City Gospel Mission program builds friendships at The Outlet

Kevin Rosebrook, who serves as vice president of homeless services at City Gospel Mission, says stereotypes of homelessness are broken down when volunteers interact with guests at The Outlet. 

Rosebrook remembers four years ago, when he sat across the table from a man who was homeless. The two did not know each other, but they came to find out they shared striking similarities. They both attended Miami University at the same time; they were both athletes; and they both shared similar friends.  

“He’s obviously a very gifted person, [who was] able to succeed in college and was a varsity athlete, and yet some mental illness he had caused him to have different struggles in his life and find himself homeless,” Rosebrook says. 

It’s these kinds of stories, he says, that open people’s eyes to the reality that homeless individuals can’t be stereotyped as having a “lack of education” or as being individuals who “just need to go out and get a job.”

”And these kinds of thoughts that were told as true and that become acceptable in middle class communities are not true,” says Rosebrook. “And I think that impacts people when they sit across the table from someone and recognize they have many similarities.” 

The Outlet is a program that enables volunteers and homeless individuals to do just that—whether it’s by sitting down with one another to share a donut and a cup of coffee, playing ping pong or pool, making arts and crafts, listening to live music or kicking back for a game of cards. 

In an effort to achieve City Gospel Mission’s vision of “breaking the cycle of poverty one life at a time,” The Outlet aims to bring people together to form relationships that help homeless individuals address needs, whether those needs are physical, mental, social or pertain to one’s faith. 

“Nine times out of 10, when a person has gone from homelessness to the middle class, it’s because of a significant person in their life, so we want to create those significant relationships,” says Rosebrook. 

So every Saturday and on the first and third Sundays of the month, more than 100 guests and about 30 volunteers hang out and get to know one another better. Rosebrook says he would love to see the program expand to every Sunday and even throughout the week during after-dinner hours. 

“Ultimately, it’s about resources," Rosebrook says. "We say it all the time—it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. And those things are true for the guests we serve, and it’s putting them in contact with the right people. We have some of those resources and are trying to help our guests reach that level of independence, one life at a time.” 

But it’s not just the guests who are impacted by their experiences at The Outlet. Rosebrook says volunteers often tell him they were impacted far more than they could ever impact someone else’s life. 

“I think many volunteers want to do a good thing and want to feel good about themselves on some level, but then when they get there, I think their eyes are open to just love—loving the people that are there and recognizing it could be any of us,” he says. “And I think it shatters a lot of the stereotypes that we came in with. That’s what I want to encourage our volunteers to do the most is to just be open when they come in.” 

Do Good: 

• Volunteer at The Outlet by enjoying fellowship through music, games and crafts with guests. 

• Donate items or funds to support The Outlet. 

• Like City Gospel Mission's page on Facebook. 

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.