History

2012: It Started at the Vintage Hippie

I opened a jewelry, décor and resale shop at the Riverbend shopping center in 2012 and that decision led me to have a heart for sharing God’s love with the disconnected people of Waco.
Journey to the Streets took a few years to develop, but God started working on my heart right from the start.

Art for Food

When we were at Riverbend, “Jennifer*” came into the shop to see if she could sell her artwork. She said that she needed money to buy food. She told us that while she was in an apartment now, she had faced homelessness in the recent past and that she was making art to try to stay off the streets.
She would continue to come in to sell her art and we began to become friends.

I Was Blind…

It was this relationship with Jennifer that started to soften my heart and open my eyes.
By hearing her story and seeing the struggles she faced in trying to keep a roof over her head and get food to eat, I started seeing a side of life that I’d been blind to before.

2013: Hippie on the Move

We moved our shop to a new location on the corner of 17th Street and Austin Avenue in September 2013.
I immediately noticed all the foot-traffic in the downtown Waco area, and it was easy to see that many of these folks were dealing with extremely difficult circumstances.

Seeking Shelter from the Storm

People would come in off the streets to browse in the store as they were looking for a little relief from the elements and other harsh realities of living out there.
Some would ask for food or water. Others would ask if we had an odd job they could help with for a little cash.
I talked to them, instead of running them off. I asked them their names and I listened to their stories.
My heart started breaking when I learned that it is a lot harder to stay alive on the streets of Waco than I’d ever imagined.

A Common Story from the Streets

I was learning that a simple illness, lost job or other personal crisis often led to a cascade of events that turned a once “normal” life into a true struggle for basic survival.
Although it was a story about hardship and difficulties. I also got to see the lengths that people will go to while fighting to persevere through situations that would overwhelm many people.

Quick Spiral Down, Slow Struggle Up

I started realizing how tough it was for people to get out of this downward spiral of poverty once their life became completely consumed with the daily battle that was required to stay alive out on the streets.
I also saw that the obstacles to digging out of dire poverty were much harder to overcome than the swift plunge into experiencing homelessness had been.

Sadly, It’s Just Harder in Waco

Homelessness happens in every community. However, it’s only a few steps away for a higher percentage of people in our community, because Waco has almost twice the rate of poverty than the national average.

Waco’s poverty rate is 26.2 percent, where the national average is 13.6 percent.
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

Christmas with Jesus and Jennifer

I made a special trip to the shop on Christmas Eve to meet a client who forgot to pick up a gift that she needed for the holiday. After she left, a young couple I called Romeo and Juliet showed up to the store looking for food. I helped them to what we had in the store and got ready to leave.
Out in the parking lot as I was driving away, a street-weary lady walked up to me. I didn’t recognize her until she spoke. It was my old friend Jennifer! She had lost her fight to keep a roof over her head and she was living back out on the streets.
She said, “I thought you would be with your family for Christmas Eve.” I told her that I was on my way there. I couldn’t stand it when she turned to walk away. I handed her $10 and told her to get herself something for Christmas then I headed home.

…But Now I See!

I had to pull over less than a block away from the shop, because my heart was overwhelmed.
I had an encounter with God right there in my car!
That day he showed me that I needed to do more to help the people he put in my path. I was convicted to do more than offer a friendly ear and I asked God to lead me, because I would follow!

2014: God’s Ambition in the New Year

We bought an extra refrigerator to store water and soft drinks, and we set up a table in the back room at the Vintage Hippie. Then we invited our friends.

Burrito Thursday

I started making burritos and hot sauce to pass out on Thursdays and our friends would stop by for a cold drink and a place to rest during the week.
Word travels fast out on the streets and more people started coming by to visit us at the store. We also hired a lady from the streets to help us do routine housekeeping at the shop.
God gave me the opportunity to build stronger relationships with the people who came to Vintage Hippie as I continued to show him my desire to feed his sheep.

Finding a Team

I felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of needs that I saw every day and I prayed to find an opportunity to help in a bigger way.
Pretty soon we were approached at the store by a group that was starting a walking street ministry on Saturdays. They needed sponsors to make bagged lunches for the outreach and we joined the team!
Together with Harvest Time Revival, U-Matter Ministries and some other like-minded groups, we rotated making lunches for the new ministry each week.

