Birmingham Bridge

Repatriating Polish Homeless to a safe, therapeutic discipleship environment

Paul and I have been missionaries to Poland for the past 20 years.We are part of an organization called Communitas International. For the past 6 years we have been partnering with a national charity, Chrześcijańskie Stowarzyszenie Dobroczynne (ChSD or Christian Charity Association), which has worked with homeless and other marginalized groups in Poland for close to 20 years, helping individuals get healthy (physically, spiritually, emotionally) and learn to be productive members of society again. As an extension of this partnership, we spent 3 months in Birmingham this past winter as volunteers in the Birmingham Churches Winter Night Shelter. For some of the Polish guests, their situation in Birmingham was becoming more and more desperate with jobs very difficult to find and hopelessness increasing. In our conversations with our Polish friends, we often raised the possibility of returning to Poland, to a safe environment where they could get back on their feet, address addictions, get job re-training. ChSD is such a place and we have had the privilege of knowing many who have rebuilt their lives there after life on the streets.

It is our hope to build a bridge of sorts, for those Polish guys who want to return to Poland and are ready to do the hard work of regaining their lives. We would like to be able to sponsor some of our past and future Night Shelter guests in their desire to return to Poland, spend some time at ChSD and move forward. The financial considerations are real but not unreachable. The cost of travel back to Poland plus 2 months of stay at a ChSD facility (after 2 months government funds can be accessed) costs approximately 500 USD/390 GBP per person. We are looking for financing from Polish churches as well as U.S. and U.K. churches and charities.

If you or your organization would like to be part of this venture, feel free to contact me with questions (See below for necessary information).

Warm regards,

Karen Haenze

khaenze@gmail.com

+48 601 394 784

From the U.S.

https://secure-q.net/Donations/ChrisAssoInter/16518

Project # 70230 (Birmingham Bridge)

From the U.K. and Europe

http://gocommunitas.org/donate/

Click Donations made in Europe and United Kingdom.

Choose whichever option best suits you (Bank Transfer, Post or Standing Order).