Over 2000 years ago, a young woman found herself pregnant in a less than ideal circumstance. She was young and didn’t have the knowledge or resources to raise a baby. As she approached childbirth, she didn’t have the best support system or a stable place to live. The first few places that she reached out…
Driving around Phoenix the other day, “I’ll be home for Christmas” came on the radio. I began humming and soon was singing the song. Sure enough, when the line, “I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams,” was drawled out by Bing or Frank or whichever crooner sings that song, I burst into…
In my past year and a half at Maggie’s Place, more often than not, people who hear what I am doing, remark with a “Wow, that must be so rewarding!” response to my story. Unfortunately, though, most of us MissionCorps do not go to bed at night with this on our mind. Either we are…
At Maggie’s Place, we have four core values that we strive to live by as MissionCorps and staff: love, hospitality, community, and excellence. Within the pillar of hospitality, we strive to welcome every mom, baby, donor, volunteer and anyone else who is a guest in our home with dignity and love. Each individual offers us…
This week marks four months since I decided to apply to Maggie’s Place, three months since my interview, and two months since I moved into The Zechariah House. Overall, my journey after graduating from college and moving onto Maggie’s Place happened very quickly–almost in a whirlwind. I’ve barely had time to stop and process everything…
“To love another person is to see the face of God.” That is a famous quote from Victor Hugo’s novel, Les Misérables. If you’ve ever seen the play or watched the musical, I hope you sang those words in your head (as I often do!) when you read them. I ask you now to say…
I was recently driving back from a Corps meeting when I stopped at red light. Here I saw a homeless man and young woman who seemed very uneasy with her surroundings, possibly even scared. While this is not an unusual sight around Phoenix sadly, it struck me differently this time. It shook me so that…
Yesterday afternoon, I came home and there was a strange car in our parking lot. That actually happens pretty much every day, so I wasn’t alarmed or too concerned. Our house coverage volunteer informed me that a woman who used to live here had stopped by, and was in the backyard. I immediately racked my…
I was given an empty building – with a lot of potential for a thrift store concept. It already had fresh paint, clean floors, and empty spaces. I had already scouted out the fixtures I wanted to buy or had been stock piling ones I got for free on Craigslist. Then came the people. As…
“Home is where the heart is.” As cliché as this saying has become in our society, its meaning is beyond measure. It means that home is not bound by walls or defined by familial ties. Home is not a stagnant place where you simply eat, sleep and breathe. Rather, home is wherever you love and…