From Gateway to Hope: Insights into the Homeless World

Welcome to "God After Dark." In this episode, Rex Baker sits down with Gerald Snell, the overnight shelter manager for Gateway Rescue Mission, who offers us a glimpse into the diverse struggles and triumphs of the homeless population Gateway serves.

Gerald shares poignant accounts of individuals, each with unique backgrounds and challenges, from mental illness to substance abuse, emphasizing the need for compassion and understanding. He sheds light on the profound impact of Gateway's support, providing shelter, nourishment, and hope to those in need.

Tune in to hear firsthand experiences, from heart-wrenching moments to heartwarming transformations, as Gerald navigates the complexities of this vital mission. Gain insight into the complexities of homelessness and discover how faith, love, and resilience continue to light the way for those in search of hope.

Join us on this compelling journey, and together, let's find inspiration in the strength and perseverance of these individuals as they forge a path toward brighter tomorrows. Don't miss this episode of "God After Dark" - where faith shines in the darkest hours.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:12

I'm Rex Baker and welcome to God After Dark, a podcast where we share stories of how God shows up in the dark places of our lives and does a miracle. God After Dark is produced by Gateway Rescue Mission right here in Jackson Mississippi. In today's episode, we're visiting with Gerald Snell. Gerald is the manager of our overnight shelter at Gateway, so welcome, gerald.

Speaker 2 0:37

Thank you. Thank you, glad to be here.

Speaker 1 0:40

Gerald, talk us through who you see coming into our shelter at Gateway Rescue Mission.

Speaker 2 0:46

Well, the homeless population is somewhat diverse. You have old and young men, black, white, hispanic. You have those who are suffering from mental illness, substance abuse. Like I said, you just run the gamut. You even have the working poor People who don't have substance abuse or mental illness. They just can't afford housing. And so we get them all there at Gateway.

Speaker 1 1:17

And I think sometimes that's what people want. To paint the homeless with one broad stroke. That's true, they're really not.

Speaker 2 1:25

They've got all different kinds. Every different condition or scenario that a person faces can lead them into homelessness. It could be just insufficient income, it could be, like I said, mental illness and it could be torn relationships because of substance abuse.

Speaker 1 1:46

Talk about some of the primary issues that you see people presenting with when they come to the shelter.

Speaker 2 1:55

Mental illness. That seems to be the prevailing problem, whether their mental illness is caused by drug addiction or maybe their drug addiction happens because of mental illness. But mental illness, schizophrenia, borderline personalities you see all that at the shelter and our challenge is always to show them the love of Christ but maintain a peaceful, safe environment for those that are in need.

Speaker 1 2:30

Gerald, walk us through a day at the shelter from the viewpoint of Gerald Snell. You live in our shelter.

Speaker 2 2:36

Yeah, that's a challenge when you live where you work at basically on duty 24 hours a day. At any moment there's an issue to be handled From sun up to we started doing intake is we have the walk-in crowd. People always come there with a need. Some people come with a need for clothes, some people come with a need for a toiletries, some people just need a shower, and so we're constantly having to deal with that throughout the day. And what's sad is sometimes people present with needs that we just can't help, we can't fulfill.

Speaker 2 3:09

You kind of feel helpless because you know that if we can't help them, there's probably very few other people within the community that can help them. It just makes you feel helpless sometimes when you can't meet a person's need. But the flip side of that is we often can. You know, through the donations and charitable giving of other people, we're able to give a person a shower, change the clothes, change their underwear, a good warm meal, a bed to sleep in. So those are some of the rewards. But, like I said, you also have to deal with the reality that you can't help everyone.

Speaker 2 3:46

Give us a couple of personal examples, give a couple of the real in real people terms, not just aggregate, but we had a young man come to our shelter once and he was a big guy, he was really overweight, but he had sores all on his legs and on his feet. He didn't have any shoes on. The clothes he had on were real tattered. The police brought him there and brought him there to see if there was anything we could do to help him. We didn't have anybody his size so we didn't have any clothes on hand to give him. His sores were so bad and exposed that it wouldn't be safe for him to stay at our facility because we're not a medical facility. One of those situations where you just feel helpless, where the only thing you can do is give him a bath, make him wrap up in a sheet and sit in a place where we wash his clothes and then sit him on his way. It's situations like that that are sometimes heartbreaking, but that's part of life. That's part of life.

Speaker 1 5:05

I've seen people come in and I know you have because you deal with them who may be older or in some way have a disability. They can't get around, but yet they're kind of falling through the cracks, so we help them.

Speaker 2 5:21

When I say diversity. Diversity is one of the things we face here at the shelter. You have kids that are 18 and 19 years old, but you also have elderly, 73 and 75. I try to go extra mile for them because they are vulnerable because of their age and because of their physical condition, but at the same time, yeah, they fall in through the cracks. We can't be all things to all people, and so sometimes the elderly, the mentally ill, they need additional help.

