My friend organizes annual trips to The St. Francis Inn in the Kensington area of Philadelphia for a weekend of service (and perspective). Her daughter served there for a year, and fell in love with the mission and the community. That love has attracted people like me to step out of our comfort zones and give to those in need.

The mission of the Inn is to minister to the poor and homeless by living simply among them while providing food, clothing and hospitality to restore hope in their lives, and break the cycle of homelessness and poverty.

To get a better sense of the Kensington area and challenges the guests of the Inn are facing read Trapped by the WalMart of Heroin, published in the New York Times Magazine in October of 2018.

Here are some pictures of the guests of the inn. I am glad I got to meet them.

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? - Matthew 6:26