Joseph's House

Hope for the Homeless Youth of Guilford County

2011 Holiday Letter

Dec 29

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Dear Friends of Joseph’s House,

This year, as we write our holiday letter, we want to introduce you to Alphonza. We are using his photo and his personal story with his permission, in order to let you know why we are so committed to the mission of Joseph’s House, which is to improve the lives of homeless young adult males in our community.

Alphonza, who recently turned 24, came to Joseph’s House in July. He was homeless and needed a fresh start after spending two years in prison. As he would tell you, he was a first rate drug dealer until he was falsely arrested for murder and put into jail. Alphonza’s amazing story weaves through a series of painful events, and when he was about to give up all hope, he was miraculously released from jail.

“Starting over would have been impossible without Joseph’s House. I was welcomed there and right away I felt accepted. With a home and my new Joseph’s House family, my faith in God began to strengthen,” says Alphonza with a smile. “Taking classes, I am learning to be an entrepreneur. When I have extra time, I go with Ms. Nancy to churches and organizations to tell my story. My greatest desire right now is to “give back” to Joseph’s House.”

There are six young men currently living at Joseph’s House in addition to Alphonza. These young men are as dedicated as any we have ever served, which is over 250. As we wonder each week how we can manage to keep the doors open in tough economic times, these “sons” constantly let us know that they are willing to make necessary sacrifices like doing extra chores, welcoming visitors into the house, and speaking to groups in the community about ways to support our programs.

As we send these greetings, we urge you to visit our website (www.josephshouse.net) to learn more about our organization and the young men we serve. We also encourage you to browse the rest of our new blog where we feature stories written by young men whose lives have changed after living at Joseph’s House. These young men are real people…with the deck stacked against them in a very difficult world. Yet they are getting their lives together, going to school and work, and preparing for an independent life after Joseph’s House.

Knowing about Alphonza, Ziggy, and Terrence may inspire you to want to help. Please take a moment to send a gift to us securely through PayPal by clicking here or make your payment online at the website mentioned above. Each gift is precious to us, and will be spent with care.

Thanks for your continued support.  And we send our best to you and yours this holiday season!

 

Sincerely Yours,

Rev. Nancy McLean, Executive Director

Who is Responsible for My Life?

Dec 9

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By: Terrence, Joseph’s House Resident

I have had a hard life. My uncle was murdered right in front of me when I was just 17.   He was the man, the ICON in my family that everyone leaned on. His death changed my life. I was born into this life of poverty to a single parent mother who has struggled to help me and my siblings all of her life, but it never seemed to be enough.  I’m very grateful that God has been with me every step every day, otherwise I never would have made it this far.

I sometimes try and think who is responsible for my life. What I have learned over time is that my hard life is no one’s fault, stuff just happens. I thank God for the wisdom he has granted me at my age. The same wisdom that saved my life and the same wisdom that kept me straight when my uncle was murdered.  That very wisdom that made me realize that my life is not impossible and I have opportunities but they are just a little harder to find.  Having this wisdom meant I would have a normal personality.  For example, I turned 18 this year and if you haven’t noticed yet I seem to act on a higher level of maturity than kids my own age. Why, because I never really had much of a child hood.  I grew up around drug dealers, drug users, and thugs. Most people would have just fallen in with the crowd…but instead God had a different plan for me that brought me from South Carolina to Greensboro. Once here I was lead to a God given organization called the Joseph’s House. 

The Turning Point- I was able to accomplish more in the first month of being here at Joseph’s House than I have been able to do in a lifetime, or so it seems. Things I have been trying to do but did not know how, such as obtaining identification, my birth certificate and transcripts seem to have fallen into place.  I was finally in a position to enroll back in school so I could finish my high school education. My life challenges forced me to drop out in the ninth grade. Just think, Terrance, the kid nobody thought would succeed is now a student at GTCC.

I had an address and ID which enabled me to finally look for work. I came across this job ad that Best Buy was hiring.  I loved working with electronics and had a God given talent at selling things so I applied.  The application was so long I gave up and began searching for other jobs on the internet. After I was done searching I noticed the link to the Best Buy application was still there and something just told me go ahead and just finish it.  Of all the people who applied for this job, I was one of the few who got the job. Now, I am an employee of Best Buy and feel real good about my life.

My life will never be the same – Living at Joseph’s House has helped to reconnect me with God. I have always believed in God, but did not always have an opportunity to go to church or read a bible like I wanted to.  Now I have the opportunity to go to church every Sunday that I am not working and I have my own bible.  I want to thank God for blessing me with the opportunity I’ve been given. Where most people have one mother and one father, God has allowed me to have 4 mother figures and 3 father figures in my life, people who really care about me and want to see me succeed.

I have come to really enjoy church.  One night on the way home from school I had this strange feeling.  A feeling I had never felt before and out of nowhere I began to smile.  I had no idea why I was smiling and then I began to feel really happy.  The feeling was so great, it felt better than happy. I couldn’t call it happy.  I felt so great, but what for?  Nothing special happened that day so where was this feeling coming from?  When I got back home, Joseph’s House, I described the feeling to one of the Joseph’s House staff and he told me that feeling was joy. He said God had put joy in my heart.  It was strange because I thought I had felt joy before because I’ve been happy before but this feeling was God given. No matter where my life takes me, I never want to lose my joy.

