The Perfect Storm

By Cornelia Seigneur


Gerry Pruyn calls it the Perfect Storm.

“We all were able to do what we needed to do. We had the worst storm in 40 years with so much snow and on top of that, it being Christmas and we hardly had enough volunteers and we could hardly drive. I personally broke five tire chains, two on the church’s vans and three of my own.

“Where we weren’t ready on our organization, somehow God provided it.”

Some volunteers were there 12 of the 15 nights.

“One of the ladies was brand new to the church. I had just met her at the singles group, and I put her in charge of food. She was the perfect person for that job.”

On Christmas, Papa Murphy’s had donated six pizzas and Rolling Hills housed 14 people. “We prayed over the pizza and we had enough pizza for two nights. If God can multiply loaves and fishes, he can multiply pizza.”

During the 20 days of the perfect storm, another miracle came in size 33 pants.

“A man needed a pair of size 33 pants and I was really tired and needed to get people home. There were 50 bags of clothes to go through, and I did not want to go through 50 bags of clothes looking for a pair of size 33 pants. So, I prayed that God would help me find a pair of size 33 pants, and at the top of the first bag I opened I found a pair of pants and guess what: they were size 33.”

People do not realize there are homeless people in the suburbs. During those 20 cold days, there were 100 individual homeless people in the 10 church homeless shelters in Washington County, and Rolling Hills housed 20 of those people.

“One of the reasons we are doing this is because there is nothing out there for homeless singles in the suburbs, specifically Washington County,” says Gerry.

“At the end of two weeks (and we saw some of the men for 15 straight days), some of our homeless guests really became changed. They became great friends of ours, and we see them now in downtown and in Tigard. We are trying to get them jobs and one of our team leaders, Gregg Creighton, got one of them a job for a day.”

“We are trying to be more than just a warm place to stay and offer warm meals. We want them to feel we care for them as human beings. So many people do not look at them eye to eye. Some of these people are living in tents. We give them a warm meal and watch movies with them, and we just come along side and talk to them and discover their stories. We are showing them Christ without hitting them over the head with the Bible.”
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Reach Gerry Pruyn at g.pruyn@verizon.net
Reach Cornelia Seigneur at www.corneliaseigneur.com