Editor, “I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.” That’s a lyric from an old Christmas time favorite. It brings a tear to the eye when we hear it each holiday season. It’s especially poignant when you remember there are many who don’t have a home. Homelessness is a difficult situation to deal with at any time of year, but now, during the hustle and bustle of Christmas, it is an especially bitter thing to endure.
There is an organization here in Hinesville that works all year long to give meaning to the word “home” and this holiday season, we are in trouble.
The Kirk Healing Center for the Homeless is an all-volunteer, faith-based organization that provides a safe, live-in environment for homeless men and women who need to start their lives over. At any given time, we are assisting about 10 individuals, providing them with shelter, food, clothing, job-search assistance, spiritual guidance, transportation, prescription assistance and more. We serve veterans, abused women, the displaced and those who have simply lost their way and are ready to get back on the right track.
Doing this requires long hours of hard work, compassion, creative problem solving, a strong faith in God and, most of all, money. And it’s the money that we need most right now.
Government and private funds are depleted, fundraising is as sluggish as the economy, and still the temperature drops, bringing misery to those with no shelter. So need rises, and we struggle.
One of our homes no longer has phone service because we can’t pay the bill, and it’s hard for shelter residents to find work when they can’t put a phone number on an application. One of our homes has a leaking shower pipe in the bathroom; it’s held together with duct tape because there’s no money for a permanent repair. Electric bills, water bills, paper for printing — oh, my!
We have a list of simple but important needs for most of our residents: state ID fees, legal fees, application fees and more, but that’s all on hold due to lack of funds.
So I’m asking you, the good people of Liberty County and the surrounding area, to find room in your budgets for one more gift this Christmas season. Please send a check to:
The Kirk Healing Center for the Homeless
P.O. Box 2485
Hinesville, GA 31310
Or bring your donation to K&K Thrift Shop on Highway 84 across from the county bus yard.
Let’s ensure that “I’ll be home for Christmas” isn’t just a dream for our brothers and sisters in need.
Thank you and may God bless you and keep you.

— Charli Shearer
program coordinator,
Kirk Healing Center for the Homeless