Neil Johnson Shares His Experience Volunteering with Holy Spirit’s Homeless Ministry

During the coldest part of the year, it is difficult for homeless men in Atlanta to find the necessities to survive. Shelters around the city become beacons of hope as the men work during the day and find refuge from the natural elements at night.

Neil Johnson has been serving dinner with the Holy Spirit Catholic Church’s Homeless Ministry at the Bashor Homeless Men’s Shelter for the past ten years. After joining his son on a trip to the shelter years prior with The Conquest Club, he saw how the young boys displayed the utmost kindness to the shelter’s residents while serving and socializing with them. This planted a seed in Johnson’s heart of wanting to give back to men in most need.

Owner of Canonbury Homes, Inc. and Kensington Home Preservation, Neil Johnson and his family have been active members of Holy Spirit Catholic Church since 2005. As an initiative with fellow Regnum Christi members, he embarked on giving back to the Homeless Ministry through the church.

The Bashor Homeless Men’s Shelter, located near the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, serves unhoused men in Atlanta from October through March. After going through the shelter’s vetting process, these men are provided a homemade dinner, the opportunity to shower and wash their clothes, a warm place to sleep, and a sack breakfast and lunch as they leave the shelter.

Johnson and other volunteers prepare, transport, serve food, and spend the night at the shelter. With a robust email list of almost 200 parishioners, plenty of hands are eager and ready to uplift an average of 25 to 35 men per night. The parish ministry serves over 1000 hot meals, 1000 breakfast bags, and 1000 sack lunches from November to March each year.

Johnson emphasizes the food donated to the men’s shelter is hand-cooked and prepared by parishioners. Two large refrigerators in Holy Spirit’s kitchen facilities are dedicated to the Homeless Ministry and are constantly filled to the brim. The entrees, vegetables, starches, salads, and desserts are transported from Holy Spirit to the shelter, heated up, and served to these men.

Over the years, Neil has gotten to know the men who frequent the shelter. He is reminded of Matthew 25 and the message that serving others in need is serving God. It encourages Johnson to keep dedicating his time to these men who need to see the hands and feet of Christ and the compassion of others.

“When you look at these men, you’re looking at the eyes of Christ,”-Neil Johnson, Holy Spirit parishioner and Homeless Ministry volunteer

To learn more about the Holy Spirit Homeless Ministry, click here.

To learn more about the Bashor Homeless Men’s Shelter, click here.