Leighton’s Blog

Please keep me in prayer today. Portland has been a tough stop so far. I couldn’t find anybody in the Jeep community to help me out so I needed to have the hygiene kits and blankets ship to a UPS store in Portland. In order to fit all the donations into my Jeep I had to unload my Jeep completely into my hotel room last night. You looking at a 48 blankets, 75 hygiene kits, a 100 breakfast bars, some donuts, water and  fruit. Whoever said that 2 door Jeeps have no room??? I couldn’t get any shelters in Portland to return my phone calls or emails about giving them donations or volunteering. So I’m off on my own to do outreach today. Back to my roots… This is how I started off doing outreach in Nashville...by myself.  

Thank you!  Today marks 2 months I’ve been on the road in my Jeep. I couldn’t do this without you. So far we have done 8 homeless outreach stops in the US & Canada. We have given out food, water, clothing and hundreds of hygiene kits and blankets to hundreds of people. Thank you for your support, encouragement & prayers! Four months to go. #missionforhope #jeeps #jeepers #givingback #helpingthehomeless #yesineedahaircut

Making my way south for outreach in Portland, OR on Saturday. Hopefully the blankets and hygiene are waiting for me at the UPS store. Had a bit of down time this week so visited with family and explored the north west part of Washington. Olympic National Park is crazy beautiful! Last photo is where I’m camping for a few days in South Bend, WA. It’s on the water but a few hundred feet up on a ridge but it is a nice hike to the water.

A few images of Alaska & British Columbia from the good camera. 

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 NIV  

A very humbling experience in Seattle Saturday. In the afternoon I volunteered to help serve lunch at the Union Gospel Mission in downtown Seattle. We served lunch to 125 guests. Afterwards I took a walk down by the water to digest everything I saw. I went back to the shelter at night to volunteer to go out in one of their “Search & Rescue” vans to distribute food, hygiene kits, clothing and blankets. (Thank you Beantown Blankets !) We made about six stops and visited two camps.  What I saw was overwhelming to say the least. It’s Sunday morning and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all.  So sad. Sometimes I feel a bit helpless of what I can do to help bit I know God has a plan. A plan much better than anything I could ever think of.  Please pray for Seattle. #missionforhope

Thursday morning I filled up my Jeep with stuff at the Walmart in Vancouver, BC and headed to to the Eastside of Vancouver. People had warned me that the situation of the homeless folks is severe in Vancouver. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Hundreds of homeless people on both sides of Hastings Street. I parked on Hasting Street and opened up the back of my Jeep. I was swarmed by folks and the stuff went quick! I was about to the last of the stuff to a guy who stopped with a bike when two officers grabbed him right behind my Jeep and cuffed him. They detained him for a little bit because they wanted to make sure he didn’t have any weapons on him. They searched his backpack and he had a spray can, alcohol and drugs but no weapons so they did not arrest him. After Nicole and Matt released him they were kind enough to spend about 20 minutes with me to answer my questions about the homeless and drug crisis in Vancouver. They seemed a bit frustrated because of how liberal currents laws are. Par