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.”

“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.

“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!”