So to answer my own question, “who is responsible for my life”, the answer is me. I had no control over how my life began, or where I grew up at, but I can control what happens to me from now on.  Here at Joseph’s House the staff stresses the importance of making good and wise choices.  My life is in my hands and I hold to keys to my success by the choices I make and the opportunities I take.

Click the “Donate” button below to make a financial contribution.  Don’t have a PayPal account?  Creating one is quick and easy!

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The Motive Behind the Mission

Dec 9

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By: Rev. Nancy Mclean, Executive Director of Joseph’s House

A frequent question people ask me is why I started Joseph’s House.  There are many ways I could answer this question but I will keep it simple. Take a moment and look at the people in the above picture, especially the young man.  These two people represent my life’s work, that of parenting my children and helping them to become the best they can possibly be. This is not an easy feat, as I will share in telling a little of my story.

The young man in this picture is my one and only son whom we call Sonny.   We also have three adult daughters.  He is accompanied in this picture by one of my eight grandchildren.  Sonny’s life changed when he was 14.  Like so many young people searching for their purpose in life, Sonny started losing interest in sports, family and routine things he once enjoyed. We soon learned that this change in behavior was due to his experimenting with drugs and alcohol. This change in behavior continued until he turned 16 and began having minor brushes with the law. My husband and I did all we knew to do to help turn our sons life around, but we soon learned that we were battling with forces far greater than any we had ever known.  We were fighting for our son’s very life against the demons of rebellion, drug addictions and self-destruction. Our struggle   continued for another 14 years as our son went in and out of prison and drug addiction.  There is a bible verse in the book of Job where he states “the thing I feared most has come upon me” that I can personally relate to.  My greatest fear was that of seeing my son go to prison.  But in 2001 he went to prison for two years. Again in 2005, I watched him get out of my car and go in to see his probation officer to serve a six year prison term.  This was one of the darkest days of my life and I literally felt the world caving in on me.  I did what most people do when life overwhelms them; I didn’t take to the bottle, but I crawled into my bed and cried.

After spending several days in bed I became calm enough to cry out to God and hear his still small voice gently say, “How long are you going to lay here and cry, get up out of that bed and do something about this”?

It was not long before I found myself crawling out of bed and seriously seeking the face of God to see what it was He wanted me to do. In seeking God, I found my life’s purpose.

I had begun some research in 2003 about homeless high school students and was intrigued by the fact that most people were not aware of the problem.  God lead me back to this research after my son went to prison and began to so show me how everything I went through with my son had divine purpose, even though it was a very unpleasant experience. My research revealed a gap in services for homeless young men in our community who were between the age of 18 and 20. Literally, there were no services for this population in Guilford County. I soon began to share with others the information I discovered and started inquiring about how we could bring services to our community to help homeless young men. My heart’s desire was that no other mother would have to feel the pain I felt and that on other son would have to experience life to the same magnitude that my son had.  I learned that anytime you take a problem such as this one to God, He will use you be a part of the solution and that is what He did in this case.  He gave me a passion for hurting families especially mothers and sons and the vision for Joseph’s House.  I incorporated Joseph’s House in 2004, opened it up in my home in 2005, and we have been in full operation since 2006.

All of my children are grown today and contribute in some way to the ministry of Joseph’s House.  My son is out of prison and helps out at Joseph’s House by sharing his life experiences with the young men and by helping guide them to making better choices than he made. God has shown me through this experience the truth behind Romans 8:28 where He promised to work all things out for our good.  Whenever my son’s spirit is down I remind him of the good that God has brought out of his life story.  Because he was a drug addict he better understands what the young men at Joseph’s House are going through as they manage their drug addiction; because he has been in prison he can relate to the young men at Joseph’s House who are facing prison terms and encourage them; and because he came home to a supportive family who loves him, he can offer hope to the young men who are separated from their family members.

The motive behind the mission of Joseph’s House is to freely use my life testimony and that of my sons to improve the lives of homeless young people in our community in order to make our community a better place in which to live.  When I see young people, I see our future and in that, I see hope. My son’s life is not over, it is just beginning, and so are the lives of the young men who come through the doors of Joseph’s House.

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Ziggy’s Story

Dec 9

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A few weeks ago Ziggy, a resident of Joseph’s House, found the stray puppy he is holding in the picture below. Ziggy was walking down the street and the dog insisted on following him even after he tried to return her to the rest of the litter several times. Ziggy named her Oreo and found a temporary home for the puppy. He looks forward to the time when he can take care of the puppy himself.

Ziggy does not currently have many tangible things to offer the puppy, but despite his hardships it is miraculous that he has developed a special place in his heart for those in need. Through living at Joseph’s House Ziggy has learned the value of having a home.

Joseph’s House is having a fundraising campaign called the Gift of a Home. We are partnering with churches and civic organizations in the area and asking them to collect a donation for Joseph’s House between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If your church or organization  has a special place in it’s heart for young men in our community without a home like Ziggy does for Oreo please consider partnering with us during this campaign.  Individual contributions are also welcome. Contact Rev. Nancy McLean at nancy@josephshouse.net

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