Rainy Tours are still good... ;)

6 of us sludged it out to Breakthrough for the always-encouraging and amazing tour. There is so much vision and obedience in the leadership at Breakthrough that you can't help but to feel inspired.

We started at the women's facility at 3330 W Carrol that also houses the preschool the children's tutoring and coaching activities. Breakthrough has a great model for developing a network of people and opportunities for the otherwise under-resourced kids growing up in the community of Garfield Park. And we were able to catch a glimpse of the contagious and aggressive vision for growth in their community development in the next three years.

From that point we rode in the Street Outreach RV that's used to reach people, particularly women, where they're at. Keith and Bill were our tour guides and explained how two teams will go out every Friday night between 10pm and 3am. One team stays with the RV to provide hospitality and food to whoever enters. The other team actively goes out and seeks to meet people where they are. Though the ministry at one time was called Bridge of Hope and specifically targeted women caught up in prostitution, it has since broadened it's scope to include anyone that needs to experience the love of Christ through common decency and hospitality.

Next we arrived at the men's facility which also houses the job/skills training and mental/medical health facilities (the women have their own medical treatment room in the women's facility). After touring the men's facility, we were privileged to hear even more of the vision that Breakthrough leadership has for the future of their outreach to really reach out to the entire Garfield Park community.

If you'd like to get involved or check out a future tour, you'll be in for a real treat. Just let us know.