason I started this series with that is because I’m going to lay out the things I believe God is calling PIN to do; however, if PIN believes that God is telling us to change direction we will in a second. So this series is a framework for where God is leading us. I wanted to start this series with something that PIN believes is badly needed in Virginia Beach, an emergency shelter.

For a city the size of Virginia Beach it is sad how little shelter space is available for the homeless. Let me make one caveat, if you have to sign up and it takes months to get in then you are not an emergency shelter. You have to read that sentence again but in a Jeff Foxworthy voice. There are a couple shelters for women and families, but there are no emergency shelters in Virginia Beach for men. Ok let me throw some stats at you Indianapolis, IN which according to the 2000 census has close to the same number of population as Norfolk and Virginia Beach together has 3 huge shelters for men. I spent a week at one in the heart of Indianapolis that held over 100 people. Durham, NC which has 230,000 less people than Virginia Beach has two nice shelters that hold over 80 people each. Even Waco, TX which has a population of 1/4th of Virginia Beach has a shelter that can hold about 70 men. I wanted to first start by showing you how sad the situation is in Virginia Beach.

So why does Virginia Beach need an emergency shelter. The streets are a dangerous place, drugs, alcohol, and physical violence. Also think about the fact that you have to sleep on the ground. Every Sunday PIN shares Jesus with the homeless of Virginia Beach then during the week they have to avoid drugs and alcohol. Here’s a quick example, someone comes to PIN and stays for the service. Eventually accepts Jesus and want to change their life. Then on Monday night sleeping behind a building someone offers them some drugs, he says no, now on Tuesday sleeps behind some bushes where he’s offered beer, this person hesitates then says no. By the end of the week after not sleeping well, being harassed by the police, and ignored by people that walk by, that person might give up. Now imagine the same person comes to a shelter with PIN’s logo on the front. Now on Monday night he is sleeping on a bed and someone offers to sit down and talk to him about how his life is going then they pray together, then on Tuesday night someone is playing cards with him then at the end of the game they end up talking about a scripture that was talked about on Sunday. By the end of the week this person is going to have hope for the future.

Let me close with a question that I would like you to think about. Can you truly say you love your neighbor, when some of your neighbors are sleeping on the street in the conditions listed above? Next Post will be “Medical Clinic”.

I hope you’ve read all of the PIN History posts, because there will be a pop quiz. In December of 2006, someone had a mobile home that they wanted to donate to PIN. After praying about it we felt like it was a great opportunity to get families off the street. So less than two years later we now have 3 mobile homes that we have used to help 5 families get off the street in that time frame. We currently have two families in our mobile homes. One of our mobile homes has a family of three with a daughter that is 5 years old, and the second home is a family of three with an infant that was born last week. Without PIN these families would probably have been split apart. God has used PIN to help keep these families together.

 ”Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Matthew 28:19 NIV. If you are a Christian you are probable really familiar with this scripture. The word I want to focus on is “go”, when we hear go we often think about going on mission trips to faraway places. I would like to challenge you to think about using the term “go” locally. You might wonder how you can “go” locally. That was something I struggled with early on in PIN. I would invite homeless people to church with me but, they would come a couple times and then stop coming. In this I realized that I needed to take the church to them, but I didn’t have a theological degree so how would this work. Here is the cool thing God showed me, that He was going to provide the strength, knowledge and wisdom to make this work. So in August of 2006, PIN started its first Biblical service, 3 homeless people attended. PIN now offers a service every Sunday called PINnacle specifically designed for the homeless. PINnacle is a complete church service with worship and a biblical message. Over 30 homeless people have accepted Jesus since we started PINnacle and we have anywhere between 30 to 50 people at our Sunday services.

Starting next week I’m going to post a 6 part series of post related to the vision that God has given PIN.

OK I have a big secret to share with you; it is something that might change the way you think about PIN. OK….. Dallas Stamper the founder and leader of PIN has started a very small number of things that PIN does. Actually, when I tell people that they seem shocked, because in most situations the leader starts everything the organization does, but not with PIN. Early on during the start of PIN, I realized that God was going to choice people other than me to actually make PIN what it was going to be. People that know me well know that I’m a control freak; no actually I’m a control Super Freak. I think by using other people to start things in PIN God is teaching me and everyone around PIN who is in control. Having God in control feels good even for a Super Freak.

