09 Tuesday Oct 2012
10/9/2012
Buying or Selling a home?
You can help a struggling Charity and also help others in need at the same time without it affecting Your bottom line.
Click on the link below to learn more.
http://prezi.com/yizw4v9tzs4y/straight-ahead-outreach/?res_nr=1&sis=6614850684
22 Friday Jun 2012
Tags
Elderly and disabled homeless, Elderly and living On the Streets, God's Tools, Homeless Children & Families, Homeless Infants
6/22/2012
I remember back in 1985 when i went under my first bridge along the river in Minneapolis, MN with my ex-wife Judy, with blankets and coffee that we seen a number of middle aged men. Through the mid 90′s i guess it seemed pretty much the same. Some change but pretty much the same.
Now, i am deeply disturbed but even more determined to prevent homelessness in whoever i can. One at a time.
Now, we are seeing countless women young and old, men young and old, physically severely disabled including amputee’s and of course more and more and more United States of America Veterans.
When i say women, young and old, i mean any where from a newborn infant to over 75 years old. Homeless men are bad enough. Women? I can’t stand it. Infants???? Elderly and or disabled??? Living in and literally on the streets? Are you kidding me!!??? How is that acceptable to anyone?!! For the last 17 years or so this demographic has been increasing in huge numbers and today it is globally out of control and simply not acceptable.
As i completed my day today i realized we are using the same tools as we always have. Sure, we have internet, computers, cell phones etc now, but we are still simply using food, clothes, talking, mentoring, transportation, love, patience, GOD, JESUS and all the other same stuff.
For a long time i have seen that satan has stepped up his game. He is enticing people by the millions in more “Instantly Gratifying” ways to paralyze them into thinking all is good for them, when all is fake and false and not truth. satan is using more and more faster and enticing weapons/machinations to lure those who are blind to his side of the war.
satan loves homelessness, pain, depression. It is his entertainment.
The good thing i am also seeing is that Jesus and His Father in heaven Jehovah God Almighty have also stepped up their game. They are constant however and their tools are always the same. That is precisely why you can count on them always being charged, sharpened and tuned for the task at hand. Always.
Without them the other Tools in the Chest wont help.
Jesus and God are the Tools that refine, lift up, encourage, heal, provide growth, direction and instruction. Life.
May we all use the tools Jesus and His Father Jehovah God are giving us daily to use. Pick them up and put the tools to use. Don’t forget….you and i, each and every one of us…..the 99% and the 1% ….each one of us are God’s Tools.
You too can prevent Homelessness. Be one of God’s Tools today, right now.
Lance Greene/Founder
20 Wednesday Jun 2012
Tags
donations, Giving Freely as Jesus Says, Hewlett-Packard laptop, Jesus Son of God, Prayer Request For Today
6/20/2012
I am clothing myself with multiple layers of Jesus today and asking you all for just one more for security. :-))!
Today will prove to be very full and complicated and i ask that you please pray for me to be strong, faithful, calm, full of Jesus’s wisdom and words, resourceful and loving.
We will be donating a duffle bag along with toiletries, possibly some food and a laptop computer (which is used and an older model HP but still very excellent) which we received last year to a family in need today and they are not aware of it. We are hoping the laptop will assist them in finding jobs and supplying a learning platform also. We will also be teaching them how to use the laptop and hopefully how not to use it.
We used to have those in need fill out a form stating the fact they received such a donation and the terms and use of it etc.
However, Jesus has let me know, reminded me what He instructs. That is, Jesus says: ”You received freely, so give freely”.
So, this laptop we are donating today will be handed over without any “conditions” attached other then to let them know it is Jesus who wants them to have it and made the gift possible. No forms, no lectures, no threats of…if you misuse it etc etc etc…we will take it back…blah blah blah. We will “Give it freely” per Jesus’s instruction. It will be theirs, no longer STA’s. We will help them learn the use of it however as i stated above.
I Thank You in advance for your prayers as i know i have a number of great people out there reading this. May you all be blessed today.
May God Be in a Good Mood today as He usually is :-))!
Lance Greene
12 Tuesday Jun 2012
Tags
Christian Organization, Donations Needed, homeless families, Nonprofit Organization In Need, People In Need
6/12/2012
It has been one of those days today……again.
Why is it…….. that many of those who are helping those in need seem to suffer so extensively? Especially the smaller organizations.
There is a disconnect.
Today for example, i went to one of the other nonprofits in the area here in St. Petersburg, Florida to present a program of raising funds that i am aware of which hopes to give money away to organizations that help homeless youth and families. This is an organization in need. A small organization.
I first went to their main facility offices. The organization had moved to their new facility completely, on the other side of St. Pete to the south. I was not aware they would be doing this. I was excited for them because that meant they had moved into their newly remodeled house.
The old facility had housed their offices, food pantry, Church/Worship area equipped with music and sound system and more. It was a big nice facility with lots of room.
When i arrived at the new facility in south St. Pete, i was shocked to see how small the new location was. Although nice and clean, very small and cramped.
It appeared like they may have been forced to re-focus even as we have had to do. They no longer had as big an area for any of their services. You could see it was more difficult to work in and really not much room for storage which is something they need greatly.
