Taking Jesus Love To The Street.

Elder Terry Trotter

I met Tim Huff of YOUTH UNLIMITED* when he was speaking at an event for men. Tim has such a straightforward approach in speaking and writing that the audience was captivated as he shared with us his relationships with homeless street youth. (*YU is a Christian organization reaching out to youth through many varied ministries.)

Hours before coming to speak with us, Tim had met with some street youth. He told one of the very young girls hanging out behind city hall in Toronto where he was going and asked if there was anything she wanted to say to us as a group of men. She said “tell them I am sorry, I am sorry that I let my Dad down.” Tim went on to say that the price she was paying was surviving the streets of Toronto with the potential of prostitution. And drug and/or alcohol addictions. The all male audience sat in silence and shock as Tim so matter of factly described to us the realities of street life.

Tim, whom I am now privileged to call my friend, endeavours to intervene ahead of the pimps and pushers at the Greyhound station downtown. Girls from small towns arrive, easy targets, and the pimps are there to befriend them, eventually dragging them into their prostitution/drug ring. In some cases, they allow the girl to have a baby and use the baby as a hostage to assure that the girl behaves. One young man got off a bus from Manitoba. Tim thought he walked a little oddly, so he said hi. It turned out the boy had been beaten with a hammer by his alcoholic grandfather, with whom his addict parents had left him, and he had taken the first bus to wherever it was going, travelling over 24 hours with broken ribs and a badly broken arm.

LIGHT PATROL is the name of the ministry under YOUTH UNLIMITED started by Tim for the purpose of reaching out to street youth. They use a donated RV, converted so they can bring a hot drink, food, clothing and temporary shelter from the streets. The vehicle is large, painted red and a little ugly except to the street youth who spot it and know there is some light in their existence. The slogan on the RV is IT IS BETTER TO LIGHT A CANDLE THAN CURSE THE DARKNESS.

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people has entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2 (New International Version)

On the basis of Tim’s testimony, I decided volunteer with YU and Light Patrol. Even after training, going out with the staff and other volunteers was very intimidating. What would I, a family man from the suburbs, say and do in an environment of street etiquette? On my first trip out I served coffee and socks and observed. While I was positive in my approach, the regulars among the youth wanted only to engage the familiar staff in conversation. Was I really contributing? It is a lot easier to minister at arms’ length by writing a cheque!

After a number of consecutive weeks (Thursday nights 6 pm – midnight), I began to understand what was happening. The youth rarely give their real names and some have “handles” (street names) like “Mad Dog”, but in spite of their anonymity, they see that ugly RV as a brief refuge from street life and an opportunity to relax and be themselves.

My heart went out to a number of the youth. The most poignant times were when the young girls came on the RV in winter. Some of them were malnourished and using drugs. As the father of two daughters, I just wanted to take them home and remove the threat from their lives and “make it better”.

Most of the young people I saw came from all over eastern Canada. Few of the kids on Toronto’s streets originate in the GTA. They come from small towns as well as cities without services, from affluent and average homes, from other provinces and even from the States. The common factor is that about 80% have left home because of some form of abuse.

The times for evangelism in a traditional sense are limited. But each night after our last stop we pulled the RV over to the side of the road to briefly share from our encounters and pray for the needs of each one we had met that night, lifting them up to the Lord for salvation and some specific needs.

After three years of volunteering every week, I stopped. The youth are still there and need to know someone cares.

God works in ways I don’t fully understand, although I trust Him. On the streets of Toronto, I saw God working through a small tract, a Bible and a dry pair of socks.