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Wherever You Live in Albuquerque, You Can Too!
ABQ FaithWorks is now so widely recognized in Albuquerque for our amazing Housing and Homelessness Program that the Mayor put $20,000 for ABQ FaithWorks in the proposed budget sent to the City Council for fiscal year 2023! But it’s not a slam-dunk that the budget will be passed as proposed.
Here’s how you can help NOW! During April and May when the Council is debating the budget for fiscal year 2023 starting July 1:
1. Go to this page and find your City Councilor: https://www.cabq.gov/council/find-your-councilor. He or she WANTS to hear from you! Knowing how the faith community feels about issues is important for elected officials, especially those who want to get re-elected. Clicking on their page gives you many ways to contact them – find a way that works for you!
2. Tell them why they should listen to you:
a. You are not only one of their constituents, but
b. You are part of and support ABQ FaithWorks, a collaborative of many faith communities (lots of good citizens) of different denominations working together to support marginalized populations – including the unhoused.
3. Tell them why ABQ FaithWorks is worth City support:
a. We work hard to leverage shared resources, setting the standard for a collaborative community response to marginalized and at-risk populations in our community.
b. We handle referrals from United Way’s 211 service and the Albuquerque Public Schools
c. We collaborate with UNM Hospital to assist people find Pathways to self-sufficiency
d. We support our member congregations with the unhoused who come to their doors
e. We assist migrants resident in Albuquerque to navigate our community, stay housed and fed, get to appointments with ICE, doctors, immigration attorneys
f. We collaborate with other NGOs like Lutheran Family Services, Catholic Charities, and many agencies for supporting resident migrants and the unhoused.
4. Tell them to support the budgeted allocation of $20,000 to ABQ FaithWorks!
Any Questions? Call the FaithWorks Office at 505 457 1728 for answers, and then call your Councilor!
Support ABQ FaithWorks and live your values! Click here to make a monetary donation online now, and touch lives right here in our city. Volunteer opportunities are also available.
ABQ FaithWorks Mission Statement:
"All people are safely housed and integrated into healthy communities." (of their choice)
Editor’s Note: As ABQ FaithWorks strengthens its Help at the Door capacity at member churches, here’s one congregation’s experience building community with its unhoused neighbors.
By Sara Keeney, Albuquerque Friends Meeting (Quaker)
“I am an independent woman who lives in a tent, not by choice, but due to having lost my apartment. I cannot walk and am in a wheelchair. I am thankful for the individuals from the Quaker Meeting House who smile and are warm, fighting for individuals like myself that are homeless, giving without expecting something in return. I am blessed by the individuals who came with their precious, purest, golden hearts, showing perfect kindness to get me out of the winter storm, and then have kept helping me to get stable housing and health care. I feel like I have been touched by angels. You are a blessing.”
Some of us call it a Step Ministry since our Meeting House is on a well-used path for unhoused neighbors through downtown, and many stop there daily. Our Albuquerque Friends Meeting (Quaker) has provided an electric outlet and water spigot as an on-going ministry over the years, and with recent increased need since 2020, it has grown in scope and energy.
Most daytimes when you walk up to our door, there may be someone on the entry porch already, using the outlet for charging a phone. Depending on your purpose your first words may be--"Hey, how's it going? How soon can I have a turn charging?" or "Hey, how's it going? My name is ___, Are you doing OK?"
A friendly, person-to-person greeting often leads to deeper conversation, to providing snacks or a needed blanket or jacket. Some of the regular unhoused neighbors have gotten to know our team members well and they tell us they help out by sweeping the steps, collecting trash, or by reminding each other that we can't have overnight camping on the property.
A small but energetic team coordinates what we can and can't offer and arranges at least one in person visit to the meeting house daily at a regular time. In listening to the requests people made on the doorstep, we decided this winter to establish a Go Fund Me account to raise funds to house a few vulnerable people in hotels during the worst cold and wet weather. Thanks to generous community support we were able to do that for two individuals for a cumulative total of 19 winter nights --but we also found that many asked for help that would keep them going longer. They said tents and sleeping bags were their most important needs. With many in-kind donations and Go-Fund-Me gifts we were able to provide at least 50 tents, 40 sleeping bags and countless jackets, blankets, gloves, socks and shoes for people who came to the door. We also shared resources regularly with grass roots community groups who do street outreach all year long.
The people we meet on our doorstep show great strength, creativity and resilience, along with heart-breaking personal challenges, as they survive on the street. Trust-building is a slow and intentional process for all. We have been able to accompany several on the barrier-laden process of accessing services and have learned how defeating that can feel. How can one print a form from phone internet access? How can one receive a call back from an agency when a personal phone can be stolen or run out of charge at any time? We are learning and are continually amazed at the ingenuity and persistence these neighbors show. We are learning how we can best provide person-to-person support, recognizing that of God within each of us.
Support ABQ FaithWorks and live your values! Click here to make a monetary donation online now, and touch lives right here in our city. Volunteer opportunities are also available.
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