how we got started

Our founder, Bob Hummer, wasn’t looking to start a homeless outreach or ministry the day he met Lisa flying her sign. In fact, he typically avoided looking above signs like hers to prevent making eye contact, because that’s when things get personal and most of us feel compelled to help…and that gets messy, and we don’t do messy well. But God tugged on his heart to stop and meet this woman with a sign begging for help, and unlike numerous previous times, this time he obeyed.

It was a bitterly cold morning and snow was in the forecast when Bob met Lisa flying her sign  in early December of 2014. After introducing himself, he asked what kind of help she needed. Lisa shared that she and her boyfriend Dave had been living in a tent in the woods for three years. Bob was stunned. A woman living in a tent…in Richmond? Bob was naive to the plight of several hundred neighbors experiencing homelessness in our area. While they chatted Bob gave her a pair of wool socks, hand warmers, and a bottle of water he had in his car. She told him she was flying her sign to raise money to buy gas and oil for the tiny generator that powered their small space heater and lights. Bob promised to come by again with items she mentioned needing.

Over the next few weeks, Bob visited Lisa numerous times at her corner in front of the Taco Bell where they had first met. He eventually gained her trust, and was invited to visit their camp and meet Dave. Bob brought them food and toiletries, a new pair of boots for Lisa, blankets, and even a new small generator with the help of generous friends when the old generator died; leaving them without heat with overnight temps in the teens. They slowly began introducing Bob to others living in nearby woods, their vehicles, abandoned buildings, and under tarps in alleys. Each time he visited a new camp, he did a needs analysis of their dwelling; often running to a store to buy the things they lacked that he thought would give them hope and a fighting chance at surviving the brutal winter weather…tents, sleeping bags, tarps, boots, coats, propane heaters, etc.

Right about this time, social media was saturated with videos of people dumping ice on their heads through the “Ice Bucket Challenge” to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimers research. Bob believed God was calling on him to start something similar to create Moments of Hope for our neighbors living outdoors, and that it would spread across the country as a movement. The idea was to share examples on Facebook of little items or gestures that could give someone hope on what might be their darkest day. Buying a beanie hat and stuffing it with a bottle of water, peanut butter crackers, & hand warmers, and keeping it nearby in your vehicle for that person you always see flying a sign on your way to work. Buying an extra cup of coffee at the drive-thru, and handing it to that person in the median at an intersection. Stuffing your old rain coat in your vehicle to have ready to present to its next owner standing in the rain with a soaked cardboard sign. Those are just a few of the ideas he shared on the Moments of Hope Challenge page as he solicited others to try them and report back their experiences. Over the next year, Bob visited dozens of camps and provided several dozen tents and sleeping bags, and made a lot of friends with folks I’d previously been inclined to ignore.

Bob had nothing but time on his hands when he met Lisa, due to disabling injuries suffered when he and his family were struck by another vehicle head-on at 65mph. The other driver lost control in the rain in oncoming highway traffic; crossing the median and into their path in July of 2005. The decade that followed leading up to meeting Lisa was a wilderness journey as God healed most of their injuries, and pruned and shaped Bob for something very special, though he couldn’t figure out what it was. The counselor helping him put the pieces back together said nothing from his past pointed to anything he could do as a career looking forward. His medical team convinced him he would never work again. Bob’s wife, Bonnie, said she thought he had lost his faith. He hadn’t. His faith had never been stronger, but he knew God was waiting for something within him to change before He revealed His plan that would redeem all they had suffered and endured from the wreck. Bob had no idea what that something was, he wasn’t discerning any clues from God, and until he figured it out or He revealed it…he was stuck.

In October of 2015, Moments of Hope "Challenge" had only 40 Likes after a year on Facebook promoting the idea of creating Moments of Hope for our homeless neighbors. Naively, Bob expected the page would have over 1 million Likes, because he believed this was God's work. Bob prayed to Him saying "This feels like a Bob 'thing' instead of a God 'thing'", and begged God to strip away everything that was of him, and reveal His true plan for Bob and this outreach.

A few days later, Bob received a call from her friend Amy, the occupational therapist who had treated him for over two years after he survived the TBI. She and her group of friends from Calvary Chapel of Richmond had been following the Facebook page and wanted to know if his homeless friends would like a hot home-cooked meal. What a brilliant idea!

On November 13th of 2015, Amy and her friends joined Bob to serve delicious chili and cornbread to Lisa & Dave, “Tall Steve”, Robert, Bill, Thomas, “Big Don”, “Don Juan”, Rayburn, Norman, “Stevie”, “Corn Bred”, Jacob, Curtis, and Larry. They handed out warm coats, boots, gloves and other supplies, and prayed with many of Bob's friends. As of today, Lisa & Dave, Tall Steve (R.I.P.), Robert, Bill, Thomas, Don Juan, Norman (R.I.P.), Corn Bred, Jacob and Larry (R.I.P.) are no longer living outdoors! Meanwhile, Big Don (R.I.P.), Rayburn, and Curtis remain outdoors.

That gathering led to what we now call Saturday Servings; our weekly community outreach that provides a delicious meal, canned goods & produce, toiletries, medical attention, bikes & bike repairs, clothing, fellowship, Bible study and prayer to 500-700+ struggling neighbors who join us each week. We are blessed to have numerous churches and businesses who partner to prepare and serve these vital meals to our hungry neighbors.

God’s plans for us often don’t match the ones we make for ourselves. His plans are always bigger and better in the long run. Nobody could have foreseen what God had planned for us and those we now serve. Bob is humbled beyond words by this incredible ministry He has built up around me, and the hundreds of passionate volunteers and donors, and dozens of churches and businesses He yoked with him. And by the 4,800+ who have Liked our Facebook page so far! Thank you all! The Glory is all His!

NOTHING is impossible with God!