{"id":1626,"date":"2007-07-25T07:52:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-25T07:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-deacon-takes-care-of-those-who-fall-between-the-cracks.html"},"modified":"2007-07-25T07:52:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-25T07:52:00","slug":"a-deacon-takes-care-of-those-who-fall-between-the-cracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-deacon-takes-care-of-those-who-fall-between-the-cracks.html","title":{"rendered":"A deacon “takes care of those who fall between the cracks”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> A cornerstone of the deacon’s work is the ministry of charity. This column<\/a> from a Northern New Jersey paper, the Bergen Record, drove that point home, describing efforts to build a homeless shelter, and a memorial service for homeless men and women who have died on the streets:<\/p>\n

Over the weekend the nine Faith Foundation regulars who died in the past year were remembered in a brief but moving ceremony held along the Hackensack River walkway, not too far from where the crane points heavenward on the site of the long-delayed county homeless shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe affirm that despite all the tragedy bound up with living, it is good to be alive,\u201d said Faith Foundation volunteer Roz Altman of Maywood\u2019s Beth Israel congregation, reading from the introduction of the Hebrew prayer for the dead. \u201cWe understand that there can be no love without loss, no joy without sorrow, and we have the courage to accept all of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The names of 65 homeless people who have died in and around Hackensack were read during the ceremony. Ray Chimileski, a Catholic deacon from Morris County, came to Hackensack to be part of the ceremony. \u201cIt is incumbent upon us to be there to relieve some of the suffering,\u201d he said. His own volunteer project, Operation Chillout, got started after he estimated that 800 homeless around the state were veterans of the Vietnam War and more recent military conflicts. \u201cThose of us who are fortunate enough not to be homeless have that responsibility,\u201d Chimileski said. \u201cThere\u2019s something wrong with the picture when the most affluent country in the world can\u2019t take care of all of those who fall between the cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Family members, along with occasional volunteers like Donna West, were among the 50 attendees paying tribute. Working out of Hackensack\u2019s Mount Olive Baptist Church, West and a group of women get together at least once a month to deliver sandwiches to Reilly\u2019s outreach shelter. Their \u201cYou Don\u2019t Know My Name\u201d mini-ministry scheduled a towel drive to collect toiletries for the homeless men and women.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jesus’s words should haunt us all: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A cornerstone of the deacon’s work is the ministry of charity. This column from a Northern New Jersey paper, the Bergen Record, drove that point home, describing efforts to build a homeless shelter, and a memorial service for homeless men and women who have died on the streets: Over the weekend the nine Faith Foundation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA deacon "takes care of those who fall between the cracks" - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-deacon-takes-care-of-those-who-fall-between-the-cracks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A deacon "takes care of those who fall between the cracks" - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A cornerstone of the deacon’s work is the ministry of charity. This column from a Northern New Jersey paper, the Bergen Record, drove that point home, describing efforts to build a homeless shelter, and a memorial service for homeless men and women who have died on the streets: Over the weekend the nine Faith Foundation…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-deacon-takes-care-of-those-who-fall-between-the-cracks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-07-25T07:52:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/Rqc8mlGldRI\/AAAAAAAAAXo\/GqvRKPTg5UM\/s320\/Homeless+cuddling+dog+by+Kirsten+Bole+100+dpi.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"deacon greg kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A deacon \"takes care of those who fall between the cracks\" - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/07\/a-deacon-takes-care-of-those-who-fall-between-the-cracks.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A deacon \"takes care of those who fall between the cracks\" - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"A cornerstone of the deacon’s work is the ministry of charity. 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