With the convening of Wheeling’s new clergy-led Homeless Taskforce, we reflect on Wheeling’s long and active tradition of faith-based accompaniment with our homeless neighbors. It gives us hope that the City is now adopting this time-tested approach.

“What to do about all these poor people!? Especially in the face of a new age of American innovation, prosperity, and wealth?” We are asking it today, in Wheeling and across the country, too often fraught with overwhelm at the unsurmountable complexity of the seemingly unprecedented situation.

People talk about “rock bottom” like it’s a specific address.

Like if you follow someone’s story long enough, you’ll eventually arrive at the same place. A dramatic collapse. A moment where everything falls apart so completely that change becomes the only option left. It’s the version of the story we see in movies and headlines. The job lost. The relationships shattered. The public unraveling that makes the turning point obvious to everyone watching.

But actually, rock bottom isn’t a place. It’s a moment.

Dear reader,

There’s a certain kind of magic in Wheeling during the summer. The way the lush, green hills cascade around The Ohio; the way the city comes alive with outdoor music and festivals; the way the air becomes heavier and hazy yet everything feels a little lighter.

But it’s important to note that this summer hasn’t been easy for some of our neighbors. When the Valley was hit with a dangerous heatwave over the Fourth of July weekend, little to no efforts were made on the part of the city to provide cool, safe spaces for unhoused people. There is actually no city emergency plan for extreme weather for unhoused individuals. 

Recently, the City of Wheeling announced the creation of a “Homeless Task Force” and, more recently, announced that Rabbi Joshua Lief would serve as chair of the committee and as one of several faith leaders. This is a very helpful lens to bring to conversations about homelessness for many reasons, especially when the stigma of being “homeless” often comes with being dehumanized for lacking one main material thing – money. But it is not money that gives human life value – or at least it shouldn’t. 

I have been a Chef for almost 20 years and have worked in the restaurant/hospitality industry for 31 years. The industry is notoriously known for its “work hard, play hard” philosophy. The shifts are generally long as well as physically and mentally demanding. A lot of workers turn to substances when the shift ends to try and decompress and numb the anxiety, including myself.

For a long time, I thought fun and substances were basically the same thing. Not exactly—but close enough that I didn’t question it.

Celebrations meant using. Stress meant using. Boredom meant using. Even happiness somehow circled back to it. I told myself I was having fun. And sometimes, even in the moment, it felt that way. But the part I didn’t talk about—the part that mattered more—was what came the next morning

There are two notable references to the mustard seed in New Testament scripture that feel relevant to this Street paper and the world right now. One passage, which uses a metaphor for Heaven (Matthew 13:31-32), describes a farmer who plants the smallest of seeds, and yet it grows into a big tree that holds all the birds of the air. The other reference states that faith, even the size of a mustard seed, can move mountains and accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Dear reader,

After a two-year hiatus, I am SO excited to say that Mustard Seed Mountain, West Virginia’s first Street Paper, is back! 

My name is Niamh Coomey and I ended up in Wheeling a year and some odd months ago through a series of pretty random circumstances and decisions – just as any of us end up anywhere, I suppose.

Put simply, the city’s shutting down of the East Wheeling encampment and its forced evictions of dozens of residents who were not provided with any practical alternatives has been wholly unnecessary, senselessly destructive and totally unjustifiable.

Is our country truly full of dangerous people who are better locked away?

It was easy at that age to designate who was “good” and who was “bad,” a narrative which I carried into adulthood until I encountered a “criminal” in my life who flipped that understanding on its head: the criminal, Jesus.

There is a cliche that says, "Respect is earned, not given." However, there is another side of that coin – human dignity – which recognizes that all persons hold an intrinsic value merely for being a human being.

As ideas started forming in our minds, we realized there were more than enough stories about women to fill an entire paper.

I have found…that seeds of faith need two things: to be planted, and time to grow. This has been the story with Mustard Seed Mountain street newspaper.

Looking in a mirror and recognizing our own humanity is hard enough. We ask ourselves, “Who am I? What am I? What is the purpose of me, of this world?”