
Prayerfully planting seeds and delivering hope one box of food at a time
It was through tears of joy that Donna Smith ran through StreetWise’s building shouting, “I had a lady come to Christ with me!”
She was overjoyed. Of all the years that she’d been sharing her testimony with others, this had never happened to her before. People had listened, even been moved to tears, but no one had ever connected with Donna quite like the young mother who had recently come to StreetWise’s food pantry.
“I was telling her about how Christ could bring peace into her life,” she said. “I gave her some Bible verses and went through a little story I usually tell and then I said to her, ‘Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins?’ And she said, ‘I do now.’ And I said, ‘Would you repeat that?’ And she did, and we ended up crying and hugging.”
Donna thinks about that moment often and prays for that young woman nearly every day.
“God used me, even little old me!” she said. “It was such a joy that God could use somebody that feels as flawed as I feel sometimes.”
But God has been using Donna, her servant’s heart, and her personal testimony for the past 18 years planting seeds and bringing hope to those she comes in contact with, serving with StreetWise in any capacity they need her.
“I come on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and I have been in almost every volunteer position,” she said. “I’ve done client advising, worked with the produce, worked in the market a little bit, stocked the market, helped in the clothing room — I’ve even answered the phone a few times. Wherever they can throw me, I’m happy to be thrown!”
She first got plugged in when Pat Powell, one of StreetWise’s founders, came to her church to share about a change to their ministry.
“They were moving StreetWise from downtown Atlanta to Lawrenceville. I had just retired, and I wanted something to do. When Pat started talking, there was just something in me that said, ‘You need to follow through with this.’ I did, and I have loved every minute of it,” Donna, the mother of three and grandmother of nine, said.
- Donna with her husband Chris and two sons’ families
- Donna, Chris and daughter’s family
- Donna, Chris and two granddaughters
Her passion for StreetWise is rooted in the fact that the ministry puts God at the center of everything it does.
“Before we start every morning — even if it’s a morning that we’re not seeing clients and we’re just stocking the shelves — we meet in a room, all the volunteers and staff, and we pray. We ask if there are any prayer requests in the room and if there’s something on somebody’s heart. We pray for the ministry. We pray for the clients,” Donna said.
The volunteers and staff have prayed big prayers for things like refrigeration equipment and walk-in freezers and for “small” intercessions, like for a client to find exactly what they need in a box or a bag of food they open when they get home. It’s intentional prayer for a bigger purpose.
“You hope these seeds you plant — even just a smile to somebody, or helping them get the groceries in their car, or taking them a bag of something that they might have asked for or praying with them at their car — can bring them to, ‘I wanna know more about this Jesus they’re talking about,’” she said.
That intentional prayer and genuine love of people by meeting their needs has always been at the core mission of StreetWise, even before they could provide fresh food. Donna remembers what it was like before they got refrigerators and freezers.
“We were giving clients two small boxes that had a loaf of bread; some peanut butter and jelly; some dried spaghetti noodles and sauce; and boxes of cereal, those kinds of things. And we carried these two little boxes to the car, and we just thought it was fabulous that we could be a part of this,” Donna said. “Now we are giving an estimated $700 worth of groceries to each [weekday] client because we have been blessed. I never would’ve dreamed it’d be what it is today back when we started with those two little boxes. But how could you doubt that God was in a ministry that has grown so much?”
Today, in addition to food, StreetWise is able to let clients shop for personal care items, vitamins, pet food, clothing and more for themselves and their children — all at no cost.
Some of the most powerful moments, though, are through the interactions volunteers like Donna have with their clients.
“I’ve been in the intake room praying with clients when we have to do all that wonderful paperwork. We pray privately with them,” she said. “I [counseled] a young man one time, and after we prayed, he said to me, ‘Can I ask you to pray for one more thing? I want to find a godly wife.’ He said, ‘I know that sounds silly.’ And I said, ‘No, it doesn’t. There’s no prayer that’s silly — I’ve prayed for parking places before if you want to talk silly!’ So we stopped and prayed again for him to find a godly woman. And I’ve been looking for that young man to come back in and find out if he found one.”
Sometimes, people really open up with their deepest hurts in those private rooms, Donna said. One time an elderly woman asked if she could share about an abortion she had earlier in her life that she was still wrestling with. “And she wanted to know, ‘Did I commit that child to Hell?’ And I said, ‘No, you did not. God’s got that child in the palm of his hands. And if you know Him, you’re going to be with Him too,’” Donna said.
Donna said being able to have those kinds of moments is why this ministry is a warm place in her heart. That’s why one of her prayers is for more people to be called to volunteer at StreetWise. Many of the volunteers are getting older, and they could use some help.
“If there are people out there who have a few hours of their time to spare, they would be welcomed like a new member of the family. We laugh, and we love each other and we depend on each other.” Donna said. “And they would find God using them. There are minor things and major things to be done, but God can use you whether it’s minor or major!”
- back left to front right: Sharon, Donna, Sandi, Amy, Rene, Bertha
- L-R: Sharon, Sandi, Donna, Rene