Christian School teacher Mike Doudican has worked to feed the homeless for the last 26 years. He explained to reporters his motivation and exactly what his work entails. The teacher, who works at Victory Christian, collects donations to hand out to the Tulsa homeless population. He chronicles his exploits on Facebook to show how these supplies can make a difference.
He started his charity work when ” One day I decided I was going to get the youth together and take the food downtown to people living in homelessness and I was right across from the bus station at Fourth and Detroit.” He added There was a lady sitting at a bench and I asked her, ‘Do you want any food?’“ Surprisingly, she didn’t but had another need.
She said no but asked me if I had any blankets. It was one of those deals where I didn’t have any blankets, and I went home that night, and I could not get her out of my mind” he explained. Doudican said he wants to share a very specific message with the people he meets: “It’s you are valuable, and you are important, and I don’t think a lot of people hear that,”
He concluded, “They might hear it, but they might not hear it with their heart. I pray that anytime anyone leaves, I pray that they hear that and see that out of me.” last year, we reported on another Christian homeless charity. The City of Brunswick, Georgia tried to shut down a Christian charity that ministers to the homeless. The United States Department of Justice has filed a complaint to bar the city’s actions. The DOJ filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia accusing officials of wrongly trying to shut down a homeless ministry known as The Well.
Brunswick is accused of breaking the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. The Well is run by FaithWorks, and organization affiliated with he South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. The Well started operating in Brunswick in 2014, and the facility serves as a place where the homeless can shelter from harsh weather, and receive meals and showers.
The lawsuit went on to say that “Operating The Well is an expression of faith that is substantially burdened by the City’s efforts to permanently close The Well. FaithWorks, which runs The Well, is an extension of the Methodist Church, and providing basic services to the poor and unhoused individuals are cornerstones of FaithWorks’ religious practice.”
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ Civil Rights Division said in a statement that the Christian ministry was within its rights to operate in Brunswick. “Federal law protects the right of religious groups such as The Well to use their land to help others,” she explained. “The division will continue to vindicate the rights of groups to exercise their religion and fight local land use laws that unlawfully restrict those rights.”