62. Margarita Stowers - I Once Was Homeless ... Now, 'The Angel of the Street' has fed 20000 of them.

A Journey with Bernie

There is a little bit of Mother Teresa in this episode. It was she who understood that through physical suffering, one can enhance their spiritual strength. Consequently, it is exactly how her 'Missionaries of Charity Sisters' live. To call them 'minimalists' would be an understatement. They virtually live as the 'poor', so that they can understand and fully respect the very people they serve. In addition, living without 'worldly conveniences' inspires them to find their happiness and joy from within. Today's guest resonates with that inner journey from suffering to spiritual contentment.

Margarita Aunei-Stowers is the Founder and CEO of a remarkable charity called Giv3 Our Time. They feed the Homeless with food, love and hope. After you hear her story and the unrelenting purpose of her life, you will at the least, want to donate, so joyfully I give you access to their website via their donation page ... www.giv3ourtime.com/donate/ ... you must visit it.

Margarita certainly knows suffering.
She felt suffering when she too lived without shelter in the deadly Vines St, Sunset Bvld and Argyle Ave of Hollywood. That was terrifying.
She encountered a deep suffering, when with her fellow 'Homies', she too received the daily gift of 'isolation' from a world that arrogantly walked silently by.
Does anybody really care? Who cares?
This was a powerful mental and emotional suffering.
She suffered every time she had to ask permission to use a bathroom or to enter a grocery store for nothing but basics.
This was the suffering of being harshly judged for not having a shower.
She experienced the suffering of not knowing how to pick herself up and rise again, of not knowing where to turn ... this was the suffering of 'no hope', which was her existence for many years both in the avenues of Los Angeles and streets of Brisbane.

Somehow, someway, Margarita was able to find a pathway out. Maybe it was her faith relationship with God, founded at a very early age, that kept her searching. Maybe it was the thousands of muttered prayers murmured through the trembling lips of her beautiful and believing mother. Who knows from where Margarita's resolve came, but somehow, she eventually found a simple shelter here in the Brisbane bayside suburb of Wynnum. She is thankful.

Time and gratitude have now allowed her to convert the sufferings of her past into a deep spiritual richness.

Her passion is unstoppable now, as she feeds the 'Homeless' of Southeast Queensland with heart, belief and some good old Aussie tucker, that invites the 'Homeless' to smile, to open up, to share, to solve, as they joyfully feed their undernourished bodies. So far, her data suggests, she and her devoted team have fed 20000 such marginalized citizens so far. For many of them, Margarita has become their Mother Teresa.

Her work appears to be endless with the arrival of new persons into Central Brisbane streets at an alarming rate.
In her words, we all are suffering a crisis.

This is why, she will more than appreciate your donation. It helps.
However, more than that she actually wants the currency of your personal energy and time. She wants you to call her and volunteer ... work with her ... even if just for an hour a week. She wants businesses large and small, to offer their goods and actively get involved as part of the solution. She seeks to educate the ignorant ... to help humble people like you and I to understand that all things are impermanent and that 'the people of the street' are really your brother or your sister in disguise. No-one is immune from the possibility of this desolate, isolating, homeless outcome.

Prepare yourself for one heck of a ride dear listeners, and as you approach the end of this podcast make sure your phone is handy, because you will want to call or text the mobile number of this 'Angel of the Street' ...

Margarita Stowers ... [phone]