WELCOME FROM HAYWOOD STREET

UPDATES:

Thank you to our friends at 12 Bones for joining us last Sunday and preparing a delicious breakfast! We’re grateful to have such supportive community partnerships.

The Respite porch isn’t the only thing being updated at Haywood Street!

To enhance our ability to accept and manage the generous contributions from our donors and community, we are in the process of upgrading our donation software. With any new process, there is a learning curve and we ask for your patience as we go through this transition. Recurring Gift Donors – please watch your mail for a letter from us regarding updating your gift information.  We appreciate all of the support and generosity of our community.

We are grateful for you generosity and commitment to our mission. Your contributions help enable the overflowing plates of food, the comfortable home-like setting of Respite, the renovating of the new hair cutting room, and just keeping the lights on too.

Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 6th for a companion fellowship event. We will gather at Carrier Park under the pavilion from 5:00pm-7:00pm. There will be corn hole and other games, dinner provided, and fun to be had. Our hope is to celebrate all of you for the ways you commit your time here at Haywood Street.

Join Steady Collective, Sunrise, and WNCAP in a community syringe pickup at Pisgah View Apartments and the surrounding West Asheville Area. A short training and materials will be provided. More information can be found here.

We are accepting applications for the full time position of Financial and Office Administrator. Please spread the word! More information can be found here.

MINISTRIES AND RESOURCES:

Fresco viewing hours:
  • Sundays 9-1
  • Monday through Thursday 10-2
  • By appointment, contact April at april@haywoodstreet.org

 

 

Weekly ministry opportunities:
  • Sunday Bible Study – 11:00am in the sanctuary
  • Tuesday Prayer Group – 12:00 in the sanctuary – Gather for a time of communal prayer
  • Worship on Wednesdays at 12:30 in the sanctuary
  • Thursday Card Making Group – 10:00am in Room 1 (off the main lobby) – Gather together to make cards for our community and friends in prison or in the hospital.

Click here to see the list the places in the community to donate clothes and to find free clothes. If you know of a place not on this list, reach out to Melanee at melanee@haywoodstreet.org.

 

 

 

COMPANION CORNER:

  • THIS WEEK:
    • This Sunday- Katlyn will be out, but Brittany will be at the Welcome Table for all your Companion needs:)
    • Companion Care Crew- The Companion Care Crew is made up of Companions at Haywood Street Congregation who have the time, energy, and a sense of call to support Haywood Street’s ministries and Companions. Our next meeting is Monday September 19th at 5:00pm in the main dining room. We will discuss ways to care for companions and spend some time planning our upcoming Cookout.
    • New Roles! Companions Needed!: After the Downtown Welcome Table on Wednesdays and Sundays we are keeping a few tables in the main dining room open for anyone who missed the meal to come in and eat. We will be cleaning up most of the space and the kitchen but we want everyone who shows up to be served. We would like to have 2-3 companions help serve these tables from 10:30-12 on Sunday and 12-2 on Wednesday. There are places to sign up for these roles on the sign up sheet! This role will be great for anyone who prefers to work with a smaller crowd!

    COMING UP:

    • Resources for Resilience Training- An in depth training on how to care for yourself with tools designed to reset the nervous system in the face of stressors and trauma. This is such an invaluable training that you will gain practical tools to use for yourself and others in your life! We have 40 spots free of charge! The training will be November 17 & 18. Read more in the attached document!
    • Companion Cookout & Celebration! – Mark your calendars for Thursday October 6th for a companion fellowship event. We will gather at Carrier Park under the pavilion from 5:00pm-7:00pm. There will be cornhole and other games, dinner provided and fun to be had. Our hope is to celebrate all of you for the ways you commit your time here at Haywood Street.
    • Companion Orientation is this Monday, October 3rd. We will meet in the sanctuary at 5:00pm. Invite your friends or family to attend! Register here.

    SIGN UP:

    • Attached is the Companion Sign Up Sheet where you can sign up to be a companion this week. Please make sure to check the sign up sheet each week and update it based on your availability or let me know if you will not be here. This helps me plan and know if we will have the coverage we need each week.
“Mercy, not Sacrifice”
By Lead Storyteller, Melanee

“But go and learn what it means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” When Jesus says this, he refers to the prophet, Hosea. God claimed that instead of seeking to know God, the Israelites tried to appease God by offering sacrifices. So, when the religious leaders question why Jesus is hanging out with sinners, he’s saying, “If you knew God, you’d see that I have been sent to love the ones you call ‘sinners.’ This is what pleases God!”

Spending a Wednesday afternoon with the Mercy League is a reminder of the call to learn what it means, “mercy, not sacrifice.” Wayne, James, and Michelle are sometimes referred to as Haywood Street’s security. To hear and see them interact with our friends, though, is to see how profoundly inaccurate that is. The presence they have at Haywood Street is rooted in love and compassion. Rather than enforcing rules with authority or intimidation, they uphold, what Wayne calls, “the community agreement” that looks out for everyone’s well being.

“We don’t want to shame or tell anyone what they’re doing is wrong, but we know that some people are really trying to stay clean. When that person sees someone else shooting up right in front of them, that’s it. You don’t know how hard it is to stay clean for even 30 minutes unless you’ve been an addict.” Wayne said this after reminding a couple of friends to step off campus while they use. “If I thought I could stop drug dealing and addiction in the homeless community by doing this, I would have quit my job a long time ago,” he said. He’s right. The role of the Mercy League isn’t to stop addiction.

The role of the Mercy League is to build relationships firmly planted in love, letting people know Haywood Street is a safe place where their whole selves are accepted–whether struggling with addiction or trying to stay clean. The ministry is showing mercy to those who need mercy, welcoming those who need a place to belong, and offering compassion to those who need to feel seen.

In a reminder that relationship is, undoubtedly, above all else, James continued, “They don’t get mad if we ask them to leave campus. Most of the time they come back and apologize for it the next day. It’s that bond we have with our friends that makes Mercy League work.” Seeing Wayne and James joke around with a couple of people in the garden, it’s so clear. Of course it’s because of the relationship. How could it be anything else?