Good Samaritan Patrol Rescues

The Perishing From Winter Cold

     Brother Earl Roth knows where many of the areas homeless men and women make their outdoor camps.  Maneuvering one of Wayside Christian Mission's vehicles through busy city streets, he and other mission volunteers operate the Good Samaritan Patrol.  In vehicles filled with blankets, scarves, mittens, hot coffee and sandwiches, Brother Earl and the other mission volunteers comb the streets offering warmth and comfort to those who live beneath viaducts or in makeshift camps not quite visible from busy city streets.  When the temperatures drop to dangerously low levels, the Good Samaritan Patrol makes its nightly runs in an attempt at keeping men and women from freezing to death.  Some will return to the mission's emergency shelter on Jefferson Street while others gladly accept the blankets and sandwiches while preferring their chances on the streets.   Hypothermia and exposure can snuff out a life in very little time. For volunteers like Brother Earl, he is driven to see that no homeless man or woman dies of cold or starvation on his shift. Since Wayside started the patrol in 1988, only one homeless man was known to die directly from the extreme temperature while living on the streets.  The Good Samaritan Patrol has saved hundreds of lives.  Back at the Mission, a former employee remembers the day when Brother Earl brought him in from the cold.  "I was homeless and was considering ending my life.  Brother Earl found me on the streets, brought me here, and told me about God's love."  

Above:  Brother Earl brings God's love, sandwiches, coffee, and blankets to those living on the streets

Below:  A make shift camp beneath an overpass is the only home one young woman knows