Page 12 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

Spotlight, Continued from page 11 “beers with coworkers.” He became
dependent on alcohol. Eventually,
let jack to move the pallets around Cokely lost his wife and kids, he lost
and using the hand truck to move his jobs, and he became homeless.
boxes. Paola’s son, Alessandro One winter night, he slept in a
helped out the guys. cardboard box in Detroit. The next
I, on the other hand, did a lot of morning, a man (who Cokely calls
busy work sorting and organizing his angel) told him about a warming
items, combining items within boxes shelter in Westland. That shelter was
to save room, throwing away dam- LHM.
aged or bad products, and helping Cokely went to the warming cen-
Paola with whatever task she was ter and stayed the night. He laid on
working on. the floor, crying, and prayed to God
At one point, we had to head into that “if you help me, I’ll serve you for
the warming center area to load the rest of my life.”
some of the meat into the freezers in During his stay at LHM, he was
that room. Each freezer contained a able to get assistance from volun-
specific meat (i.e. beef, chicken, fish, teers and programs provided by the
ground meats, and so on). center. He was taken to job inter-
Aside from working, it was nice Sarah with volunteers at the Lighthouse home mission food pantry. views and became employed again.
being around the clients again and started almost 40 years ago by Pas- Western-Wayne available. If it wasn't “I got back on my feet, I retired,
seeing familiar faces from the night tor Ruby Beneteau in her own home. us, then where would they go?” said and then God came knocking on my
before. I checked the sign-in sheet In partnership with the Full Gospel Rev. Cokely. door, saying ‘Remember that prom-
and saw 15 clients had signed in that Temple Church, LHM now has a Rev. Cokely has been with the ise you made to me?’” said Rev.
night. food pantry, clothing pantry, soup warming center for about 20 years. Cokely.
Solomon really enjoyed the work kitchen, and warming center. “I understand what they’re going Cokely returned to LHM and was
he was doing and before we even left, The warming center has been through. I’ve been homeless myself,” asked if he wanted to run the warm-
he told me he wanted to come back open for over 20 years. said Rev. Cokely. ing shelter. Cokely accepted the role.
on Fridays again to help. As tired as “It’s important because of the cold In the past, Cokely was married “Everything they’ve been through
I was, I felt fulfilled, and knew I’d winter months, they [the clients] with two kids. He worked two jobs or are going through to come to our
like to come back and help again too. don't really have anywhere to go. but it started to wear on him. His
Lighthouse Home Mission was There’s no other warming center in focus switched from “family” to See Spotlight, page 13

12 · February 2025 · The Wayne Dispatch