WHO WE ARE
ABOUT US
At Yowkebed Ministries, we believe in serving our community with compassion, dignity, and love.
Since our founding, we have been committed to supporting unsheltered neighbors and families facing hardship, ensuring that everyone who comes through our doors feels seen, valued, and cared for.
Our work is guided by faith, empathy, and a commitment to action.
Every program we offer — from providing warm clothing and essential supplies to offering meals and laundry services — is designed to meet the immediate needs of our neighbors while fostering hope and a sense of belonging.
We are a small but passionate team, driven by the belief that even modest acts of kindness can create meaningful change.
Our ministry thrives because of the generosity and dedication of supporters, volunteers, and partners who share our vision of a world where no one is overlooked or forgotten.
Our Values
LOVE
When you’ve been told you’re worthless long enough, you start to believe it. Our work is simple: remind people (our treasures) they are valuable treasures.
We look for the treasures that are in plain sight but yet invisible to so many. We don’t need to know their story to know their worth. Our faith teaches us that every person is made in the image of God, including the ones the world throws away. We trust that every act of kindness plants seeds of love, even when we never see them bloom.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION
Our treasures are scattered throughout diverse cultures and communities. They are our blessing, our opportunities to spread love to all mankind. They help us overcome judgmental attitudes, prejudices, racism, hate, social isolation, and much more.
We find treasures in abandoned cars, on soiled, stained, polluted mattresses, asleep on concrete sidewalks, behind dilapidated buildings, at bus stops. They are transient and their lives are always in motion, moving swiftly to stay safe or ahead of traumatic police sweeps.
Every encounter with a treasure is appreciated and approached with warm smiles and kind words. We may serve someone once and never see them again. That doesn’t mean our impact was small. Yowkebed Ministries doesn’t measure impact by who stays or who graduates from a program. Yowkebed Ministries measures impact by our consistency in showing up with love, knowing that one hot meal, one pair of clean socks, the barefooted that’s comforted by shoes we provide, cold water, a refreshing bottle of Gatorade, and just one moment of being treated like a person is how we serve love and measure our impact.
HOPE
Hope is our driving force. Imagine waking up not knowing where your next meal comes from. Wearing the same unwashed clothes for weeks. Avoiding eye contact because you feel the shame of being “different.” Living in constant fear of violence, police, weather, illness, robbery, and rape. This is the daily life for our treasures. We remove one piece of that desperation at a time.
A full stomach means one less decision to make. Clean clothes mean one less barrier to a job interview or just holding your head up. Laundry money means clean, fresh clothing which helps build dignity. We can’t solve homelessness overnight. But we can make today survivable. And when today is survivable, tomorrow becomes possible.
Many of our treasures have failed by “today’s systems:” foster care, mental health services, the justice system, shelters with rules they can’t follow. Some have simply given up trying to fit into a world that constantly rejects them. They’re not broken; they’re surviving. Yowkebed Ministries doesn’t require participation in programs, meetings, or services. No hoops. No conditions. Just presence. You don’t have to want to “get better” to deserve a meal. Trust is rebuilt one interaction at a time.
DIGNITY WE KNOW THEIR NAMES
The reality is that our treasures are different, their communities are different, their lifestyles are different, but their basic needs are just like other human beings: food, water, rest, safety, and shelter. Today, many see them as problematic and don’t want them around, but when you have no address you disappear from systems—no mail, no job applications, no way to prove you exist. Our treasures aren’t choosing to be hidden; they are pushed into hidden places.
To many people they are invisible, but to Yowkebed Ministries they are human beings, someone’s mother, father, daughter, son, sister, the uncle that hasn’t been seen for a very long time. At Yowkebed Ministries we see them, we know their names and they are by no means invisible. When you’ve been judged, rejected, and dehumanized, the first step isn’t housing or rehab—it’s someone showing you that you still matter, exactly as you are.
