Thank you to all who participated or donated food to this year's 7th Annual Kevin Brown Memorial BBQ. It was a beautiful afternoon to fellowship with our brothers and sisters on the streets of DC. Special thanks goes to event organizer Rob Hickey who year after year shuns the spotlight to remind people "it's not about us." We'll see you again next May.
The event is held each year on the first Sunday in May outside the Gospel Rescue Ministiries Mission in DC where hundreds of homeless people and neighbors of the area are served an old fashioned picnic of burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, chips, and soda.
Just Who Was Kevin Brown
Kevin Brown was a homeless man who moved a mountain. Sometime in late 2000 or early 2001 a homeless man showed up on the doorstep of Crossroads United Methodist Church (at that time called Ashburn UMC) in Ashburn, Va. He needed help. The church opened its doors to Kevin and had him do odd jobs around the church and in return the church set Kevin up with a simple apartment in Leesburg. Kevin always had a smile on his face and a friendly greeting for everyone.
In the fall of 2001 Kevin mentioned to some of the full-time staff that there were homeless in Franklin Park, DC who are hungry and in need of fundamental living essentials. With that information in their minds, and God’s desire to have His people serve one another the Franklin Square Food and Fellowship for the Homeless mission was born. The mission started out with one or two church members driving into the district with sandwiches for the homeless men and women in Franklin Park. Often times the weather was cold and the snow or rain was blowing sideways, but, Kevin was there seeking out the various places, he knew all too well from first hand experience, where he would find people huddled together trying to stay warm. We never met one individual who wasn’t grateful for those simple sandwiches and something to drink.
In the spring of 2002 an idea was proposed to Kevin if the homeless men and women would be interested in an old fashion cookout with hamburgers and hotdogs. He said that they would, indeed. Well, the mountain of people at the church swung into action. Mr. Don Melvin the Deputy Executive Director, of the Gospel Rescue Ministries Mission on 5th Street in Washington, D. C. was contacted to set up a cookout on the sidewalk in front of the mission. Kevin led the charge once again. We scheduled the cookout for the homeless on the first Sunday in May (the week before Mother’s Day) and it was a resounding success. That first year we served somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 homeless men and women. We served the traditional hamburger and hotdog cookout with all the trimmings to include potato salad. I believe that we the church members gained more from the experience than did the homeless men and women. We had the opportunity to visit with these people, who were just like us, with one obvious exception, they didn’t live in homes or have jobs, but, for the most part they were just people, people with problems, just like us. This past year we served well over 750 men and women. We've come a long way Kevin.
Sadly, Kevin Brown passed away between the first homeless cookout and the second. Even though Kevin may be gone from us physically, his legacy still lives on. He was a homeless man who demonstrated God’s love to us, and taught us to serve God and God’s people in an entirely different light. Today Crossroads United Methodist Church provides meals twice a month to the homeless men and women of Franklin Park, and unknown number of coats and foul weather clothing each winter, over 150 pair of heavy work boots (because these men have said they need the work boots to work construction). Kevin never set out to mobilize a church or to move a mountain of people and logistics, but through a kind heart and God's love he did just that. (excerpts taken from a letter written by Rob Hickey)
