The Friendship House

The Friendship House

My dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. 1 Corinthians 15:58

Although her own family had lived comfortably, Louise always had compassion for those less fortunate. At seventy, she sensed that God wanted her to open a shelter for homeless people in Portland, Maine. She prayed long and hard about the idea. Then, with much enthusiasm, she and her husband, Claude, took their life savings of fifty thousand dollars and began combing Portland for a big house.

Some said, “You’re too old to take on a challenge this huge.”

“Impossible! You’ll never find a house for that money when the market is so high,” real-estate agents told them discouragingly.

But find a house they did—a dilapidated, fourteen-room Victorian structure. Louise talked the local jail into providing helpers, so the inmates helped restore ceilings and floors, replace broken windows, replaster, and paint the three-story house. Louise faced many obstacles, but God carried her and provided. Her artist husband traded one of his paintings for appliances.

More funds were needed to open the shelter, so Louise went to churches of all faiths and returned with contributions of blankets, furniture, food, and money. The night before Christmas Eve in 1985, Friendship House opened its doors to serve the homeless with a graciousness and love their “guests” had never dreamed of (they were never called “clients”). Louise enjoyed the most fulfilling years of her life welcoming people to Christ in their brokenness and need. God carried her as she carried others, serving until her dying day.

Louise’s work was not in vain. Many years after her death, Friendship House (for men) and Faith House (for mothers and children) have been places of restoration for thousands of homeless people, all because of the dream and compassion God placed in one woman’s heart. —CHERI

Thank you, God of the impossible, for carrying me as I help others so that the work I do in your name will never be useless.

God’s care will carry you so you can carry others.

—ROBERT H. SCHULLER, AMERICAN TELEVANGELIST AND PASTOR