“I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain, you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. This is my Father’s Glory, that you bear much fruit; showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
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On June 19, 2019 CitizensJournal.us began publishing stories about Addiction Recovery in their online newspaper. In these articles I tell my story and the story of many who are homeless in their addictions. I share with you the best solution, in article #3, Nobody Knows But Me ” …. “God Did”!
<span style=font family helvetica arial sans serif>Outreach Team to the Homeless<span>
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The first paragraph of my article starts off, “Like a clown, I put on a show. The pain is real and nobody knows, I’m dying inside and Nobody Knows But Me!”
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I decided to look up the definition of the word ‘Nobody’ in the Webster Dictionary, this is what I found;
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NOBODY:
:No person: not anybody: no one
:A person of no importance or authority
:A person of no influence or consequence.
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To use the word ‘Nobody’ to mean ” no one” or refer to someone who is ‘unimportant’ or ‘insignificant’ is wrong. Every person wants to be a ‘somebody’! No matter who you are or what you have done does not make you a nobody. All of us are important. I would think that all of us have felt this way at one time or another. Feeling emotional pain, feeling like you are dying inside, that horrible overwhelming feeling that nobody can feel but yourself. In all fairness somebody has felt these feelings. Someone does know besides me, God knew!
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Bill W., one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous wrote a book called, As Bill Sees It. On page 109 he writes:
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“Freedom came to me only with my acceptance that I could turn will and my life over to the care of my “Higher Power” whom I call God! Serenity seeped into the chaos of my life when I accepted what I was going through was life and God would help me through my difficulties and much more as well since then he has helped me through all my difficulties. When I accept situations as they are, not as I wish, then I can begin to grow and have serenity and peace of mind! Amen”…
Since May 9 2019, the day I was on a panel discussing the homeless situation, and in the documentary, ‘Humanizing the Homelessness”, (on YouTube by Dan Pinedo), I have been keeping my promise to God by being on the streets doing outreach work with the homeless. Besides the articles that I have written, there have been many articles written about me. These articles not only talk about working with the homeless, but they also talk about working with Government Officials and helping the community.
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Team member Abraham Mendez, made it possible for me & city officials to go to Ormond Beach to assess & reach out to the homeless population there. Abraham is well known by the homeless community. He opens up his heart & pockets, feeding those who are hungry by the generosity of his family-owned business, Oralia’s Bakery. Oralia’s has endured break-ins at the bakery, one attempted just recently, by the same people who get fed there. As sad as it might be, Abraham still manages to forgive, turning the other cheek, making sure no person goes hungry, no person!
Abraham and I started a campaign to raise money to establish a nonprofit organization doing homeless outreach. We started a GoFundMe account to raise monies needed for the nonprofit we are starting up and help with costs associated with homeless outreach. Please take a few minutes of your time to read our story on the page called, Nobody Knows But Me-Homeless Outreach. Link: ALS: https://ahnonprofit.blogspot.com/2019/09/home.html
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Abraham and I would like to take this time to thank those who have been supporting our venture. Thank you Citizens<span style=font family helvetica arial sans serif>Jack C hes from Grand Rapids Michigan and he was by the Vons on Ventura Rd<span>
Journal, Hueneme Voice, Port Hueneme Neighborhood, Keys To Recovery, Hope Boyz/Girlz, Mission Church, Dove Ministries, the City of Oxnard Officials, (specially Mark Alvarado), and the many others who have been part of our journey- we sincerely thank and express our deepest appreciation to!
Editor’s note: The formerly homeless author of this article Lang Martinez told us he’s spent a total of about 6 years on the streets (non-contiguously) in LA and Oxnard and been in multiple recovery programs. He says he is clean now and taking one day at a time, trying to help local homeless people.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal.
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