Sometimes I Write

In 2006 my husband and I founded a ministry caring for the homeless youth and adults, at-risk teens, the poor, drug dealers, hippies, prostitutes, and anyone who called the streets of Boulder their home. We sought out the hurting and brokenhearted to build positive relationships with them. Through those relationships we did our best to help our friends on the streets experience the love and grace of the Heavenly Father, and we walked alongside them to encourage forward progress in their lives.

For eight years we served a hot, home-cooked meal in one of the parks in Boulder EVERY Saturday night – rain, snow, sleet, or blazing hot sun. We had an amazing volunteer team comprised of three churches and a handful of friends who cooked the food in their homes then met us in the park for two hours of food and fellowship. We did plenty of cooking large meals as well as our numbers fluctuated between 50 people in the coldest parts of winter to 250 people in the middle of traveling season in the summer.

During that time we also did regular street outreach, helping our friends connect with the resources they needed. We provided supplies as we had them, driving friends to appointments, visiting them in the hospital or in jail, and sometimes just sat at Starbucks with them sipping hot chocolate or coffee.

After a year-long sabbatical in 2015, we realized our ministry was shifting. Our focus was no longer only on the homeless, but on the working poor of our community. So many of the people we loved were struggling to make ends meet. We did what we could to ease their burden whether it be physical, mental, or spiritual.

As some of our friends moved off the streets, we assisted with boxes of food, toiletries, and cleaning supplies to help them get their home up and running. We also helped out families in need as they were referred to us by our friends, and assisted with emergency needs in our community.

Our focus has completely shifted in the past few years and SEVENS is now the umbrella for the food bank and mobile pantry we run, and the ongoing mentoring relationships we have. One of our volunteer churches that did Supper in the Park with us has taken up the mantel of Saturday night meals two times a month, and they call those meal SEVENS.

We are still loving people, one person and family at a time, and we start with the people right in front of us. For more information, please contact me at:  nikinowell at gmail dot com or visit our Facebook Page.