The Greek word \u201cparaclete\u201d is used in the Bible as a name for both the Holy Spirit and Jesus. One meaning of the word is \u201chelper,\u201d and in that sense, Shepherd Community Center Director of Development Kolton Williford serves as a paraclete to a family on the near Eastside of Indianapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kolton shares his experiences with the family here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have known this family for nine years. I love their family, and my heart breaks for what they have experienced. I pause sometimes to think, \u2018Where would this family be without a Shepherd Community Center?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a parent of daughters, I now pray more often than I used to. This family consists of a mother, five daughters, and an abusive and absent father. It\u2019s a story that is all too familiar in the neighborhood we serve and in many surrounding ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fathers not being present in the lives of their family continues to break our society and strengthen cycles of poverty. I am thankful that Shepherd works to combat that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I speak with the mom or visit the family\u2019s home, she often greets me with an exhausted smile, but she is always welcoming. She works nights at a good job in the hospitality industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family has been connected to Shepherd for over 17 years. I met the eldest daughter when she was 8 years old as I served in a summer intern role nine years ago. I continued to grow in my connection with the family when I introduced a Shepherd donor and volunteer to her through a tutoring program. The two instantly connected, and their relationship grew strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The donor has not only stayed in contact with the eldest daughter but has connected with the other four girls as well as the mother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Dec. 23, 2022, a Shepherd colleague who pastors the family and I sat at their dinner table for several hours after they all opened Christmas presents that were provided by another generous donor. I saw hope and joy in the eyes of the mother and the five girls. As we told stories and discussed the daughters\u2019 goals and dreams, I was reminded that sometimes the most powerful thing we can do for our neighbors is simply to be with<\/em> them. We are created to do life together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This again raises the question: ‘Where would this family \u2013 and many others \u2013 be without Shepherd?’ Shepherd is a special place, but what makes it so special are the kids, families, and individuals we serve.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n My purpose is to authentically love others and to care for the vulnerable. What’s yours? How do you get to live that out?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Greek word \u201cparaclete\u201d is used in the Bible as a name for both the Holy Spirit and Jesus. One meaning of the word is \u201chelper,\u201d and in that sense, Shepherd Community Center Director of Development Kolton Williford serves as a paraclete to a family on the near Eastside of Indianapolis. Kolton shares his experiences […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-shepherd","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftindy.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}