New building Reports — Joe's Addiction

We are stepping out with excitement and faith on this adventure of love.

So much has happened. It has taken a lot longer than we dreamed and yet here we are nearing completion finally! We have been delayed by everything imaginable yet still the dreams of God are becoming reality. The inside is is taking shape and the big hurdle of the outside parking lot, sidewalk and all that, which required a doubling of our first budget, is nearing completion. It is a difficult thing to walk by faith when you have no visible or “countable” way of making it happen. We have been plagued with the silly joy of hope to the despairing darkness of death. But through it all, Jamie Zumwalt has kept her eye on the dream.

The “Barn” we are renting and fixing up,

Inside is large and open full of potential.

The back of the barn. We will glass in the large door and have so much space outside for activities and concerts!

This area will be the future coffee bar and front door.

The stage will be in the northwest corner where the file cabinets currently are.

Our new facilities are right across the street from our current location.

Sept/27-29/2018 : The whole community was out in force helping move out of the Free Store and Kitchen Table spaces. We are keeping the coffee shop space open till we can move into our new facility! If anyone has a shed they want to donate, we could use some extra storage space!

Oct/2/2018 : We have received a wonderful donation of $10,000 to get us started on the project! Today the general contractors are snapping lines on the floor to get going on the first phase of framing!

10/06/2018 : Building has begun on the interior! In one day so much has been accomplished. the large meeting room/coffee shop is being framed!

8/20/2018: the Bar is being built! It will be a beautiful new addition where regulars can now sit down and chat with the barista!

Oct 27, 2018: a week of great strides. As money comes in we do more! We insulated the ceiling, surrounded the walls with the base wall support and put windows in the front door and classrooms and Kevin is putting to gather the bar top made of beautiful Black Walnut!

10/29/2018 : The front windows are in! It was a giant task of taking down the metal framing and cutting the windows in, but now our baristas will be able to look outside and enjoy the trees as well as keep an eye on all the “activity.”

10/31/2018 : Kevin is putting together a beautiful bar top! Other projects are coming along, soon it will be time for electrical and plumbing!

June/05/2019: With the new donations received, our building crew has worked nonstop this week to put up the interior walls. We can see the classroom, laundry, kitchen and free store taking shape!

Donate to the building project

Featured

no-matter-what kind of love

Emotional up and downswings caused by relational conflicts or life disappointments are magnified by the struggles of living outside in the sweaty heat, freezing cold, or soaking rain. Add mental illness and addiction and the fight to hold on to hope is desperate. Finding joy is a treasure.

Baked Potatoes Under the Overpass

From day to day, I never know who will show up or how many. Some days it’s a dozen. Other days 25 people gather to eat and connect. We check in on each other, notice who we haven’t seen in a few days, offer encouragement, and eat yummy food.

My Racism

When the protests began, I knew I needed to listen, to read books on racism, to watch movies and documentaries, to hear the lived stories of black people and to sit with the awareness of racism and try to pay attention to where it is—not just in our society and in our systems, but in me.

Tuna Salad with Mandarin Oranges

One of our young #lovegang guys loudly complained, “Fruit in meat. That’s just not right. I don’t do fruit in meat.” I asked him if he had tried it before. He said, “I don’t need to try it. I know fruit don’t go in meat. My mom always made tuna salad . . .” and he went on to loudly proclaim what things belong in tuna salad.

It's Not Right : mental health and the homeless

As Brandon eats his chicken noodle soup, we put a hat on his head. Someone hands him a pair of those warm socks, and the new guy wraps a warm blanket around his shoulders. Snot drips from Brandon’s long nose.

Chuck Comes Home

(Excerpt from Beloved Chaos. “Chuck” died in his sleep on the back porch of Joe’s Addiction on May 24th, 2019. He died at home.)

Angry much?

The difference between this young man’s life and Drew Barrymore's in “50 First Dates,” is he has no supportive family to lovingly help him through each day. His father died years ago. His mother is an addict, who is suffering a long, slow, terminal illness.

How Love Does

A couple of minutes later, a Love Gang guy came to me and said, “I’m going out there. She just looked through the window with that ‘Rescue me’ look in her eye.”

Judgment is Blind

They told him to load the dirty dishes into the dishwasher and to empty them when they finished washing. Chuck is a bit OCD, and it bothered him that sometimes dishes came out with cooked-on-crusties.

We Have To Do Better

He pulled up his sleeve and extended his arm toward me. Tracks marked the inside of his arm. He pulled up the other sleeve and swiped his fingers over the red places.