Speaker 1 5:59

I've seen people come into the shelter elderly, who it's really sad because they really almost need to be in a nursing home, but they've fallen through the cracks. Even though it's someone that we might technically not be able to help, I've seen you guys help them anyway Get them in the shower, wash them off, help them change their clothes, that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 6:24

Yeah, I think as Christians, that's the least we can do. I can't help but think. But for the grace of God, there go I, and I think, just as a Christian, we're supposed to let our light shine. We're supposed to be Jesus on earth for them. We may not be able to perform miracles, but we can show people love and concern, and that's one of the brightest spots of work in there, because you always have an opportunity to make a positive impact in somebody's life.

Speaker 1 7:00

So we've got a gentleman who stays at our shelter a lot. You dealt with him this morning. Won't call his name, but talk us through this particular individual.

Speaker 2 7:12

He's one of the brotherhood. I tell his children or those that I talk to about him. He's one of the guys and we treat him like he's our brother. Unfortunately he has schizophrenia but he's just as gentle and fun-loving and funny. But it's just a case where he's got very, very, very limited family support. But he loves Gateway, he loves the fellowship that we experienced there and he's part of that.

Speaker 2 7:47

But first he wasn't, and I'm going to take the credit for that, because I had to fight against other staff people to just let him be, because he doesn't mean any harm and he'll do whatever you ask him to do. He's just schizophrenic, but right now he feels safe, he feels comfortable. We are his family and he's our brother and so it's just a joy to have him around. He's challenged. Sometimes it's hard for him to get out of bed in the morning and sometimes I have that problem too. Yeah, me too. But sometimes he talks to himself out loud in class, but he wants to be a part of that class. He tells me all the time I'm going to hit Mr Ford, I'm going to hit Pastor Sweet, so he loves going in there.

Speaker 1 8:33

You are so right, he is a friendly schizophrenic. Sometimes you think, well, schizophrenics are kind of angry and a lot of them are, but this is a very outgoing talkative schizophrenic.

Speaker 2 8:44

Very easy going. He's just suffering from mental illness and we've tried to get him to look into improving his living conditions, maybe going outside and using his income now to try to find a place to stay. He's just comfortable with us and we're comfortable with him, so as long as it's like that, there's no problem.

Speaker 1 9:08

He is one of those people. When I look at him and I see how you guys minister to him that you like. Maybe he's the reason that Gateway Rescue Mission exists because God loves him, just like he loves all the rest of us, and we know that when he is in our shelter he's got a safe place, he's got some food to eat, people to love on him a little bit. He will go to our chapel services. He'll raise his hands in praise and then talk to himself for a while.

Speaker 2 9:36

Yeah, but we're his family and we're important to him because we give him stability and safety and there's no judgmentalism. We have to get on him sometimes about showering and changing his clothes and everything, but he appreciates that.

Speaker 1 9:59

Let's switch gears here. Talk about drugs. What do you see among the people who come to our shelter, in the influence of drugs in their life, the types of drugs they're using, that sort of thing?

Hope and Challenges at Gateway Restoration

Speaker 2 10:13

Well, of course, you don't even have your chronic users of marijuana, spice, pcp, crack, crystal meth and I've been in that lifestyle and so I understand the grips that it can have on you. And you see some people that have literally thrown in the towel that you know. They just accept their addiction as a part of their life and I think they might even think the challenge is too great to try to do something different. And so you see some of the same people in the same condition. I'm going on my second year at Gateway, but they've been there since before I got there and they'll probably be there, you know, for years in the future, because drugs can have a grip on you where you don't even want to fight it anymore. You just succumb to it and it becomes a part of what you do.

Speaker 2 11:20

And I think you see a lot of people in the homeless population that have come to that point that this is just what they do. They live to get high and get high to live. And, like I said, I'm not judging them because I was in their life and I understand, but for the power of God in my life I would have probably still been there. And I think what our facility does. What Gateway does is instill hope in them. You know, even if I'm not ready to change, if I know that there is hope, that I can't change, you know, if I think the guys like going to chapel service because even in the midst of their addiction, even in the midst of their struggle, if they continue to hear a message of hope, that in itself provides hope. You don't know how many times we've had an evening chapel service where when you tell the guys, all right, six o'clock is chapel time, you met with a little oh man come on, man, we got to go to chapel.

Speaker 2 12:22

But when they come out they say, man, I needed to hear that. I had one come up to me last week and said Mr John, glade, you all made us go to chapel, man, because I needed to hear that. And I think, like you said, how God has probably established a place like Gateway for John, it's also for those other guys. They need to hear it and I think that's why a lot of them like coming to Gateway because they can leave out of their thinking optimistically about the future.

Speaker 1 12:50

So I want you to come back, gerald, another episode where you can get more into your story, because you have a fascinating story of your own life and where you've been and what you've done. But just for the record, we give a guy what and this is a men's shelter three nights a week.

Speaker 2 13:07

Well, I'm going to be honest with you. Since I'm the man overnight, this is an honest four on here, gerald. Look, when it's extremely cold or it's extremely hot, both of those situations can be detrimental and life-threatening, and so Normally we would do three days, but if it's like a heat wave we'll try to extend that, you know, because one thing we don't want to do is be so rules-regimented that we allow people to suffer out there in the heat. Like I said, the heat and the cold are extreme conditions that we can be flexible. So usually it's about three days a week and then they'll go to another facility, but under those conditions sometimes we'll just let them go, as long as they behave and understand that we have rules and we have expectations.

