Brenda Noyes’ story
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Brenda Noyes has little in common with the 50 women who gathered at Janet Backman’s home near Southeast in her honor. Few of them have been homeless,
jobless, ill and utterly alone. Most have a full set of teeth and more than an eighth grade education. None wear a size 3X.
But on Tuesday, Dec. 13, they gathered to pray and provide for Brenda. Guests brought gifts wrapped in Christmas paper. Under the wrappings were things Brenda
needed, such as paper towels, tissue paper, a robe and slippers. A pile of Christmas cards included donations to help with rent and utilities.
Though Brenda was not able to go to the party, that gathering was all about friends helping friends. Many women in the group have never met Brenda, but they have
prayed for her.
Friendships began to form on a bitter November day three years ago when Southeast member Teresa Doyle saw Brenda and her late husband, Richard, hitchhiking
on Interstate 64. Brenda sat on a collapsible stool beside two suitcases that held all the couple owned. Richard was tethered to an oxygen tank.
Doyle had never stopped for hitchhikers before. Never. But that day, she exited the expressway and circled back to see how to help.
“I stopped for two reasons,” she said. “Christ’s love, and I knew this couple needed help.”
When Doyle rolled down her window to ask what they needed, all Brenda asked for was some water and someone to stay with Richard while she went to the gas
station at the exit to use the restroom.
Doyle said from the beginning, God sent the help she needed. Southeast member David Owens, Doyle’s boss at the home health agency Home Instead, encouraged
her to care for the couple, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs agreed to cover the cost of a few nights in a local motel until they could find more permanent
housing.
It wasn’t easy to get the couple off the streets. They needed background checks, a security deposit, a month’s rent and a housing history to qualify for federal housing
assistance. Doyle realized it would not have happened without help. The couple had no money, transportation, phone or access to the Internet.
Doyle learned that Brenda and Richard had been together for 20 years, though they never married. They both were battling a bundle of health issues.
At one point, as Doyle juggled a full-time job and her family’s and the Noyes’ needs, Richard asked if she was going to give up on them.
“Those eight words were life-changing for me,” she said. “I thought of all my ugly sin and selfishness over the past four years. I know Christ never gave up on me. He
showed me mercy and grace no matter.”
Doyle’s prayer was that they would understand God’s love for them and decide to follow Him. When the Noyes said the only reason they hadn’t married was the cost of
a wedding, Doyle recruited a group of friends to plan a wedding.
People donated Richard’s 10-gallon hat and Brenda’s dress. Wayne Backman, Janet’s husband, walked Brenda down the aisle. And that group of friends prayed that
the two would come to know Christ in a deep, personal way.
As the couple settled into their small apartment in Frankfort, Richard began calling churches. He explained that they wanted to get to church, but they would need a ride
with someone willing to bring his wheelchair and oxygen. After many rejections, the pastor of a small Nazarene church near their home said someone would pick them
up each week.
From that point on, the couple rarely missed a Sunday, becoming part of a small group that loved and supported their newfound faith. They also stayed in touch with the
group of friends from Southeast that helped them.
The couple had been married a year when Richard died last March. Brenda has been alone since then. Her sixth-grade education makes getting a job almost
impossible. And the fact she has tuberculosis limits the jobs for which she is qualified.
Doyle has helped her file all the paperwork for disability benefits; however, she has been denied twice and has a hearing before a judge on March 9. She has been in
the hospital three times in the last two months.
“She has no family, no way to earn money,” Doyle said. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to have nowhere to go.”
Doyle said Brenda has never asked for anything.
“Brenda represents all the people in the world who have no one,” Doyle said. “She is one of the ‘least of these.’ She’s not the only one, but she is the one God has put
in our path this Christmas.”
When Doyle stopped on the expressway three years ago, she knew only one thing for sure: God compelled her to turn around. Caring for the Noyes has not always
been easy, but for two people without much hope, it has made all the difference.