Next time I think my life might be a bit of a challenge, I am going to remember this story shared by my friend, Mike, who has a minstry to the homeless in Phoenix.

A man named Lee

Lee was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was beaten by his “friend” who just “went off” on him.

That was April 5. The beating left Lee with a broken jaw and his mouth wired shut.

When we first met him a couple weeks ago he had only eaten minimally since the beating since there wasn’t much of anyone who would help him. He looked really bad. He was underweight. He approached us – clutching a drinking straw – and asked if we could do something… anything…. to help.

So we spoke with Maria, the owner of El Gran Taco where we serve the homeless each Sunday morning, and she made him up a concoction that he could drink through his straw.

It’s strange at times to see what is valuable to people who are living on the streets of Phoenix. When it’s colder it’s sleeping bags and beanies for a head covering. In summer, it’s water. But for Lee it was a straw. That straw was his lifeline.

He was carrying a plastic 32 oz glass, and he asked if we could fill it with the whole milk we provide on Sunday mornings. While we were filling it – filling it to overflowing! – Lee walked away from the crowd, toward a secluded part of the parking lot. He started coughing or gagging or something, I couldn’t tell what was going on. But in a moment or two it was clear: Lee was having a full-on anxiety attack. He just wanted those wires holding his mouth shut to be gone.

I set down the milk and put my hand on Lee’s shoulder. He began to weep uncontrollably. I prayed with him – and then I left him with three words: “Wait right here.” I went back to Maria and made arrangements to have Lee taken care of every day for the next two weeks. Each day at noon Lee will be able to come to El Gran Taco, and Maria will make something for him he can “eat” through that straw of his.

UPDATE: And the AZ Republic this morning:

Attacks on homeless rose during '07
Report faults criminalization of the down and out, exploitative videos
Ted Gregory
Chicago Tribune
Apr. 30, 2008 12:00 AM

Attacks against the homeless across the U.S. rose 13 percent in 2007, a study done by two advocacy groups reported Tuesday.

The latest increase continues a trend that homeless advocates say has been ongoing since the group started tracking those crimes almost a decade ago, a trend worsened by the criminalization of homelessness and popularity of videos showing the exploitation of homeless people.

"Those experiencing homelessness are often ignored or misunderstood by society," said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, a Washington, D.C.-based group that conducted research and compiled a report released Tuesday morning.

"If these brutal attacks were committed against any other religious or minority group to the same degree, there would be a national outcry and call for government intervention," Stoops said.

Key findings of the report, which also was compiled by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, show the number of attacks rising to 160 last year from 142 the year before.

The number of fatal attacks also rose to 28 from 20 deaths in 2006, the report states. In addition, youths ages 13-19 committed 64 percent of the attacks, the findings stated.

The National Coalition for the Homeless, which started compiling statistics in 1999, uses media reports, discussions with advocates and homeless-service providers and interviews with homeless individuals to produce the figures, said Tulin Ozdeger, civil-rights program director for the National Law Center.

Since the NCH began tracking violent crimes against the homeless, the organization has found a total of 217 deaths resulting from attacks in 235 cities representing 45 states and Puerto Rico.

The report, "Hate, Violence and Death on Main Street USA," found the highest number of attacks on the homeless, 29 last year, in Florida, which led the U.S. for the third consecutive year.

California, with 21 attacks, was second, followed by Nevada and Ohio.

The report found six separate attacks on the homeless in Illinois, the same number of violent incidents found in Oregon and Texas in 2007.

"It's a crisis that has grown and not been addressed at any level of government," said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center.

"This leaves people who are homeless extremely vulnerable," Foscarinis added.