Food for Thought - Lorenzo Brown
Lorenzo Brown remembers all too clearly how horrible it was to be homeless, living on the streets of Chicago, begging for change so he could eat. When he had no money, he foraged through dumpsters, digging for something edible.
"Times in my life, I was so hungry, I reached into the Kentucky Fried Chicken dumpster. It was pretty bad," he admits. "Winters in Chicago were horribly cold, with lots of snow. There were times I had to ride back and forth on the trains all day to get out of the cold."
Lorenzo’s troubles began as a teen, when he started hanging out in the streets, drinking and taking drugs. "I thought I was cool," he recounts. "I thought life was all about having fun, partying."
Before long, Lorenzo’s addiction was so bad he couldn’t keep a job. Soon, he was living on the streets, where he stayed for years. "I said to myself, ‘This is not right. This is not good,’" he remembers. "I called out to God - help me and lead met out of this."
Lorenzo found help at a rescue mission in Chicago, where he gave his life to God and overcame his addiction. That’s when he experienced a new kind of hunger: the desire to encourage other omeless men. That hunger brought him to City Union Mission.
He joined our RECON ministry, where he’s growing deeper in his faith and ministering to homeless men during our chapel services.
"There are a lot of hurting men who come in to City Union Mission," Lorenzo says. "There are great things going on here."
