Sunday, December 20, 2009
Life, In this Issue...

Drew Benton—spirit of love in action

 

By H.M. Cauley

After almost three years of working day in and day out with Atlanta’s homeless community, Drew Benton counts many of those less fortunate as his friends—such good friends, in fact, that although he recently moved to Woodstock, he still makes regular trips to Downtown Atlanta to lend a helping hand and an attentive ear.

Until a few months ago, Benton worked at Safehouse, where 200 to 300 homeless people come by daily for referrals to social services, clothes and a meal. But he gave up the steady job to launch his own nonprofit, Project Live Love. The 30-year-old, largely tattooed father of two is putting his past experience to work, setting up an organization that will motivate others to serve and give back.

“We exist to impact culture by love in motion,” says Benton. “Today’s society has an egocentric mentality. But if we can lead people to the ideas of Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Jesus Christ, we could affect today’s social issues such as homelessness and sex trafficking with the power of love.”

Benton has been working toward his own organization for several years. A former student pastor, he left that career to work for a production agency that staged an outreach gala for Safehouse, and he was captivated by the mission that helps people on the streets. He began volunteering, then working part-time and eventually taking a full-time job there.

“Safehouse became a place for me to learn what it meant to live love and not just talk and think about it,” says Benton. “Now I have a different perspective. It’s about living out that faith by living a life for others—it’s not just a holy huddle on Sundays.”

Getting a new nonprofit off the ground in this economy isn’t easy. Benton and Alicia, his wife of eight years, have moved in with family to help cut back costs. He’s created a “Live Love” T-shirt and is working on a billboard to get his message across. He’s also planning a spring art show around the issues of homelessness that will include individual stories. And he’s using his Atlanta contacts to put together a comprehensive list of local nonprofits and what they need, and to find volunteers to meet those needs.

In between, he’s still driving down to Woodruff Park to help homeless men and women get off the streets. And he often has one of his kids in tow.

“My oldest used to come to Safehouse all the time; she grew up around homeless people,” he says.

Benton is teaching his kids that homelessness can be ended. “We’re loving them, not pushing them,” he says. “We want to get them into transitional housing and to walk with them through that journey.”

It’s a journey Benton feels particularly driven to walk with his friends. “It’s not about religion; in fact, I hate religion,” he says. “It drives people to do some of the stupidest things. But I do believe in a relationship with God, and that is a spiritual connection I have. It has changed me. I wouldn’t give a s**t about other people unless I did. But I genuinely believe I have to die to myself and let God live through me, and to show that to other people as well.” SP

Read more about Benton’s work with the homeless at www.drewbenton.com.