Helping ease the suffering of the homeless and offering hope
for a second chance at life.
The poor have always been with us.
Christ Church, having long recognized the need to reach out to help the poor, has responded with programs like Wake Relief and Saint Saviour’s Center. Other religious and secular communities here in Raleigh have done likewise. Yet, the poor are still with us.
It is commonly known that 80-90% of homeless people also suffer from some form of mental illness: bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse issues. The combined effects of poverty, homelessness and mental illness make it challenging to respond effectively.
Professionals agree that distrust lies at the heart of the chronic nature of homelessness. The poor often feel betrayed and abandoned by a society that promises opportunity for a decent life. Mental illness robs the poor of the promise of the healthy self: mind, body and spirit. The instincts of the poor to distrust are deepened by years of rejection. They are reluctant to ask for help and even more so, to receive it, except on their terms, which are frequently dysfunctional.
In Wake County 77,000 people live in poverty. Of those, 3,300 experience homelessness during the course of a year. Some 1,100 people, including 300 children, are homeless on any given night. In this group are 120 veterans who have no shelter, food or medicine.
Our ineffectiveness in helping the homeless places our public infrastructure under stress and risk of failure: Police and jails are overwhelmed because many homeless people have nowhere else to go for food and shelter or may engage in petty crimes in an attempt to survive. Hospital emergency rooms are inundated with homeless patients whose medical problems could have been resolved much earlier if they had received routine treatment in other, less expensive, primary care settings.
Non-profit organizations are challenged as well. News reports have documented how the new demand resulting from the increased numbers of homeless has stretched the food supplies currently available to serve the poor. Even with well-publicized food drives, the food supply remains inadequate to meet the demand.
The Clark Grew Health for Homeless Project
For the past year, the Vestry of Christ Church has been working closely with Rob and Linda Grew and a committee of dedicated volunteers to develop a new ministry to address the problem of Raleigh’s homeless men, women and children. The Clark Grew Health for Homeless Project (CGHH) has been created in memory of Rob and Linda’s son Clark, who died in a tragic automobile accident in 2009. The mission of this ministry is to reduce the suffering of the homeless and offer hope for a second chance at life.
The initial goal of the project is to fund a position for a psychiatric nurse, whose job will be to meet the homeless people where they are—on the streets, in the parks, and in the soup kitchens—and to offer them the medical and psychiatric care they need. By building trust with one individual at a time, this nurse will not only help the chronically homeless on location, but also encourage them to use the services already available to them.
Dr. James K. Hartye, who has worked with the homeless population of Raleigh for many years, describes the challenge and the benefit of developing relationships of trust with the homeless. “One patient, suffering from severe mental illness, first came to me with a mild skin condition. After three or four consultations with her about her skin condition, I finally developed enough trust with her to address her more serious needs.” The Clark Grew Health for Homeless Project seeks to follow this successful example by building the necessary trust with the homeless population and by providing them with the medical and mental health treatment that they so desperately need.
The Clark Grew Health for Homeless Project and Christ Church have partnered with the Horizon Health Center to fill critical gaps in offering treatment to the vulnerable homeless population.
Henry Clark Grew
(1985-2009)
Our first son Clark emerged after 24 hours of long and difficult labor to the exultation of all and the exclamation of the obstetrician that Clark was a “two-handed baby!” The doctor was referring to a delivery requiring him to use both hands. Placed near his exhausted mother’s face, Clark’s first act in this world was not loud or even vocal, but was a gentle expression of his bond with his mother; he licked her face.
Over time, this gentleness of Clark’s spirit, receded into the background behind his great physical size, the volume of his voice, and his tendency to be intellectually argumentative, His innocence, however, would not be denied.
Throughout his life, Clark maintained his “gift of wonder” about the world: Why are things the way they are? His wondering led him to read voraciously about history, social science and religion. He also understood the importance of delivering supplies for the Food Bank in Raleigh and traveling on Christ Church mission trips to Central America and Asheville, NC.
How does it feel to experience first hand, big, far-off places? Clark’s intellectual curiosity took him to the wilderness of Alaska, where he climbed mountains in poor weather and kayaked in bays where whales lived. He helped an impoverished local Inuit village rebuild their infrastructure.
What is it like to go too high, too low, too fast? As a teen, Clark was determined to experience the height and the speed of every roller coaster east of the Mississippi. He and his best friend even flew to Ohio to ride “the biggest and the best of them all!” For Clark, the speed, the height, the depth, and the twists and turns of the track were pure joy!
It was at Christmas when Clark’s innocence, the “gift of joy and wonder,” was most obvious. Years ago, Linda and I had decided to begin reducing the material size of the holiday. When the children were little, the pile of presents under the tree had become too large, overshadowing the significance of Christmas. By 2008, our efforts had succeeded in reducing the pile considerably. That did not stop Clark from declaring spontaneously and sincerely, just as he had on so many Christmases, “Mom, Dad, this was the best Christmas ever!”
As a little memorial, we have not touched the mark that Clark left on our ceiling with his miscalculation of the height of our tree he put up that year. This mark was the best present we received that Christmas. 2008 was the last one he spent with us. Clark was right: It was “the best Christmas ever!”
Rob & Linda Grew
The Clark Grew Health for Homeless Project and Christ Church have partnered with Horizon Health Center to take advantage of the expertise of the wider community. Horizon, an office of Wake Health Services, Inc, is located on 1001 Rock Quarry Road. This center provides healthcare for the homeless in Raleigh and Wake County. Horizon is staffed by a board-certified physician, a family nurse practitioner, a clinical addictions specialist, a registered nurse, practice manager and support staff. The CGHH Project’s Nurse Engagement position will help Horizon fill critical gaps in offering treatment and will allow the center to better reach the vulnerable population of the homeless.
Become one of Clark’s friends:
Write a check, payable to Christ Church with “Clark Grew Health for Homeless Project” or “CGHH” written in the memo line; and send to:
Christ Church
P.O. Box 25778
Raleigh, North Carolina 27611-5778
Or contribute online: