Clifton Sanctuary Ministries

This letter came in a package that was recently delivered to Clifton. The package contained two cans of shaving cream, a package of disposable razors, two sticks of deodorant, a box of corn flakes and a jar of raspberry jelly. There was also an index card  with a note that said; Best of luck and all of you are in our prayers. We hope these items help you and please remember to stay positive.

Signed,

The Robinsons

Corey, Tasha, Kyra, Corey, Tatiana & Snowflake

DOOR – Atlanta

  Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection (DOOR) is a faith based network of urban service-learning programs that expose, educate, challenge, and motivate participants to respond to the issues and concerns facing an increasingly urban world.  Program offerings range from a weekend to a year and include opportunities for individuals and groups.

Each Wednesday throughout this summer a different group of  volunteers through the DOOR – Atlanta program will be visiting Clifton and rolling up their sleeves to pitch in with the day to day operations and to learn more about homelessness and what they can do back in their own hometowns to make a difference.

This week Clifton hosted a youth group from First Presbyterian Church in Palaski, TN.  When our youth group volunteers arrive at Clifton the staff introduce themselves and our Volunteer Coordinator has them step back outside to begin a mock intake session to help them understand what our guests experience as they come to our Night Hospitality Program. They learn about all the different things we do at the Ministry, including Joe’s Place, Joe’s Ladder and Clifton Living. We offer them education on homelessness and sometimes they get to visit and talk to a couple of our guests and hear about their experiences.

Thank you First Presbyterian Youth Misson Group!

On  June 19th some of our guests and residents of Joe’s Place stepped up to help out one of Clifton Sanctuary’s very good friends Mary Lin Elementary School as volunteers for their annual Rocket Run 5K.  The volunteers spread out across the race course, cheered on the runners  and handed them cold bottles of drinking water as they passed. Mary Lin has helped out Clifton so much this past year with clothing drives and neighborhood support and it is always so much fun for us to participate in their events.  For more information on this amazing little school in the heart of Candler Park check out their website here; http://www.marylinelementary.com/

This past school year we went to visit the students of the gifted class at Garden Hills Elementary School in Atlanta.  They were doing a class project on homelessness and e-mailed Clifton 30 very impressive questions on the subject in an interview format.  They invited us to come and do an educational presentation. So we did, and as it turned out one of the students was from Morningside Presbyterian Church. He suggested that each home room in the school make a welcome basket for our guests who are moving to Joe’s Place or getting their own apartments through Clifton Living just like his church does. As you can see from the picture above they did a tremendous job! 

Thank you so much Garden Hills!

Recently we were visited by 20 6th and 8th grade students from Wake Forest, NC who were in Atlanta doing a Haiti simulation misson training. They slept in makeshift huts for a week in 90 degree weather and ate uncooked food from trash bags to gain a deeper empathy for what the earthquake survivors are going through in that nation.

After 5 days of intense heat and no showers they headed over to Clifton sanctuary Ministries where they volunteered for 9 hours before finally being able to retire to a motel to cool off and clean up.

Our clothing closet had backed up with donations for a few weeks so they had mounds of clothes to sort by type, condition and size. The enitre dining are of Night Hosspitality looked like a clothing factory as they set up tables and beagn building piles. Many of the clothes needed to be washed and folded so they did that too.  They swept and cleaned the downstairs, polished the stainless steel freezers and ice machines and then took a very short break as they waited for our guests to come home so they could serve them dinner alongside of our dear friends at Community Friendship.  

The group was amazing, especially considering what they had already gone through during the earlier part of the week. And they really made the clothing closet ship shape once again. Thank you Wake Forest and Thank you Community Friendship!