Speaker 1 14:01

And I've learned from you, because you know when we'd be in a meeting or something. Why are these guys getting so many days and you would remind us that if they're in our shelter they're not becoming a victim of crime, they're not perpetrating a crime, they're not out using drugs that night.

Speaker 2 14:17

See with our facility. What's so great about our facility? We'll take you in in the evening. We'll give you dinner that night, a bath, a bed. When you wake up in the morning, you've had a peaceful night's sleep. You get breakfast in the morning and then we send you on your way to the day's challenges. And with those meals, that takes stress off of it. Now I don't have to worry about how I'm going to eat in the morning, because Gateway is going to feed me. I don't have to worry about how I'm going to eat tonight, because Gateway is going to feed me. And that takes away the desperation. If a person is desperate, he'll do something in order to eat and in order to survive. But if we can do that, then we eliminate them as crime victims and crime perpetrators for that evening.

Speaker 1 15:08

Rep things up here, but I've got a couple of questions I want to ask you. Number one what frustrates you in your work with the homeless?

Speaker 2 15:17

Because you see that Jesus is the answer. If you heard my story you'd understand why I say the answer is Christ. And you can pound that message and pound that message and pound that message, but until a person is willing to surrender their lives to Christ, then they're going to be going around the same mountain year after year after year after year, and that frustrates me. It frustrates me when you see the ingratitude of those that come to your facility for help but then they're not grateful for the help they get. In fact they want to criticize you on how you're not meeting their needs, but you're not meeting your own needs, and sometimes that's a little frustrating.

Speaker 1 16:07

What makes you feel good about what you?

Speaker 2 16:10

do at Gateway Restoration. The lives change when you see we've had some guys that were in the transit ranks, that came and got in our program, that did the six months in the program, that got the psychological and spiritual help that they need, that got jobs and now are very optimistic towards the future. I like when people celebrate anniversaries of clean time. I got a year clean. That's a big accomplishment, and so those are some of the rewarding things you see around the mission.

Speaker 1 16:45

One last question, Gerald. What would you want people to know about the homeless population that they might not know?

Speaker 2 16:54

These people have lives. You know. They made a series, some of them, some made a series of bad decisions. Maybe the main decision was getting involved with a mind-moving altering substance that took over their lives. But at the heart of the matter, these are people. These are the same ones Jesus died for, and you kind of have to look at them through the eyes of the Lord, if that's at all possible, and understand that but, for the grace of God, that could be you or your loved ones. So just remember they're human and you never know what impact you can make on their lives by showing them some kindness.

Speaker 1 17:39

That's right. Been visiting with Gerald Snell here on God After Dark and I wanna close out today with a little devotional thought. I have been reading recently in the book of Job. Now, job was a good person, lived way back in antiquity, but he was also very wealthy and God allowed Satan to take away all of Job's riches, kill his children, make Job physically ill with sores all over his body. But the Bible isn't real clear on why God allowed Satan to do these terrible things to a really good person. For that matter, why is the book of Job even in the Bible? It's not a very happy book. I'm gonna speculate a little bit here.

Speaker 1 18:25

There will be times in our lives when we experience difficulties and we cannot explain why. Why did God allow something bad to happen to us when we're generally trying to live a good life? We can justify something bad happening when we've done something bad, but it's hard, maybe even impossible, to explain why God allows bad to happen when we've been generally good. Well, the Bible describes a spiritual conflict between God and Satan over Job. The Bible says Job was blameless, upright fearing God and turning away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters and thousands of sheep, camel, oxen. Job was a wealthy man and God told Satan have you considered my servant, job? He is blameless and upright fearing God and turning away from evil. Well, satan says to God you let me mess with him and he'll curse you to your face. So God lets Satan kill Job's children, kill his servants and send his enemies to steal all Job's wealth and to strike Job with boils and sores all over his body. In all of this, job questions God, but he does not curse God. At the end of the book of Job we find that because of Job's faithfulness, god restores Job, blesses him with more children and doubles his wealth, and he lives 140 more years. But here's an interesting note At the beginning of the book of Job the Bible takes us to the spiritual realm, to the throne of God, and shows the angels and Satan coming before God.

Finding Strength in Times of Trial

Speaker 1 20:15

But at the end of the story we do not get to see what happens in the spiritual realm. Because of Job's obedience, in this world we may never see the full ramifications of a Christian who keeps the faith when going through a trial. If you are a follower of God and find yourself in a trial not of your making or sometimes maybe it is of your making. But we don't get in this life to see sometimes the full impact of standing firm in our faith. When death comes to a loved one, or disease or poverty, or persecution or addiction, when you find yourself in the trial in the fire, stand firm. You don't have to like it. You can pray to God and say, why me, lord? But trust God that your obedience in a time of distress may have ramifications in the spiritual world that we don't see in this life.

Speaker 1 21:18

You've been listening to God After Dark, a production of Gateway Rescue Mission. I'm your host, rex Baker, and until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace. Thank you.