New Day Maryland, Inc.New Day's Programs
How We Help Our Friends
Friends Services
New Day recognizes the need for professional services in order to adequately address homelessness in the greater
Laurel area. We work closely with local medical and legal professionals who volunteer their time with New Day.
Our organizational structure allows New Day to have more flexibility than many local organizations. We are
able to work closely with a
select number of individuals to ensure that they are
connected and engaged with all resources for which
they are eligible. We partner with established
social service organizations in order to leverage
resources already put into place and avoid any
duplication in effort. We meet people where they
are, both emotionally and physically. New Day works
with those at various points of change and we do
that primarily out in the community – a parking lot,
library, fast food restaurant, or the woods. Our
size and focus allow New Day to provide
“door-to-door” linkage for our friends. We go beyond
simply providing a referral and work to ensure that
all individuals we work with are able to enroll in,
and receive the resources needed.
Some of what we do:
First Friends
On any Friday morning at 8:30AM at the Denny's
restaurant in Laurel, Maryland, you will find a
group of men having breakfast. When you look at
the group, you may notice that some of the men
may look like the homeless person you saw
standing on the corner a few days ago. It may
actually be that same person. Like most cities
in the United States, Laurel has a problem with
homelessness due to poverty. Often poverty is
described as a lack of material things. Anyone
can find themselves in a situation when they
have lost their home and possessions due to
almost any catastrophic circumstance, such as
loss of a job, major illness, addiction or even
a tragic personal loss. This is what New Day
calls the brokenness of the world. All of us
have broken relationships: with God, with
ourselves, and with others! There a group of
churches in Laurel that has operated a Winter
Shelter program in the past few years.
They provide a warm place for the homeless to
sleep during the cold months of the year. Hank
Crosswhite, the Secretary/Treasurer of New Day,
attends Bethany Community Church which is one of
the churches in the Winter Shelter program.
While talking with the men of Bethany Community
Church, Hank felt that part of the reason that
people find themselves living on the edge is
because they have lost touch with their support
network for one reason or another, so he
proposed the First Friends Breakfast to help
these homeless men restore their relationships.
This was the beginning of First Friends in 2013.
Since that day, each Friday morning at 8:30, you
will find men from several different churches
who want to help others joining together with a
group of homeless or formerly homeless men to
pray, study the bible and share a meal together.
After the server takes everyone's orders, Hank
opens with prayer and bible study while waiting
for the food. Then as the men eat their food
they build relationships and friendships with
each other as they talk and tell their stories.
When you are homeless and alone, having someone
to listen to you and care about you is sometimes
more fulfilling than the food that you are
eating. This is also a chance for the men to
network, just as in a large business meeting,
and learn about jobs and opportunities to help
them find work. Some of the men are skilled
tradesmen such as electricians, carpenters and
plumbers who have lost everything and find it
difficult to find work since they no longer have
transportation to job sites. Some of the men are
veterans who have served their country proudly
and now feel abandoned. Hank has made a point of
knowing all the men's names and their personal
stories. Here is where they find new friends and
people who care for them and feel better about
themselves and begin healing their brokenness.
Many of the men now come more for the fellowship
and worship more than for just a meal. First
Friends Breakfast has been covered in the PG
Gazette in January 2015 and on Laurel TV in
2016.
The Future
We believe that a major barrier in solving
homelessness in the Laurel area is the lack of
affordable housing. New Day's solution to this
problem is a Single Room Occupancy (SRO)
facility affordable for people on limited
incomes such as Social Security Disability or
Supplemental Security Income. We are planning
for a facility that can provide both efficiency
units, to be rented at a reasonable rental rate,
and a permanent location for the Winter Shelter
program. New Day is actively working with local
government and business officials to locate an
appropriate location for this facility.
New Day Inc. is an approved facilitator of the Jobs for Life training course currently being offered twice weekly during the Winter Shelter season. Jobs for Life is designed to help both men and women to identify the gifts that God has given them and use these gifts to move forward on financially and spiritually fulfilling career paths. Jobs for Life is intended to help students engage in a journey from unemployment to employment or from under-employment to better employment. Over the past few years, many friends have been successful in obtaining meaningful work that meets their God-given talents and abilities. With full-time employment, they have also been able to find permanent housing, purchase automobiles, and re-establish positive relationships with family and loved ones.