Spiritual Perspectives
Hope and Heartbreak at CARE 66

By Sanjay Choudhrie
Special to The Independent

CARE 66 has an invisible sign on the door that says, "We will help you change your life." Yes, we know that changing a life is the work of a lifetime. We tend to think of our work as planting seeds and nurturing the sprouts and buds of change.

This is not language one would use to describe these survivors of the worst that life can be. But we watch things change for the better and the worse too. We watched a mild mannered man call his fellow residents on the floor to clean up their messes. We watch people get work. And we've heard their employers say, "Where did you get that man? He's a good worker."

We watch people make mistakes with their lives. We are lied to, cheated, and robbed everyday. And yet every day we see someone steal their life away from destruction and head toward hope. You can see it in the way they walk and carry themselves.

We rent a building that provides the necessities of life: toilets, showers, beds, food. But our real product is hope. We make it possible for people to believe that they can do something with their lives. Yes, some of our clients do have problems with success because they can't believe they deserve it. For the most part, we are able to challenge their perception that a good life is not possible. A good life does not mean an easy life. Any addict will tell you, things really get tough after they have been sober for a year or more.

A good life means many things. We focus on getting people into jobs. It's the strangest thing. Money. Money earned by sweat and toil gives our clients a lot of self-respect.

CARE 66 is the work of our hopes, imagination, and aspirations of who we want to be as a community, a nation, and a country. We return our clients to citizenship, to being a member of a community.

Last year our clients worked 15,000 hours in paid labor. We put more than 5,200 meals on the table because our dedicated volunteers brought food for clients. More than 20 of our clients moved into homes. That's a 30 percent success rate. These numbers do not convey that there were staff present twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. That people worked when sick or put in extra hours, willingly and diligently. They do not convey the stories of hope and heartbreak that we witness every day.

The last few years have been a learning experience for us. Gallup is a unique place and has its own unique ways of doing things. Ground is being broken for the Chuska Apartments as we speak. We will be able to provide housing to thirty low-income families. We hope to do more.

My heart is drawn toward the New Testament story of the man who suffered a stroke and was waiting for the angel to stir the water. Jesus said to him, "Get up and walk" signifying both that help had arrived and that he did not need to wait for the angels.

We have been blessed by the angels who show up at our door bearing food, money, skills, and encouragement. We need your prayers and blessings as we continue this difficult work of making the world a better place. Please pray for us as we are tired and need all the help we can get.

Sanjay Choudhrie is the executive director of CARE 66. He can be reached at (505) 722-0066 most days of the week.

This column is the result of a desire by community members, representing different faith communities, to share their ideas about bringing a spiritual perspective into our daily lives and community issues.

For information about contributing a guest column, contact Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola at the Independent: (505) 863-8611, ext. 218 or lizreligion01@yahoo.com.