Chosen 300 - Homeless Outreach

BUT YOU CONSIDERED ME...

It was Father’s Day 1996. Brian and Shandai had just come out from seeing a play at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia. There he was, Mr. Jones, he called himself. A dark skin man with long hair that had not been combed for a while. For a shirt he wrapped a torn blanket half way around him exposing his skin that stretched across his meatless ribs. His pants were stained and to hold them up was a rope that he had found.


The couple talked with Mr. Jones, sharing with him the love of Jesus Christ that evening. The homeless man asked them if they had anything to give. Shandai reached in her purse and found forty-cents. They gave Mr. Jones the forty-cents and talked to him for about 15 to 20 minutes. The homeless man asked them, "Do you have a testament?" It took them a moment but they finally realized he meant a bible. Brian had only his own personal study bible, but promised Mr. Jones he would bring him one the next day. Brian said to Mr. Jones, "I wish that we could have given you more." The couple will never forget the words of Mr. Jones before they left that night. He gently replied, “But You Considered Me.”

A couple of days later, Brian rushed home from work and he and Shandai made about forty bagged sandwiches. They put them in bags with a piece of fruit and a drink. The husband and wife team left the house around 7pm and headed into Center City to the corner of Broad and South; that’s where the homeless man told them he would be. They gave him two of the bagged lunches and the Bible he asked for. They proceeded to walk the streets of Center City passing out bagged lunches to homeless people in need of food.

At the end of the evening they came to 16th & Benjamin Franklin Parkway and saw 10 homeless people sitting on benches and only had 5 bagged lunches left. They began to pass them out not knowing what would happen; the homeless people began to divide the lunches amongst themselves. Brian and Shandai never saw Mr. Jones again, but stated, "We see the smile he had on his face that night every time we see the smile of another homeless person we reach."

For the next few Wednesday evenings the couple continued to go into Center City Philadelphia to pass out bagged meals to homeless people. Within one month they increased to serving 100 meals. Brian and Shandai began to tell the homeless to meet them at 16th & Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia so they could begin serving full-course meals on Wednesday nights. Chicken was the meat of choice along with potatoes, mac & cheese, string beans, salad, bread, desert and a drink. It was then Brian became affectionately known as The Chicken Man.

Since that Tuesday in 1996, Chosen 300 now distributes more than 100,000 meals a year to the homeless of Center City Philadelphia; There are now 85 Churches and organizations, from different denominations & races that are part of the Chosen 300 Alliance to serve the homeless in Center City, West Philadelphia, Pottstown, PA and around the world including India, Nigeria, Guyana, South Africa, Jamaica, Liberia, and Uganda. Chosen 300 has also established a Prison Outreach Program in Montgomery County & Delaware County Prisons; and are the lead sponsors in two local Basketball Mentoring Programs.