OK in PIN History 101 you learned who actually started PIN, named PIN, and created the logo. Let me share a few more cool areas of our Ministry and who God chose to start them. We have a clothing ministry that is really cool, we take cloths that are donated and we buy underwear and socks to give to the homeless. This is so important in order to keep the homeless clothed and to prevent skin issues. George and Suzy Pillsbury started the clothing portion of this ministry. PIN also gives out hygiene supplies to the homeless every Sunday. This part of PIN is so important to help keep the homeless healthy and create self esteem, and Stephen and Kelly Wills started it. 

One of the coolest things PIN does is offer medical care to the homeless. You think it’s hard for the uninsured to get medical care; it’s crazy hard for the homeless. Our medical ministry started with one nurse and has now grown to a point where we have several nurses every Sunday and most Sunday’s we have a doctor. We also pay for homeless peoples prescriptions when they come through are ministry. So maybe Dallas created this part of PIN…. nope it was Sue Pekoe.

Come back Friday when I will conclude this series with PIN History 103 when you will get to learn about the 1 thing Dallas actually started.

I (Dallas Stamper) get allot of questions about how PIN got started, so this week I wanted to post some details about how PIN got started, got its name, logo, and how our different ministry areas got started. The thing you’re going to notice is how many different people God has used in this ministry.

PIN Started in June of 2002 when Anne Stamper felt God’s call to help poor people. That evening Anne served 12 sandwiches to 5 homeless people. It’s really crazy when you think how this ministry has grown from 12 sandwiches to what it is today.

So how did PIN get its name? Well early on there were like 10 of us who started the ministry sitting around eating food and we realized we needed to call this organization something, when all of the sudden Brian Foley said how about PIN. Brian came up with the idea of calling it People In Need which we all thought was great.

Our original logo was created by a high school senior named Ariel. She created the logo as an assignment for school, Ariel went on to attend college at VCU where she was going to major in graphic design. It was cool when she came back during one of her breaks during her freshman year and saw her logo on the back of a bunch of t-shirts. Then Jared Legg came along and redesigned the logo, but kept the original intent of the logo.

Next Post PIN History 102 learn about how our clothing, hygiene, and medical ministry are started.

So what can we do to help?

     1) You can pray for politicians, churches, and individuals to get involved with organizations that help the homeless.

     2) You can get out of your chair and volunteer with organizations that help the homeless, or maybe support that organization financially.

     3) Next time you see a homeless person instead of walking by them; maybe you can stop and talk to that person.

    4) You need to understand that you can make a difference. I hear people say, but I’m only one person what difference can I make? That kind of thinking is dangerous. Also ignore anyone who says you can’t make a difference.

    5) If you go to a Church you can ask how they help homeless people.

One of the hardest things about being homeless is finding a place that you can sleep. If you don’t have a car you sleep in the woods, under a bridge, in a parking lot wherever you can find a place to sleep. Let’s say that you don’t have a place to live but you still have a car. You probable think that you would pull your car into a parking lot and sleep there.

There is this couple who came to Virginia Beach with only their car, and immediately went to the police station to find out where they could sleep in their car until they get back on their feet. It is unusual for homeless people to take this step because they often don’t want to be recognized by the police. This person was told where they could sleep in their car while they get back on their feet. Well two weeks later this couple got a ticket for sleeping in their car. This couple doesn’t drink or do drugs, and they are working and trying to get back on their feet. Its things like this that really causes people to get frustrated.

I want to reiterate my support and love for the police department. No one is perfect and that includes police officers, and I understand how tough their job is and appreciate everything they do. I posted this entry not as an indictment of the police department, but to share with you how law abiding citizens can be hit bad times. Once they get to this point there are allot of obstacles that can frustrate them.

So I’m (Dallas Stamper) at the Veterans Memorial yesterday giving some homeless people breakfast, when I was heading out a lady pulled up in a car and asked what Church I’m with. I then explained that I run a non-profit organization name PIN Ministry, and then I held my hand out and said hi I’m Dallas. Then she said “Oh your Dallas.” I get that reaction allot. Not sure how to take that reaction, so I just pretend they’re happy to meet me. She told me she works at the Virginia Beach Convention Center and she would like for me to stop serving breakfast at the Veterans Memorial. She then asked can I do it anywhere else, and I explained that legally this was one of the few places I could serve breakfast to the homeless without breaking a law. She then said that the problem was that I was bringing homeless people to the memorial and when people visit the memorial the homeless people make them uncomfortable. Seeing homeless people make them uncomfortable, good I’m glad they’re uncomfortable. Before you get too upset let me explain why I said that.

