Blood and Fire
Homeless Series Part 3 of 5 - The Volunteers
A. Charnock, G. Harlin
Issue date: 4/18/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
About a fifteen-minute walk from downtown, along dirty streets flanked by abandoned buildings, there stands a house with a white picket fence in a neighborhood that used to be nice. Here on Park Row, just a couple blocks from Interstate 75 near the Fair Park area, is the Compassion House. It is the headquarters of the Dallas Blood N' Fire ministries run by Mark and Zoe Shepherd, a community-based organization that ministers to those living on the streets. The house is specifically for at risk or troubled women who have no home or are escaping drugs and prostitution.
We met Autry out front of the Union Gospel Mission where we had been talking to a couple of homeless men about where to find some local shelters. Autry, himself homeless, said he was on his way over to Miss Zoe's place for a barbeque and wouldn't mind taking us with him. We entered the dilapidated neighborhood and noticed the Compassion House immediately. It was the only residence on the street with a fresh coat of paint. We walked up the driveway as a car pulled in, and out stepped the lady we were looking for. She went into the house and returned with a bagel, chips, and glass of water for Autry. We introduced ourselves and were invited back for the barbeque, which wasn't until the next weekend.
The barbeque was on a windy, sunny Saturday. Volunteers from the Blood N' Fire church arrived early to set up a tarpaulin under which was served chicken, beans, and lemonade. A huge barbeque grill on the back of a pickup truck drove in, already smoking. While the food cooked and the tables were set out, two men started playing praise and worship songs with a guitar and microphone. A line began to form in the yard. There were men and women, black and white, attracted by the free food and the chance to relax with their friends from the streets. As soon as the food was laid out on the plates it was taken by grateful hands to the chairs and tables set on the grass next to the house. Autry was there again, as well as a few others that we knew or had seen before. The music continued, chicken smoked in the grill, and food and fellowship was shared like it was any other neighborhood barbeque.
We met Autry out front of the Union Gospel Mission where we had been talking to a couple of homeless men about where to find some local shelters. Autry, himself homeless, said he was on his way over to Miss Zoe's place for a barbeque and wouldn't mind taking us with him. We entered the dilapidated neighborhood and noticed the Compassion House immediately. It was the only residence on the street with a fresh coat of paint. We walked up the driveway as a car pulled in, and out stepped the lady we were looking for. She went into the house and returned with a bagel, chips, and glass of water for Autry. We introduced ourselves and were invited back for the barbeque, which wasn't until the next weekend.
The barbeque was on a windy, sunny Saturday. Volunteers from the Blood N' Fire church arrived early to set up a tarpaulin under which was served chicken, beans, and lemonade. A huge barbeque grill on the back of a pickup truck drove in, already smoking. While the food cooked and the tables were set out, two men started playing praise and worship songs with a guitar and microphone. A line began to form in the yard. There were men and women, black and white, attracted by the free food and the chance to relax with their friends from the streets. As soon as the food was laid out on the plates it was taken by grateful hands to the chairs and tables set on the grass next to the house. Autry was there again, as well as a few others that we knew or had seen before. The music continued, chicken smoked in the grill, and food and fellowship was shared like it was any other neighborhood barbeque.
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