Sharing God's love in Richmond's inner city by Shawnee Weitzel Hansen I was brought up in a wonderful Christian home in Hershey, PA.  My father died when I was six years old, the eldest of five children. My mother was an amazing role model. Although a struggling widow, she always reached out her hand in kindness to anyone who was alone or in need. Every holiday found an assortment of most interesting local town folk around our dining room table. It was a real lesson in sharing God’s love. I saw a young boy and two men fishing around in a large trash bin...they pulled out a turkey carcass which the boy began clawing at and eating.

My personal relationship with Christ, however, did not begin until I attended a Billy Graham crusade in 1974 in Phoenix, AZ. I was enthused to learn that God had a plan for my life… and I just knew he had something exciting and unusual in store for me!

In the fall of 1986 I was living with my husband and two children in Midlothian, VA. One November evening, on the six o’clock news, I saw a minister asking the community for Thanksgiving turkeys to help feed the many homeless he was housing in an abandoned funeral parlor. I happened to have three turkeys in my freezer and was happy to find a good place to donate them. I roasted them, took them down to south Richmond, and told him I would come back for my pans a few days later. When I returned to his neighborhood, I saw a young boy and two men fishing around in a large trash bin at the side of the road. To my horror, they pulled out a turkey carcass, which the boy began clawing at and eating. Now this wasn’t some third world country, or even Appalachia. This was just ten miles down the road from where I lived! It was at that moment I knew God’s call in my life.

We began special mentoring programs for the many children we got to know through our work. We began to invite them to come to church with us and hear God’s word for the first time. They feel safe and loved and cherished as they make First Baptist a part of their lives. It has been a joy and privilege to share with them in their decisions to accept Jesus as their Savior and follow His as their Lord. Many of the children we see for only a short time. Their family situations are often ones of transience and turmoil. Yet, we are honored to be a part of their lives, if only for a short time.