Bobby “Tre9″ Herring arrived in downtown Houston one Friday night, prepared for a grand entrance. He had taken a limousine to what should have been a Christian rap concert for the homeless to celebrate the 17th release from Much Luvv Records, the record company he owns.
He arrived to find that city police had insisted his volunteers move the concert/party to another spot that didn’t have enough electrical outlets for the lights and music and sound equipment.
So Herring and his wife, Amanda, who started the Feed a Friend homeless ministry a year ago, stuck to their usual evening routine: providing food and fellowship to 125 men and women who have nothing and no place else to go.
“I guess God had other plans,” Bobby Herring said. “You know what though? It’s a good reminder that this isn’t about us.”
Instead, it’s about people like Patch, Storm, Fernando and Juan. Some have been living on the streets for a bit more than a year. Others feel like it’s been most of their lives. They camp out on concrete and quickly learn what services are available for them to stay clean and get fed.
Tim Jones, 32, has been without a roof for more than 15 months. He said he lost everything he owned in a house fire that occurred while he was on an out-of-town fishing trip. With no insurance and a broken-down vehicle, he moved from Waller to Houston hoping to take advantage of the public transportation system to look for a job.
He gets up early each day and goes to local labor halls looking for day work and, eventually, full-time employment.
When money is tight, Jones said, he depends on services such as Feed a Friend for an evening meal. And through it, he’s also found friendship.
“I’m very thankful for what they do,” Jones said. “Amanda and Tre have given me a lot. I know I can talk to them, and they treat us like real people.”
Amanda Herring said that’s definitely the goal of her ministry — “to make every individual feel significant and experience the love of Christ.”
Bobby Herring’s ministry, Hip Hop Hope Missions, is part of his own spiritual growth. He was writing hip-hop music in high school and shifted his lyrics after becoming a Christian.
His music is Southern-style Christian rap, and his most recent album, The Farmer, thematically played off both his country roots and the parable of the sower that Jesus shared in the gospels.
His stage shows in support of that record often found him in hip-hop clothing modeled after John Deere’s color scheme and branding.
She said Feed a Friend’s growth has been purely organic and is evidence that God’s hand is in it. It began last November when she noticed an abundance of food left over from her previous employer’s two-week auction event. She said the business brought in catered meals each night and would throw away what did not get eaten. Herring said she asked her bosses for permission to take those remains and use them to feed the homeless.
It started with a street corner. She simply showed up and asked who needed help – even waking up people sleeping on the sidewalk and telling them they needed to eat. She did it again the next night and the night after.
As the giving spirit of the holidays neared, her donations and supplies snowballed. Soon she, her mother and teenage daughter were visiting there regularly and trying to find enough storage to hold the clothes, blankets and food that were being donated.
Today, Feed a Friend has more than 50 volunteers and regular donations from businesses and organizations including Bethel’s Heavenly Hands, Glazier Foods, Kroger and Factory Builders Stores.
Feed a Friend isn’t affiliated with any church, yet every night someone from Feed a Friend goes downtown to fill plates and cups, shake hands, pray for the needs of the homeless and do what he or she can to bring a smile to people who often feel invisible.
Another way the Herrings do that is by involving their homeless friends in their lives. The night Bobby proposed to Amanda is one they still talk about today.
“It was like a movie,” Amanda Herring recalled.
Bobby Herring had arranged for 12 of the people they regularly serve to give a rose to Amanda as they passed through the food line. She thought it was just a token of their appreciation.
Then Bobby came around the corner in a horse-drawn carriage and knelt on a rose-petal-covered street to ask Amanda to be his wife.
“It just felt right to make them a part of that,” Bobby Herring said. “They’ve really become a part of us.”
