Gail and Dave Barnes along with my nephew Joseph paid a visit to the director of Humanity Pod, Melinda Shaw’s house on Saturday.  Melinda has a real passion for helping the homeless.  Her latest project is called “Hope on Wheels” (see www.humanitypods.org ).  Her goal is to build 21 bicycle pulled shelter/trailers for distribution to homeless in and around Northampton.  Below is the mission statement for the organization.

We are committed to providing at least 20 houseless people in Northampton with bicycle camper pods, or Humanity Pods. A Humanity Pod is a unique, bicycle-pulled camper pod. Each pod serves as a secure and cozy place to sleep, relax, cook and eat meals, and store possessions. Humanity Pods give the user an alternative “home,” providing independent living, privacy, and safety from the elements. These pods are a temporary, convenient solution for individuals transitioning between houseless-ness to a more conventional living situation. Bicycle transport allows for mobility and independence, giving the user a permanent sense of “home” even while moving between venues and host locations.

So, how can we ‘pray with our hands in motion’ on this project?  Form a team and build a pod.  We need $500 and enough people to help us assemble one of these units.  After we donate it back to Hope on Wheels, the pod will have our church name and Methodist Logo on it.

We figure a group of five to ten people could build a pod over two weekends of work.  We’ll work either outside the church or if weather is difficult we will work inside the fellowship hall.

This is a chance to put your prayers in action to help the homeless and it doesn’t really matter what your skill level or age.  There are lots of jobs to do from cutting plastic or wood to making the bedding and curtains, even painting!  If you cannot do the work, please consider sponsoring the project through a dedicated donation to the church.  You can send a check – just put ‘HumanityPod’ on the check.

To sign up, please contact Dave Barnes or Pastor Rick.   You can leave a note, email, phone call, even a text message.  The goal here is to get at least 5 people but more would make the work go faster!