Before Martin Brooks took over as pastor at Magothy United Methodist Church in Pasadena, he was a youth pastor in the Washington, D.C. area. Armed with ham and cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, he often took the youngsters under his direction into the city to feed homeless people.

In 2019, after Brooks’ church hosted a Christmas sock drive and delivered 10,000 socks to homeless people in Anne Arundel County, he had an idea and a platform to help those experiencing homelessness nationwide get off the streets and find stability.

“The work that I did with the youth, and the work that I did giving out socks, it became a natural progression to approach Bright Mind Enrichment, who was doing wellness work,” Brooks said. “Here’s something we can do to promote wellness for homeless folks. So, it was a real natural thing.”

Bright Mind Enrichment — a national nonprofit that Brooks created in 2018 with Executive Director Craig Kaufman — is committed to wellness education and community education to help those in need.

Kaufman said that amid the pandemic, he and Brooks set out to have a direct impact on homelessness, which he said was becoming “a crisis situation.”

Brooks’ idea evolved into a digital tool kit designed to help homeless people: Street Care. That online platform and app, created in 2020, helps volunteers properly help homeless people through educational videos, certifications, giving events and wellness tips.

His Pasadena church has since become the organization’s Maryland headquarters.

“Around the pandemic, we were looking for more in-depth work with homelessness and found ways we felt there were some gaps,” said Kaufman, the organization’s only full-time employee. “With the amazing development of tech, we felt it was really important to see what we could do.”

Street Care has helped more than 4,000 people, including 1,500 homeless people, by distributing over 78,000 items and reaching about 67 million people through outreach efforts. It has placed numerous people into housing and helped them find jobs, according to Kaufman.

Street Care has about 40 volunteers in Anne Arundel and Howard counties. According to Kaufman, 5,349 Marylanders are homeless, and of those, 303 are veterans.

Bright Mind and Street Care are led by veterans focused on aiding homeless veterans. Brooks served in the 273rd Military Police Company. While he was never deployed outside the United States, he saw his fellow National Guardsmen deployed to destinations like Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.

While Brooks ultimately decided to leave military service to serve his church as pastor, he said he remained committed to serving the country by helping fellow veterans.

“As a veteran, just knowing there are veterans out in the streets after having served the country and not receiving proper support when they got back, we have a real heart for that,” Brooks said.

Brooks wrote the content of the instructional videos, which educate volunteers on how to help homeless people. They include guides on how to safely interact with people while volunteering and how to address someone who may be affected by mental illness.

“The thing about the app that I’m most proud of is the series of about 30 or 40 videos,” Brooks said. “We found that there are some people who are very good at interacting with strangers and offering them a health kit, but the hope here is to really build a relationship with the homeless folks, get to know them, their stories, and if possible, help them out of that bad situation.”

The organization hands out health kits — gallon Ziplock bags filled with necessities like toothpaste, socks and other supplies — and helps people find housing. It also has opportunities for volunteers who aren’t comfortable going out into the street. People can donate items or package health kits, work done at Magothy United Methodist Church.

Last month, Street Care launched a user verification in the app to denote local leaders and members of the community, increasing safety for volunteers and homeless people receiving care. Each Street Care outreach posting and event is individually vetted, increasing the levels of trust for both volunteers and homeless people, Kaufman said.

Street Care’s app, video-based certification course and browser-based web app all help individuals to safely assist those experiencing homelessness. It also launched its “Virtual Companion” program in February, which provides remote one-on-one support via Zoom and phone, along with a “Peer Support” program that provides one-on-one social and emotional aid to support volunteers and people in need.

“From a faith perspective, [Street Care] is an amazing way to put people’s faith into action,” Brooks said. “From a non-faith perspective, Street Care is one of the ways that we can help people where they’re at and walk alongside them for their betterment, for health and for giving them dignity through a hand up into a safer place to live.”

To learn more or to get involved, visit streetcare.us.

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