Are you wondering how to get your family more involved in our mission at The Human Impact? Now, your little ones can join the streets with our new group called the Little Human Impact! I sat down with our founder Elisabeth Jordan and asked her questions about the new group that has started this past year at THI.
When was the Little Human Impact started?
The idea came in 2019 but it didn't launch until this past year, 2022.
Why was the Little Human Impact started?
After I had our second child, Sara, and was home on maternity leave, I started thinking about how many other parents had asked me over the years about how to engage with their families and people who live on the streets. I kept hearing that families wanted to engage with their children but didn't know how.
When I started going to the streets in 2013, I didn't have kids, but had our first child in 2015. The way people had talked about bringing kids to the streets before I had children was that it was unsafe or unwise. But for me, the people on the streets were just my friends. Friends who had watched this child grow in my belly, who had prayed for over us, who loved us. I had to introduce my child to my friends, and that involved bringing him out.
The first time Elisabeth's son, John went to the streets.
For me, this work isn't just about me doing it but about my whole family being involved. The two things aren't separate and as I have learned how to include / involve my kids, we've gotten to begin to invite other families into this work, as well. To build their own relationships and get to know our friends as their own.
With the Little Human Impact, we're trying to offer clear ways for families to say "yes" to what can feel risky, coming to the streets to meet our friends, and realize more fully what is true: we are all equally human, with things to offer each other!
What is your vision for the Little Human Impact?
We would like to continue providing regular ways for families to be involved safely and our friends to feel respected. What we don't want to do or become is "homeless tourism." That's a crude way of saying it, but we can't use our friends on the streets to expose families to the reality of their humanity. So we're always re-evaluating and asking how we do that better. Next year, we are considering offering a monthly way of gathering together around meal or a table, as well as offering some opportunities for families to engage at our office and learn more from our friends directly. We also want to provide weekly times where families who want to can get consistently engaged in building relationships with our friends on the streets.
How does the mission of the Little Human Impact tie into the core values of the Human Impact?
The mission of LHI is to provide ways for families to build and grow friendships with our friends on the streets, and vice versa. It's a part of our belief that all humans are created in God's image and have value. That the kids have things to offer that are unique and beautiful, that our friends have something to offer that are special and meaningful, and that us other adults can learn something unique from both of them. That God often comes to us in the marginalized and in the child. They minister to us.
What are the next coming events and what should families anticipate or expect?
We will have a full events calendar to share early in 2023 for next year so be on the look out for that. Come join us to Christmas carol on the streets on Dec. 20 in the meantime!
Interested in getting your kids involved at the Little Human Impact? Click this link to register for our next coming event on December 20th! Be on the lookout for more upcoming events next year in 2023, we would love to have you!
