"A simple gesture of respect and dignity. Creating lighter hearts and smiles."

It's a sad fact of life that while we sometimes all have stand in line for one reason or another, the poor and the homeless typically do so much more than the rest of us.

Waiting in lines is usually synonymous with homelessness

The homeless stand in a line to get transportation, and continue standing in line to get a meal-wherever that might be. They wait, or stand in line, to get medical or dental care. Then when they're totally exhausted from all the standing in line, perhaps they walk to a mission where they again stand in line to get a bed assignment, a meal, and a towel and soap to shower. The list is never ending, and inestimably depressing.

A few weeks ago, the Lord bought this situation to the attention of myself and some of our executive staff. He reminded us that lines are just one more obstacle faced in the difficult, often depressing and usually challenging road to recovery in the life of a homeless person or family.

With that in mind, we decided that we wanted to do something which seemed pretty unique in "shelterdom," change Joy Junction into a shelter with no more lines.

We charged Joy Junction Senior Resident Services Supervisor Lisa Woodward - once homeless herself - with turning the vision into a reality. Specifically, I initially asked her to eliminate lines at shelter registration for a bed, as well as for meals.

Lisa told me that while she was very willing, with Joy Junction being the largest shelter in New Mexico, and rarely serving less than 100 people for any of its meals, the task initially seemed insurmountable.

However, the Lord gave Lisa an idea, and it revolved around members of Joy Junction's Christ in Power Life Recovery program (CIPP).

During their CIPP participation, individuals learn about the importance of a relationship with Jesus to help them embrace a new lifestyle that will allow them to recover and succeed in mainstream community life. Lisa felt that having CIPP participants serve other Joy Junction guests could play a very important part in that recovery. I totally agreed. What a wonderful ethic in which to train people: servanthood, as opposed to stepping over people, as the road to success.

With that in mind, Lisa designed a schedule for our CIPP participants where as part of their programmatic requirements they would be serving meals to our 30-day and overnight guests. (Typically, overnight guests at Joy Junction are not yet ready for a recovery program and 30-day guests may not need everything offered by CIPP, and may be more job-ready.)

She eased into this new expectation of our program by telling participants about a week in advance of its implementation that the new system would be soon put into effect, and would be a core part of the CIPP program.

The day soon came to present the plan. Lisa said, "I presented the schedule; how things would rotate, how our tables would be numbered, and the responsibilities of each participant on the schedule for that day. There were a few questions from the crowd, the usual 'if's and why's," but I soon felt that things were tied up in a proverbial package."

The day soon came to put the new plan into effect. Lisa was at work at 4 a.m. (I always thank the Lord for Lisa and groan with empathy pains whenever I am reminded of her schedule!).

Lisa said, "A few minutes after 4 a.m. I was going over anything that could possibly go wrong with the new plan and my schedule. As I walked out of my office into the multi, I almost panicked as I saw how many people we would be needing to serve. Trying something new with a few people can be confusing, but with many it can quickly turn into a disaster."

Lisa said that while all of this was being carried out for the benefit of our guests, she knows very well that as a general rule the homeless are typically unreceptive to change. That was in the back of her mind as she oversaw the normal routine of waking our guests, getting matts and cots put away and cleaning the multi.

In the midst of all of this, Lisa remembered another line - van sign ups for rides downtown and other locations around the city. We hadn't discussed this line at our meeting. Not wanting to wake up our executive team at that time in the morning, for which I remain grateful, and realizing that the whole idea was to eliminate lines at Joy Junction, Lisa made a good decision.

She talked to the person who had been in charge of overseeing the van sign up "line," and asked them to do things a little differently. To start the ball rolling, she asked that individual to walk around our multi purpose building, ask people if they needed a ride and where they needed to go.

The result? Lisa said, "It worked well, and there was one more line gone."

As the 7:00 a.m. breakfast time approached, and guests began to line up, Lisa directed them to their tables and asked them to have a seat.

Lisa told me she said, " Joy Junction is trying something new. We feel that the homeless stand in enough lines and that in addition to enjoying the beginning of a new day, we feel you deserve to sit down, be served and enjoy your meal."

Initially, Lisa said, no one was quite sure how to respond but they sat nevertheless and started talking about their upcoming day.

Then our CIPP participant servers arrived at the multi, from their various residences located around our 52-acre South Valley complex.

Lisa said, "They were rubbing sleep from their eyes, asking where to go and what to do. Most had smiles and were good hearted about the task at hand. But there are always the few grumpy ones in the crowd!"

Lisa approached the crowd of new servers, anxious to hear what was being said. Some of our grumpier participants said, "We are not coming over and serving the overnighters everyday!"

Someone else said, "I don't even eat at (Joy Junction!). Why should I serve those who do?"

Another person commented, "We are only going to make them depend on the shelter even more, if we serve them like they just walked into a restaurant and were paying!"

As I thought about this comment, I reflected sadly that at whatever stage of life we might be at we are all typically so quick to forget where we came from. A few weeks ago, this person had been in the same place as those people he was initially now so unwilling to serve!

I am so appreciative for the wisdom the Lord gave Lisa. She told me she calmly said, "You will be here on scheduled days. You are in a program to serve our Lord, and we serve the Lord by serving those less fortunate than ourselves!"

The nay sayers went silent, and people began getting ready to serve. I'm not surprised. Who can argue with a statement like that? It's a core reason for the existence of Joy Junction and every other mission that serves the poor and the homeless.

Lisa told me, "The meals were handed out of the window and CIPP Participants began serving our guests. Everyone started eating, talking and laughing . It was a pleasant start for what would, for most, probably be a long hot day."

Lisa said during the years she has been at Joy Junction she has never seen a meal and its subsequent cleanup proceed so quickly and smoothly.

"Most residents thanked me throughout the morning," Lisa said, "and told me what a big difference this had made for them. No lines at JJ. A simple gesture of respect and dignity. Creating lighter hearts and smiles."