[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 30 (Thursday, March 16, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E335-E336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HAVEN OF REST MINISTRIES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM SAWYER

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 16, 2000

  Mr. SAWYER. Mr. Speaker, the census is the largest, broadest, and 
most complex peacetime civic activity this Nation conducts. The Census 
Bureau will hire hundreds of thousands of temporary workers to ensure 
timely, accurate, and complete information.
  We've all heard that, and some of us have had occasion to mention 
those facts once or twice.
  But sometimes, the big picture can seem overwhelming. I'd like to 
address one small part of this big picture.
  For more than half a century, the Haven of Rest Ministries in my home 
town of Akron, OH, has worked among the poor, homeless, and spiritually 
destitute. Founded by the Rev. and Mr. Charles C. Thomas, Haven of Rest 
provides a wide range of programs and services, not duplicated by other 
agencies or organizations in our community. Its doors are open 24 hours 
a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of year. There is never a charge.
  Haven of Rest neither seeks nor receives financial assistance from 
the United Way or, more remarkably, from any government agency. The 
overwhelming percentage of its financial support--over 80 percent--
comes from individuals.
  In short, Haven of Rest is intimately in touch with a part of our 
community and a population who are often overlooked.
  And now, Haven of rest is doing its part to assist in that civic 
activity we call the census. Haven of Rest has become a designated 
census site. As important, eight members of the Haven's staff have 
received training as census takers. They were selected because of their

[[Page E336]]

well-established relationship with the homeless, and that is where 
their energies will be focused--counting those hardest-to-count 
individuals, the wandering homeless who all too earily slip into 
invisibility.
  That is exactly the sort of commitment, dedication, and civic 
partnership the census requires. This is (as we in Akron say) ``where 
the rubber meets the road''--finding, identifying, and counting those 
who lack basic shelter.
  For three generations, the Thomas family has guided the Haven of Rest 
with a deep and abiding sense of the dignity and worth of every 
individual. They understand and live the creed that everyone matters 
and every one of us counts.
  I commend them for their caring, and for their inspirational 
demonstration of what ``civic duty is really all about.

                          ____________________