Published May 31, 2009
By Ann Doss Helms
The Charlotte Observer
Grant Hurd might seem to lead a sheltered life, living at Providence Country Club subdivision and going to private school.
In fact, the 16-year-old has thrown himself into sheltering folks who otherwise would spend nights on the street.
When homeless shelters fill up during the cold months, congregations working with the Urban Ministry Center's Room in the Inn program provide a meal and a warm place to sleep.
Grant's dad, Bill Hurd, volunteered to coordinate the effort for the uptown First Baptist Church. The first Sunday he brought his son along.
“From then on, it was Grant all the way,” says associate pastor Jonathan Rebsamen, who marvels at the time and energy the teen put in.
Around 3 every Sunday afternoon, Grant would be at the church, about half an hour's drive from his southeast Charlotte home. He'd get a dozen cots set up and work with Sunday school classes to prepare dinner.
Then he'd join his dad on the church bus and head for the Urban Ministry Center. Seeing the crowd gathered there and knowing many would be turned away was an awakening, says Grant, who is finishing his sophomore year at Charlotte Latin School.
Before that, he hadn't met any homeless people. But as he hung out for dinner and socializing – sometimes even spending the night – the personal stories began to emerge.
He learned that many of the church's guests work but can't afford rent. Some had been professionals before falling on hard times.
One pregnant woman was only a day or two from her due date; the volunteers wondered if they might have to help with a delivery. But she didn't go into labor. They took her back to Urban Ministry the next morning and never learned what happened to her and the baby.
Grant spent a long time talking to Terry from Texas, a former street fighter so big Grant thought he might need two cots. Terry said he'd been following NASCAR races to sell merchandise when he needed emergency surgery in Charlotte. When he got out of the hospital, he didn't have a place to stay.
Room in the Inn runs from December to March, and Grant didn't miss a Sunday. The family has Panthers tickets, Rebsamen says, but Grant left games early to prepare for the guests.
“Even Super Bowl Sunday, he was there,” Rebsamen recalls. “He was there for a mission, and that's what he wanted to accomplish.”
Grant says his parents, Bill and Maria Hurd, taught him “to have a heart and be a servant.” He's done other volunteer work, with a hospital and Habitat for Humanity, but Room in the Inn has become special. He wrote an English paper on Charlotte's need for affordable housing and is pushing his church to expand the number of guests it takes in next winter.
Bill Hurd is proud of his son, and hopes his story reaches more people with comfortable lives.
“Grant has a nice life, great school, plenty of food and a nice home to come home to every day. For me, it was important for him to see that life is not a bed of roses for everyone,” he said. “The stereotype of the homeless community is not true. These are real people who have family, have pride and have a need that this rather wealthy community of Charlotte can impact in a positive way.”
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