Welcome to our March 2019 Newsletter!!!

In January 2019, we hit the ground running, starting out with our Thursday evening clinics at Journey South Bay Church and at the San Pedro United Methodist Church, completing over 200 procedures of medical, dental, optical, pharmaceutical and lab work.
Ministering to the homeless is a heartbreaking experience; these are real people with needs and feelings.  At our last clinic, an elderly lady came to speak with us.  She had been sleeping in her car, and the weather had been bitterly cold that week.  She arrived at the clinic at 6:00 AM and waited in line all day, only to find that there were no more slots to see the clinic optometrist.  Louie sat with her for over an half hour and listened to her story.  He promised her that she would be the very first person in line at the March 16th clinic.  He put his arms around her as she began to weep with gratitude, praying for her; reminding me of two things.

1.  We have to be available to listen to people.,
2.  We have to be willing to be inconvenienced.

Let me give you an example: Last Saturday, we had a long day of seeing patients.  All of us were exhausted and began the arduous process of packing up when one of our workers showed up with a homeless man he had driven from the San Fernando Valley, all the way to Long Beach.  We told him we were done and getting ready to leave.  Everything had already been packed up!  One of our compassionate and dedicated dentists, Dr. Larry Dotson, looked at the disappointment on the man’s face and knew what he had to do.  We re-opened the clinic again and Dr. Larry took care of his teeth.  This man hadn’t seen a dentist in 20 years.  The next day, this man showed up at our church with the same worker who had taken him to the clinic!