When people are suffering, and hungry, and have no place to live should we be comfortable? I think when people are suffering, and hungry, and have no place to live we should be very uncomfortable. I think if PIN is causing people to be uncomfortable then we’re making progress. Obviously there are not enough uncomfortable people yet. If we make enough people uncomfortable about people not having a place to live then maybe we can get the support we need to build the emergency shelter that Virginia Beach needs badly.

So here is the question of the day, are you uncomfortable about people being homeless in Virginia Beach?

Have you ever been driving down the interstate when a state police starts following behind you. You start to look around making sure your doing the speed limit, then his lights come on and you’re like “darn” what did I do. You pull over and you’re still trying to figure out what you did wrong. He goes by you and you realize that he is after someone else. Even though you weren’t doing anything wrong, when his lights come on you feel like you probable did something wrong. Take that feeling, but you feel that way every time you see a police officer.

Every Sunday morning I take coffee and pastries to the homeless at the oceanfront, I really enjoy it because it is a great time to get to know people. So one Sunday we are sharing breakfast and laughing and joking, when two Virginia Beach police officers on bicycles pull up to where we are. I didn’t notice them pull up; however, I did notice that everyone got quiet. Then I noticed the police officers looking around and all of the homeless had this scared look on their faces. I kind of smiled at the police officer, then he looked away from me toward a couple of homeless people and said, “What is going on here”, and nobody answered. I then looked at the police officer and said, “I’m sharing breakfast with some of my friends”, and then I continued, “We are not breaking any laws are we?” Then he looked at me and said, “It’s a free country, I guess”. As they drove off I thanked them for serving the city and told them to have a great day. Ever since that day I will never forget those words “It’s a free country, I guess”, and I’m sure the homeless that were there got the message he was sending.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights….” If these words sound familiar they should, they are from The Declaration of Independence. It is by these very words that everyone in our country is guaranteed justice. I wonder if the homeless feel that these words apply to them.

So you might be asking why I titled this blog series, “it’s against the law to be homeless” when there are no laws making it unlawful to be homeless. Well it’s not illegal to homeless, but it is against the law to sleep in certain places. First, it is against the law to sleep at the oceanfront from 8PM till 8AM. So, if you’re homeless you can sleep on the sand at the oceanfront from 8AM till 8PM legally; however, if you take this route you will get severe burns. PIN has seen homeless people with sun burns that were so severe that they needed medical attention at the hospital. Our nurses do an awesome job of trying to treat problems dealing with being over exposed to the sun; however, there is no way to prevent these kinds of problems when you’re outside all the time. The homeless are welcome to sit in the library and read books, but if they fall asleep they will get kicked out. There is also no place in public areas where the homeless are permitted to sleep outside. So if you are homeless and can just go without sleep then you have no problems.

So do the homeless people really get tickets for sleeping outside? Usually between September and April unless they are breaking a law they don’t get ticketed, but between May and August allot of tickets are given out for sleeping in public. Mmmm…. wonder why so many ticket are given out during the summer in Virginia Beach? Just two weeks ago allot of homeless people got ticketed for sleeping in public. The police are justified in ticketing people for sleeping in public, because it’s against the law. The problem is there are not enough beds for all the homeless people in Virginia Beach, so if you are homeless there is probable not a bed for you. I could see giving people a ticket if they had an option to sleep in a bed, but refused to. If you don’t have a bed to sleep in at night then you basically have to break the law, because everyone has to sleep.

A second issue is a lack sleep, When you have to sleep on the ground worried about getting caught you will not get a good night sleep. If you do this for long enough it will start to effect how you live. Have you ever gone a short period of time without a good night sleep how does that make you feel? Now imagine doing that for one, two, maybe ten years.

PIN gives homeless people tents to sleep out in the woods, but once again because they are breaking the law by sleeping where they are not authorized the tents get confiscated or destroyed. So even if you are trying to be a law abiding citizen as soon as you go to sleep you have just broke the law.

Next Post “Even when I’m not breaking the law I feel like I am”