Miranda Alam / Special to the Sun
Brian Bland, left, and Andy Ross prepare food to serve to homeless people in the Goodness Gracious Ministries food truck in Henderson on Monday, May 6, 2019.
Monday, May 13, 2019 | 2 a.m.
When Bryan Briggs underwent spinal surgery last summer, he expected to return to work in short order. Instead, he was left without the use of his legs.
Briggs lost his job as a truck driver, and eventually ended up homeless. He said during that time, he didn’t know where his next meal would come from.
“I couldn’t get around,” he said. “I slept in the park and would sit all day.”
But Jenny and Brian Bland of the nonprofit Goodness Gracious Ministries gave him hope and encouragement, he said, when he met them feeding the homeless at the park outside Central Church in Henderson.
The Blands started Goodness Gracious Ministries with a renovated trailer four years ago, serving meals to individuals in need. Their aim was to feed the homeless both physically and spiritually.
The couple originally worked as missionaries in the Dominican Republic. After visiting Las Vegas for their daughter’s wedding, Brian said he felt a calling to serve the homeless in the valley.
The couple prepares their own food with the help of volunteers. They also partner with businesses like Chick-fil-A, Panera Bread and Starbucks, who donate food to their cause.
Brian and Jenny use their food trailer to meet low-income members of the community who don’t live near services, counseling or free meals. The idea behind the food trailer is to “come to them.”
The couple say they believe in building relationships with the people they serve. The best way to do this, according to their mission statement, “is to break bread together.”
“It’s important for people to know they are not stuck or forgotten people,” Brian said. “We are willing to help them and direct them to whatever government service is available.”
Last Monday in the park outside Central Church in Henderson, chicken Parmesan sandwiches and ice cream sundaes were on the menu. Jenny and Brian led a prayer circle before serving meals.
Briggs was there that night too. This time, he on his feet and passing out food. He said after support from friends and resources like the ones the Blands provide, he was eventually able to get rehabilitated.
“A few weeks ago I said screw it to the wheelchair,” he said.
Today, Briggs has his own business buying and selling storage units. Jenny said he’s become almost unrecognizable from the wheelchair-using man she first met.
The couple parks their food trailer outside Central Church every Monday night and at Sunset Park every Wednesday night.
Marquiss Cooper, who said he has been homeless for almost 15 months, calls Goodness Gracious “uplifting for the spirit.”
“They come here because they can,” he said. “They’re here to give a meal and their time.”
Cooper said he came to Las Vegas to be closer to his mother. He said he didn’t expect to find himself homeless.
“You can come from wealth and have everything and still be out here,” he said. “There are no restrictions on who is or isn’t vulnerable.”
That is why the Blands want to expand their efforts and eventually build an outreach facility they plan to call the Lovewell Center.
The facility is meant to assist homeless and low-income members of the community, Brian said. People who use the facility would have the chance to acquire points or credits to use toward clothes, groceries, laundry, showers and transportation resources.
The model focuses on empowerment, he said. Points can be acquired through various services or taking classes offered through the nonprofit.
“Nothing is free,” he said. “They have to give back something to get something.”
Jenny said most of the homeless people she has served hadn’t asked for handouts anyway.
“This preserves their dignity,” she said.
The one pitfall though, is acquiring a building to get the facility started.
Jenny said she and her husband had found themselves facing a “not In my backyard” mentality when they try to get approved for a lease.
Despite the NIMBY sentiment, data shows the homeless problem is not going away.
Nevada has an estimated 7,544 people experiencing homelessness on any given day, according to January 2018 data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Department of Housing statistics rank Las Vegas and Clark County among the major American metropolitan communities with the largest numbers of homeless people.
Jenny said one way she and Brian have tried to break the stigma was by educating people.
“People here suffer huge losses,” she said. “Sometimes you can’t just bounce back.”
David Sylzanovitz, who is also known as Desert Dave, has been living out in the desert for two decades.
“It’s not easy,” he said.
Sylzanovitz said he used to live in a refrigerator box in the central valley. “No one bothered me then,” he said. Now, he said, he’s finding himself being criminalized for being homeless, often getting tickets for trespassing or loitering.
Jenny said she understood why law enforcement couldn’t allow trespassing and loitering, but could also see why some homeless people would prefer sleep in a park in a nice part of town over staying in a homeless shelter.
“I would want to live here,” she said, referring to the area near Central Church.
Sylzanovitz praised the Blands'
approach, saying “they treat us more like people.”
But Jenny said it’s really people like Sylzanovitz who help them, by lifting them emotionally and spiritually.
“We get more from them than they get from us,” she said. “These guys are a family out here.”
She said many of the people she and her husband serve keep them posted on what’s going on in their life and will call to check in on them.
“It’s hard not to get invested” she said. “I love these guys.”
To learn more about Goodness Gracious Ministries and ways to volunteer, visit goodnessgraciousministries.com
