Blog

From the heart

Rocky, unclean hands.  Rocky is one of the “river people,” the ever-growing number of homeless that camp along the American and Sacramento Rivers.  Every Saturday morning Encounter Church and Mercy Pedalers partner on providing breakfast and resources to our homeless neighbors that camp along the […]

Nicole and Cosimo

Why is photographing the homeless important?  Sacramento’s homeless population is excluded from our community and many times invisible and judged.  As Mexican artist Paola Delfin puts it, we all deserve to be seen.  Nicole and Cosimo, homeless for over two years.  The image shows what […]

Artist Paola Delfin’s Hogar Mural

Artist Paola Delfin (Mexico City), #paola_delfin (Instagram), “Hogar” (Home) mural.  I met Paola last summer when she was doing a mural for Sacramento’s Wide Open Walls. (WOW).  I believe that her mural says a great deal about the world’s homeless.  Not a week passes that […]

Silvia gets housing

One of my Mercy Pedalers’ projects for the New Year was to track Silvia, who is homeless and can often be found pushing a cart along K Street.  Sister Libby informed me last night that its is likely that Silvia will soon get housing.  Kudos!  […]

About loneliness

Mercy Pedalers know homelessness is synonymous with isolation and loneliness.  Loneliness makes people sick. One recent study found that loneliness shortens a person’s life by 15 years.  Other studies have found connections between loneliness and a wide range of health problems, including increased risk for […]

Moving Day

For many of Sacramento’s homeless each and every day is moving day. His name is Robert and he is what is known in Europe as a “rough sleeper”.  That is, he is one who sleeps on the street or city benches, in doorways, under awnings, […]

Mercy Pedaler New Year Resolution

This year I’m going to track Silvia.  She speaks little English.  I speak little Spanish.  However, it doesn’t take much to add something to her day: a cup of coffee, a few kind words, a soft granola bar…  Life on the streets is hard, especially […]

Hope, Humanity & Housing: Life on Sacramento streets

Sister Libby and Mercy Pedalers featured in KCRA’s special Hope, Humanity & Housing: Life on Sacramento Streets https://www.kcra.com/article/hope-humanity-and-housing-life-on-sacramento-streets-homeless/25564618