This org is a hard working organization, the Executive Director/Founder is a hands on hard working man of God. His Director is just as hard working and just as hands on.
Neither one just sits in their office and hides from their clients. They work hard.
Today i could see they were both very stressed. But they made time for me.
As i was given the tour by the Director, people in need were streaming in the door. My heart was breaking for this org. I have been there and helped them when they were passing out literally pallets of food to the community. I have seen how hard they work, how hard their leader works.
Now, they no longer have their Church, but rather a small room. Their clothes and food pantries are much more cramped. My heart aches for them. I realize that you may not need a big building etc to worship or even help others, but for as much as these guys try to do they seem to be in the same boat as us at Straight Ahead Outreach.
Struggling to survive and fighting every step of the way.
Why is it…….Why does it have to be this way just because you are a nonprofit helping others in need. I would think it would be quite the other way around. It should be warm, cool, comfortable and well equipped as long as the money is spent properly and clients do not suffer lack of services due to improper spending on too high of wages and furnishings etc. It needs to be this way so everyone can do their jobs well and so the clients can receive the help they are getting properly.
I pray that i do not offend them by this blog, but i am praying for their success. It would be a big loss to the community if this organization continues to struggle.
If you can please find some room in your finances to Donate to this organization, please do so. Tell them Straight Ahead Outreach sent you so they know we are pulling for their success.
Here is their website: http://www.stpetedreamcenter.org/Donate.htm
Thank you!
Lance Greene/Founder/Straight Ahead Outreach
06 Wednesday Jun 2012
6/6/2012
Where do i begin. I go from a positive uplifting post of Thank You’s for Donations to this post. Thus the Roller Coaster of this nonprofit business. It is simply how it is and i do not believe i will ever get used to it. I hope i never do, as i believe that will help keep me on my toes and grounded in who we are.
Tomorrow, Thursday 6/7/2012, i will be picking up one of our Friends In Need from the Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, Florida. On May 23rd i went to visit him in jail…on his baby daughters 1st Birthday. Last May 2011, she was Born Into Homelessness. He has been in jail since January of this year. For stupid stuff. Thats the easiest way to put it. He is married to the Mother of his 1 year old baby girl.
When i pick him up, although he is happy to be getting released and can see his daughter, he will have no place to go. No where to sleep. No where to hang out, and no where to go relax of his own. Not entirely his fault as it “takes two to tango” as they say. He will have a pair of shoes and a few items of clothing. Nothing else. He might, might have his minimum wage job still. He has no ideas or any plans. He is scared and lost.
I do have some ideas.
It will be my job to Lead him, continue him down the path i laid for him last year. Only this time i will have to hit him hard between the eyes. He does not have anymore chances with his family, this is it. Jesus i know will be riding ‘Shot Gun” in our Mobile Crisis Outreach Van. :-))! It won’t be fun, it will not be easy.
I have no idea how long the day will go. I never do. Jesus dictates my hours. My assignments and how they get completed. No doubt though it will be long. That is if this friend In Need calls me when he is released. Right now his mind is mush. He feels Lost. 
There is a positive here though, his wife is willing to try and make things work and go to counseling for all of them.
He just cannot stay where they were living. Not together. For now.
We/STA has spent a good deal of time with this family. Time, thats what we do. Provide Hope in The Midst of Crisis. That is what we do. What ever it takes, what ever we are able to do, how ever long it takes. As long as those in need are wanting our help and we are able to provide it, funds permitting.
So, i pray to Jehovah and His Son Jesus that they will give me the right words and the proper level of intensity…not to hard and not to soft and not to fast as i can many times be. They have not let me down yet with working/helping someone. It is all on their time line and everything is done on their will and what they see as best.
Funny thing, during the end of last year, we had to let 99% of those we helped spread their own wings, or at least have the chance to. STA almost threw in the towel. But, Jesus spoke to his Father in heaven on our behalf and Jehovah told me…….”Nope ya aint getting off that easy!!” And now it seems that one by one those who were closest to our hearts are returning and in great need of us again. The thing is? I know it is Jesus bringing them back to us because He and His Father in Heaven are not done with them or us/STA yet.
So here we are, back at it again. Full bore. The heavy duty stuff.
I do not have a paying job. And that bothers me many days. But, what i do know is….. I have a Calling, of no choice of my own. A job given me.
There is a great deal of pressure on me for tomorrow. It will be a difficult and emotional day. Most likely as i am on my way home and returning to “me” again, returning to my beautiful God given Wife Patricia, i will break down in tears at the thought of all that has gone on and how overwhelming God can be and how he and Jesus work. It is incredible, but overwhelming. I have one day to make a severe impact on this man and his wife. I spoke to his wife today for 40 minutes after i visited him jail. I do believe Jesus is already working in her. I am counting on it in fact. I know Jehovah will be watching and Jesus will be with me. Truthfully, that is simply the only way i will get through it.
Please, if you will put in a request to Jesus and His Father and pray for this family and pray for me too that i can succeed in helping them all Take Back Their Lives. Pray please that Jesus is in them already. Pray please that he turns his face to them and shines on them all. Please Pray that satan does not win this one and destroy this family any more then he has. I will fight him with everything i have.
They All deserve it.
Thank you.
Lance Greene/Founder