Bagged Lunches

Vintage Hippie started collecting food donations to make bagged lunches, which included two sandwiches, a bag of chips, bottle of water, a fruit or fruit cup and a package of cookies.
At first, we made the lunches at Vintage Hippie, but we later gathered at Empowerment House to make 150 sack lunches for the new street ministry.
In these early days, I didn’t go out on the streets because I was running the store. But God’s work is always progressing!

A “Journey to the Streets”

We closed Vintage Hippie in the summer of 2015 and Journey to the Streets was born out of those ashes.
Without the store, I could go out on the streets and serve with the street ministry on Saturday.
I sponsored different weekends through the years, but we’ve finally settled on the third weekend of the month.
During this time, I met members of Road Riders for Jesus and they joined the street ministry by giving food and coming out with us to minister on the streets.
I talked to my church, Journey near China Spring, about linking my weekend of the ministry with the church—and we became “Journey to the Streets.”

Today on the Streets

We make and deliver 150 bagged lunches on the third weekend of the month (see upcoming dates).
Gathering at Journey on Friday, we usually have a good-sized group show up to help make 300 ham-and-cheese sandwiches and assemble the lunches. The church supports us by kindly including JTTS in their online giving options. They also let us keep a refrigerator and some supplies in their building.
Saturday outreach changes as the streets change. New stops are added while others drop away.

Letting the Spirit Lead

I like to let people serve with us where their heart leads them to serve.
For example, we have a lady who makes homemade cookies to share as she gives an encouraging smile, another person makes a prayer guide each month to share with our friends, while others listen to people and offer prayer and Biblical hope.

Volunteer passing out homemade cookies on the streets in 2021.

Miracles on the Streets: He’s Still Multiplying Loaves and Fishes!

I’ve never seen miracles until I was out on the streets. Now we see them every month!

Here’s some beautiful examples:

Reuniting Families

We met “Susan” the day she’d been released from a local hospital. She didn’t have a place to go, and she told someone on the streets that she was hungry. They pointed her to us, and she stayed with me through our routes.

She asked if I could take her to the police station to get her ID. As we we’re standing at the desk, her brother called the police station to report that she was missing.

Within minutes there were four people from her family at the station to get her! PRAISE THE LORD!

Coincidence? No way! What a mighty God we serve, walking before us and behind us and sending His angels to be with us!

Suit for a Job Interview

Someone donated a nice business suit to JTTS, but I thought we’d never use it. Most people on the streets ask for clean socks or t-shirts—we’d never had anyone ask about a suit, but I put it in my car with the rest of our supplies.

Little did I know that God had a special plan for that suit.

Just a few days after the suit was donated, we had a man at one of our stops who told us that he needed a suit for an upcoming job interview. I rushed to my car to retrieve the suit and we discovered that it was exactly his size!

God knew of the need, and he used our willing hearts to be his hands and feet that day.

Gift of Sight

One of our volunteers with Road Riders for Jesus gave me a bag full of reading glasses in a variety of magnifications. His wife had been given the glasses by their church as a joke, because she kept forgetting her glasses during their Bible study.

When he handed me the bag of glasses, my first thought was, “What will I do with these?” People on the streets weren’t asking me for glasses. I expected to eventually donate them to another charity where they could be used.

But that very same day, we met a man pushing a cart at one of our stops. He stood at a distance at first and wouldn’t come over to get a lunch. We encouraged him to come close, but he said, “I stink. I’ve been diving in dumpsters and y’all don’t want me around.”

We told him we welcomed him just like he was! We convinced him to take one of the bagged lunches and we also gave him a few other supplies. He started walking away, then he turned back to us and asked, “You don’t happen to have any reading glasses do you?”

My heart leaped at his request! We didn’t just have a pair of reading glasses—we had a whole bag full of glasses in every magnification. Our new friend had his pick and found a pair of glasses that were perfect for him.

I did a praise dance right there on the streets!

Come and See for Yourself!

These stories are just a few of the many miracles we get to witness with JTTS.

God is working out great things and we’re humbled and honored to be a small part of his wonderful kingdom plan!

Come join us on the streets and be his hands and feet!

Hope to see you soon,
Phyllis Shows

_{*names in this story have been changed to protect privacy.}