Dr. David Thompson, Pastor of the experience, with Mo Mohanna in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Mo Mohanna speaks the universal language of money. Sworn enemies such as Arab and Jew, capitalist and communist, Democrat and Republican, are all brought together by a universal love of money. It was with interest that I listened to Mo, a Muslim and significant land owner in Sacramento, give the spiritual address to the Christian congregation of The Experience.
Mo Mohanna speaks from the heart
Without the aid of notes or prepared text, Mo spoke from his experience and heart. He is a man who has struggled with the intoxicating scent of wealth while earnestly trying to incorporate his religious and cultural values into his business and life’s mission. Even though he didn’t say it, I believe his perspective of life and community is a concept that many people in local government can’t wrap their arms around.
Centralizing social services
Mo has several different projects in the City of Sacramento that are clouded with contention at the city council level. It is my
Loaves and Fishes, and associated social services, attract many homeless people for help.
understanding that he owns the property and buildings in and around Loaves and Fishes. Mo has encouraged and helped different non-profit social services organizations get established to provide services for Sacramento’s homeless population.
NIMBY
If you have driven down 12th Street towards downtown you can see the trails of homeless people heading to the Salvation Army, Loaves and Fishes, Women’s Empowerment and clinics. The City of Sacramento is not keen on the concentration of social services which draw and retain numerous homeless people in the area.
No one left behind
The cynic will conclude that Mo Mohanna is leveraging his ownership of obsolete office space and warehouses by renting to social services until something better comes along. From Mo’s point of view, he is filling the vacuum left by a community that doesn’t want to deal with chronic homelessness while heeding his spiritual calling to leave no one behind.
Where some Christians fear to tread
Here is a Muslim that is doing more for our outcast citizens and residents than most suburban Christian churches that have built beautiful campuses for worship. Mo briefly touched on traveling to Iran and India and seeing the abject poverty that reduces people to mere animals. I got the sense that Mo was less concerned about the sight of disheveled individuals lining up along 12th street than the ignored and lost opportunity to create a system to get people out of homelessness.
A brief Twitter exchange on who does more for homeless: Government, Christians or Muslims.
http://storify.com/kknauss/who-does-more-to-help-poor-government-christians-m
Basketball arena large enough to house the homeless
Twice in two years, the City of Sacramento has fallen over itself to put together multi-million dollar deals to build a new basketball arena to keep the Kings from leaving Sacramento. There have been hundreds of hours of meetings, intricate financial details investigated, plane trips to New York and extensive lobbying to get local businesses to commit real dollars. If the mayor, city council, staff and other business interest would put one fourth of that energy into solving the homeless crisis a solution would probably have been found.
The dream of the Mo
Mo has a dream that Sacramento will develop a model of tackling chronic homelessness that will sweep across the nation. The issue is bigger than Sacramento. Part of the problem lies on the doorstep of surrounding suburbs and counties. The solutions are within reach but I am not sure if enough people speak the spiritual language of compassion.
Health care reform to help
I have often read that true innovation occurs at the business level and not within a government bureaucracy. Mo has been innovative with trying to create solutions in a business model. He will get an added boost as the Affordable Care Act begins in 2014 allowing many homeless people to get help with medical issues. Perhaps the stars are aligning to fulfill Mo’s vision of bringing every one along in the Sacramento economic wagon and walking his spiritual journey to fulfill his faith calling.