Hope Street is The Greenhouse for People on 26th and Capitol. We provide housing and community to empower broken men, women, and children to cultivate a relationship with Jesus, themselves, and others to restore hope that flourishing is possible for us all.
Lenny
Lenny was out rippin’ and runnin’ the streets and he finally scored a rock. Now all he needed was a shelter to get out of the wind and sleet to light his pipe and take a hard pull to inhale the smoke of crack cocaine down deep in his lungs. The feeling he got the first time he smoked crack had never returned, but the devil doesn’t make fair deals, just deadly ones. There it was; a little covered porch on 26th and Capitol. As he ran over and desperately tried to light the pipe Lenny wondered, what was this place anyway? Who cares man I gotta light this pipe and the wind seems to be blowing harder in here than on the street.
About three years later the second or third time Lenny was coming into the building he now lived in he stopped and looked at the covered porch. A chill went down his spine because he remembered being here on a cold windy night trying to smoke some crack. He felt God tell him right then as he stood in our portico that He saved him from that nightmare and Lenny was so thankful he wept. As the tears rolled down his face, Lenny began to wonder what he would have to do to keep out of trouble and NEVER fall back into his addiction. He began to learn the answer to that question and more in the classes he attended here at Hope Street as well as conversations with me and the rest of our staff.
Lenny has been baptized at his church which he regularly attends here in the neighborhood, is a part time employee of Hope Street doing cleaning and light maintenance, and always willing to volunteer to help out with anything that needs done. This is his home and he is a great influence. Lenny has been here 17 months and has been transformed from a barely surviving selfish soul to a flourishing faithful friend of all. It is Jesus, who is restoring him, make no mistake about that, but it was here, under our portico where the conversation first took place, and YOU and your support are what helps us keep the portico (and the rest of The Greenhouse for People) available for men and women like Lenny who want to hear from God.