Jackson Rutherford, Alex Johns, Pastor Eric Johns, Nate Johns
Tommy Rutherford Photo credit Pastor Eric Johns - Buffalo Dream Center
Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Buffalo Dream Center Pastor Eric Johns is going to live a week amongst the homeless for the 25th and final time beginning this Monday before passing the baton to his two sons to carry out his tradition of helping and raising awareness to Buffalo's homeless population.
Pastor Eric Johns on Thursday told WBEN what started as a way to help deliver presents to inner-city kids 25 years ago, quickly turned into a large group of people and organizations working together to feed and help those in need.
"My church was small, maybe about 30 people and we wanted to give gifts to kids for Christmas," said Johns. "And because we were small, we didn't have the money, and my church would probably all need to [buy] gifts themselves. So you know, I had this idea to go live on the streets with the homeless and draw attention to the need in our community."
Pastor Johns will spend the week sleeping in a sleeping bag on the streets, going to homeless shelters, parks, bus stations, eating in soup kitchens and hearing from those less fortunate. He says he's heard many stories along the way.
"There's a lot of stories, I've kept a journal every year," said Pastor Johns. "I'm thinking of writing a book full of the stories someday. We've developed a relationship with a lot of the homeless population and thank God, we've seen some success stories of people that are not homeless anymore, but there are a lot of people that we've just grown to know throughout the years that are chronically homeless or their life is that on the street, and we've just become friends with a lot of them. It started out as an outreach and now they're a part of our lives."
What started as a project he would do by himself, eventually grew interest from other church groups and businesses wanting to join in his pilgrimage or at least, volunteer their time to the cause. In recent years, the pastor has been joined by his two sons, Eric and Nate, and two nephews, Jackson and Tommy, who will aid in continuing to carry out the tradition.
"My sons are happy to do it. I think it's just gotten harder for me to be honest, physically. 25 years ago, I was younger, and it wasn't as difficult to sleep on the concrete under the bridge in November in Buffalo or to walk 10 to 12 miles a day, which is typically what we walked between soup kitchens and places. And so I think it's just time to give it to the younger generation, but I'm happy to do that."
Every year, the Buffalo Dream Center church has been able to serve more people by spreading the word and connecting with the less fortunate. Pastor Johns is grateful with the community connection and support that continues to become more and more synchronized.
"There were literally only a couple of organizations in Buffalo that were really out there on the streets with the homeless, boots on the ground, giving them meals, getting to know them. Now, there's many more organizations. I think over the past five years or so, we've gotten really good at working together, which is tremendous, because nobody can do everything."
Although they feed families and offer a number of services throughout the entire year, the Buffalo Dream Center does a little extra in the wintertime. Over 1,000 volunteers are needed in the month of December just to carry out all the work that the Buffalo Dream Center does, like help pack food with the Dream Center's mobile food pantry or help wrap gifts for the children.
"We've really grown a lot in 25 years. From 200 Kids, we'll be wrapping gifts to for about 4,000 kids this year and we'll also be giving food to about 3,500 families when it's all said and done. About 12,000 people or so will be impacted through our Boxes of Love program."
If you would like to volunteer or support the effort, or if you need help, visit the BuffaloDreamCenter.org.