SPRINGDALE — Everett Coonfield has a message to share - homelessness in Northwest Arkansas is a reality, and the homeless need help.
The 37-year-old spent the last three nights sleeping in a tent outside First Assembly of God in Springdale. His aim is to bring awareness to the plight of the homeless and to raise money for NWA Hope Center, a nonprofi t organization created to fi ght poverty and homelessness.
This is the second year Coonfi eld has camped out for his “Homeless for Christmas” campaign. His goal is to raise $10,000, he said. Last year, he raised about $6,000. The money will help fund a Christmas outreach program slated for Dec. 22 and assist with operating costs in the coming year.
Coonfield started NWA Hope Center in 2010. He was led by God to do so, he believes. He was homeless himself for a couple of months about a decade ago and spent a subsequent year working with the homeless in Los Angeles.
He wanted to bring a similar ministry here.
The heart of his eff orts is a monthly outreach program at Walker Park in Fayetteville.
Coonfield and his wife, Amy, distribute food, clothes, toiletriesand a simple meal to the homeless and “near homeless,” those struggling to make ends meet.
They are aided in their eff orts by family, friends, church members and businesses. The Coonfi elds attend First Assembly of God in Springdale, but members of other Assembly of God churches also take part, they said.
Volunteers strive to forge personal relationships with the people they serve, said Amy Coonfield, who married Everett in March. “That’s the biggest thing - making a connection with them. If you can remember their names, that’s the (most important) thing.”
Between 100 and 150 people attend the monthly outreach, Everett Coonfield said. Last year, there were 300 at theChristmas event.
That event, and the monthly outreach from November to February, are held at Wiggins United Methodist Church in south Fayetteville. Wiggins hosts a weekly community meals program.
The NWA Hope Center off ers its services in a separate part of the building, said Cherrie Frazee, who helps coordinate the weekly meals.
“The people are really excited for him to come,” she said of Coonfi eld. “They take home clothes and shoes and all kinds of things.”
Coonfield is always happy and positive, but he knows how to set limits and maintain control, Frazee said. That’s a plus when working with some of the issues that arise, such as someone who might be intoxicated.
“It’s his ministry,” Frazee said.
“He has touched so many lives.
(He’s motivated by) the love of Christ. Everett shines. He really does.” A LONG ROAD HOME
Coonfield was 20 when he walked away from the Pentecostal faith he was raised in, he said. “I decided I was done with church and I didn’t need rules.”
He spent the next decade doing drugs - everything from meth and cocaine to ecstasy, he said. His life reflected the consequences of his poor decisions. Alienated from his family, unable to hold a steady job, he took refuge in the next good time.
He slept beneath a Fayetteville park bench during his two months of homelessness. Other times, hestayed with friends or roommates.
Coonfield spent his 30th birthday in a friend’s apartment, he said. She left to run errands, and he crawled into the closet. He sat with his back against the door and bawled, he recalled.
“I didn’t understand how someone who was so promising and supposed to do so much could end up in someone else’s house, with no home, no money, no job, no car - nothing.”
The event was a turning point in his life, Coonfi eld said. He quit drugs cold turkey, reconciled with his family and returned to church.
“I promised God that I would come back to what I was supposed to be doing - come back to church and serve him for the rest of my life,” he said. “Eight years later, here I am.”
About a year into his “recreation,” Coonfield felt a deeper sense of purpose, he said. He went into a church and knelt at the altar. “Here I am, use me,” he prayed.
“If you’re not ready for that, don’t do that,” he said with a laugh. Things began to come together, starting with his sister’s ministry at Living Faith Pentecostal Church of God in Fayetteville. She ran the clothing and food pantry there and went with her pastor to a leadership training program in Phoenix.
The following year, Coonfield went along. The weeklong conference started with a ministries parade. Themoment he saw representatives from the Los Angeles Dream Center walk on stage, he began arguing with God, he said. “‘I’m not going to L.A.’”
Less than a year later, he was there. Coonfi eld served a one-year mission at the center in 2009, with fi nancial help from his current church, he said.
“I knew that was where I was supposed to go. If I didn’t go, if I didn’t follow the call I’d answered years ago, I’d be one of those dreamers still dreaming.”
The Dream Center is a Pentecostal mission located between Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles. Housed in a former hospital, it offers food, shelter, clothing and counseling for those in spiritual and physical need.
Coonfield served in the kitchen and as security, an experience that helped him gain confidence and fi nd his voice, he said. “It taught me when to take control of the situation, taught me that I could do that.”
He’d always thought his boisterous personality was a liability, he said. Now he realized that God needed his gifts.
“God was preparing me for the future. He needed someone with a loud voice, someone who could break that ice with humor.”
At 6 feet tall and 300-plus pounds, Coonfi eld is a hearty messenger. He’s blunt in his delivery, he said.
“There are 2,001 homeless people in Northwest Arkansas on any given night. They need our help.”
Religion, Pages 8 on 12/08/2012