Lazarus

Thanks for considering Lazarus today as you give on Giving Tuesday! #thankful

Tomorrow is #GivingTuesday and staying on brand for 2020, this one will look a bit different than it has in years’ past. This time, we're raising money specifically to support our friends experiencing homelessness this winter. We will be purchasing and giving away needed items like hats, gloves, and even sleeping bags. With cold weather coming and the uncertainty around shelter and warming center intake caused by the pandemic, we are seeking to make and give away more than 1000 Cold Weather Kits this winter. Your contribution will make an impact, whether you donate $5 or $500. Every little bit helps. And on GivingTuesday Dec 1, Facebook will match $7 million in qualifying donations. Thank you for your support!

Today is our 20th Birthday! Happy Thanksgiving week! We are so thankful for you: our volunteers, partners, and supporters. You are making a difference in Atlanta and DC, especially in this year of so much uncertainty. With the need to shelter-in-place and practice social distancing in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it could have been easy to not think of our neighbors experiencing homelessness. But you - through your time, prayers, and contributions - have helped us... to continue to love our neighbors living on the margins. It was on this day 20 years ago, Lazarus began when our founder, Allison McGill, and a friend stopped their car and got out when they saw some folks standing in a parking lot in downtown Atlanta. That conversation at the intersection of Piedmont Avenue and Auburn Avenue led to consistent weekly interactions, building friendships with one another. What started as a simple act of kinship has led to two decades of bringing people together, overcoming the barriers that often separate us. Click the link in our bio to find out ways you can celebrate with us!

Read our latest newsletter for an update on our Hygiene Kit Drive, Weekly Teams, and Jobs for Life! - https://mailchi.mp/d6c97900bfa4/news-updates-201118

We are excited that a few weeks ago we started up another round of our Jobs for Life class! We had to adjust the size and format to meet COVID-19 safety guidelines, but we have 10 women taking the course at Redeemer Community Church. This program is a beautiful blend of kinship and practical help in obtaining and keeping employment, and we look forward to what the future holds for these students. . Special thanks to @redeemeratl @belovedatlanta @atltrinity @jobsforlife @bellstreetburritos and @mcalistersdeli Grateful for your partnership!

We are so thankful for the more than 1100 hygiene kits that have been donated! We’ve been busy distributing these kits to our friends around the city, and they are grateful for these much-needed supplies. We are thankful to come alongside partners like MercyCare, SafeHouse Ministries, Crossroads, Salvation Army, and the Harriet Tubman Foot Clinic who are doing such good work among our friends experiencing homelessness. Special thanks as well to the South College Atlanta PA students who helped interact with our friends and give out the kits with us!

Health Day is going to look a bit different this year, stay tuned for more details, but we’re so encouraged by the call Trinity Anglican Church has put out through their Westside service this morning! This month they are calling the church to donate 750 hygiene kits! We are so very grateful for the Trinity community and for amazing volunteers like Cathy Knapp! We can’t wait to get these much needed items into the hands of our friends experiencing homelessness. Learn more at... the link below. https://westside.atltrinity.org/e/lazarus-hygiene-kit-drive

On this Juneteenth, we gathered at the OneRace #MarchOnAtlanta with our Trinity Anglican Church family to remember and celebrate the historic emancipation, while taking time to acknowledge the waiting that our black brothers and sisters continue to experience. Waiting for justice, waiting for equality, waiting to be seen as God sees them. We prayed, marched, and began to seek action in hope that true kinship will be made real and we will wait no more. Zakiya Mims, one or our amazing board members, is pictured here as she took to the stage this morning to pray for justice and healing in our city and beyond.

Kinship is our calling at Lazarus. And kinship requires things like proximity, trust, and a belief that we belong to each other. Our weekly teams are the heart of what we do. We go out Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays in the evening and try to build relationships and trust with our brothers and sisters living on the streets and in shelters. After pausing our teams for a time in light of COVID-19, we are now inviting volunteers to join once again. We follow social distancing guidelines and wear masks and would love for you to join us. If you’re interested in being a part of a team let us know!

We are so THANKFUL for you, our partners and friends, who are donating water, food, and supplies for our neighbors living on the margins, as well as partners like @piedmonthealth who are working on the frontlines of this pandemic. #weareinthistogether #loveyourneighbor #kinship

While we are doing what we can in Atlanta, our founder, Allison McGill, continues to mobilize her church and neighbors to safely deliver groceries, products, and medicines to those most vulnerable in Washington, D.C. Read here for more details - https://www.vox.com//mutual-aid-coronavirus-covid-19-volun

Even though we've suspended our Weekly teams downtown, we are dropping off cold water bottles and hygiene kits (hand wipes, toiletries, socks, and chewy bars) to our normal spots. This is a way to love our neighbors living outside in this unusual time and let them know they are not forgotten. If you're interested in donating supplies to help continue this effort, contact Johnny at [email protected]. Thanks so much, and stay safe!

Thank you for continuing to remember and pray for our brothers and sisters experiencing homelessness during this time. As of yesterday, four people from the Atlanta homeless community have tested positive for COVID-19. We continue to coordinate our efforts with the City of Atlanta in ways that are safe and smart. Read below how service providers are working together to increase testing and prevent the spread among our neighbors downtown. https://www.wabe.org/as-homeless-test-positive-for-covid-1/

How to Love Our Neighbors Social distancing has become the phrase of the moment, but sadly it's nothing new for people living on the margins. It's what so many of our brothers and sisters experiencing homelessness have dealt with long before this pandemic. https://mailchi.mp/48ce7d71d06c/lazarus-coronavirus

Our Jobs for Life classes begin soon. We need your help! - https://mailchi.mp/929071d376c8/lazarus-2983101

Merry Christmas! We hope you got to gather around a table with friends and loved ones today!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! From our Weekly teams to our Annual events, our Jobs for Life classes to our Resume workshops and Engaging Homelessness classes, we have invested thousands of hours into people living at the margins of society in Atlanta and DC this year. It's been wonderful to see kinship flourish and lives changed forever. https://mailchi.mp/8a96721ee299/christmas-2019

Sunday’s 18th Annual Lazarus Christmas Dinner was amazing! We celebrated the Christmas season and the culmination of another year spent developing kinship with our brothers and sisters experiencing homelessness. We had surprisingly good weather, beautiful decorations, plenty of delicious food to go around, and loads of Christmas cheer. Special thanks to Atlanta First UMC for hosting us, Whitefield Academy for getting our guests to the dinner, Starbucks for the warm coffee and... hot chocolate, Trinity Youth for caroling, and everyone that cooked and volunteered! Photos courtesy of @sarahharmsphoto. @ Atlanta First United Methodist Church