|
|
Assisting with SNAP benefits is an important service provided at Triune
|
|
Benefits in a SNAP
Access to food is crucial for anyone, but especially for individuals experiencing homelessness. However, navigating the process of applying for SNAP benefits can be tricky, and there are barriers making obtaining those benefits difficult. Through the partnership of our service providers, volunteers, and the local DSS office, Triune is helping our community overcome some of those barriers. Check out this video for more information.
|
|
A Conversation with Grayson Hiatt
by Trevor Barton
These days, if you walk through the doors of Triune Mercy Center, you’ll see a new face and hear a new voice among the TMC team. Grayson Hiatt began his full time work here as Volunteer Coordinator in May. He is married to Caroline, and they have two girls, Ellis and Junia. He holds an M.Div degree from Denver Seminary. His compassionate eyes, tender heart, and tech savvy have already helped us immensely as we reach out and try to help the community around us. We welcome him to the corner of Rutherford Street and Stone Avenue with open and thankful hearts.
(Trevor Barton) Why did you want to come to work at TMC?
(Grayson Hiatt) I was serving as a campus minister at Furman University with their Mere Christianity Forum. I enjoyed working with college students, helping them think about ways they could put the deepest beliefs into helpful practice in the world around them. During my time at Furman, I learned about a job opening at TMC. I looked into the life and work of TMC and discovered that its time, energy, and money are spent walking alongside poor people… All that it is and all that it does goes toward helping people build better lives for themselves, lives filled with all they need to become all they can be. That’s a good and meaningful thing.
Working here, I see clearly the difference between being privileged and underprivileged. I go home each evening to a house, a warm meal, and a bed. On rainy nights, I think about the people I see day in and day out who don’t have those things and have to find shelter anywhere they can on the wet streets. I’m thankful to be in a place where I can see those differences and use my privilege to help build a more just and equitable world for everybody. I see kingdom work, the work of the Beloved Community, here at TMC.
What is one of your favorite stories from your work at TMC so far?
One of our Parishioners, Yahyada, was walking beside me. It was a particularly tough morning. We have tough cases at Triune sometimes. He stopped in his tracks, turned toward me, looked me in the eyes, smiled a kind smile, and said, “I can tell you really care about the people here. You naturally fulfill what the Messiah has called us all to do.” That meant the world to me.
In one of our staff meetings, we were talking about the story of Jesus healing a leper in Mark’s gospel. During that discussion, we asked the question, “Who are the modern-day lepers around us?” I came to the realization that anyone who is excluded for any reason is a modern-day leper and that they would be greeted as a child of God welcomed in this place. We would become their community. Wow.
You are our new Volunteer Coordinator at TMC. What does this mean? How can people get in touch with you to learn about volunteer opportunities?
Being the Volunteer Coordinator for TMC means that I have the honor and the privilege to empower people to do what God is nudging them to do. It allows me to help people use holy imagination to do something beautiful for God. We honor volunteers, because they are using the art of their lives to create beauty at TMC. Many people are longing to do something beautiful for God, and I have the privilege of helping them discover that beautiful thing.
The best way to contact Grayson is by email: grayson@triunemercy.org
Grayson’s Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for catching the tears of our hearts in your good, caring hands. Please give us wisdom to know how we can help people become whole. Please protect us from all that could hurt us. Thanks for the privilege to join you in this work.
Amen
|
|
|
|
|
