SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio woman is not letting her disability stop her passion for helping the homeless and is making crosses to share her faith.
Doris Laque, who was once a beautician for 27 years, found her calling to make the crosses years ago when she nearly lost her life.
“I went to a Baptist hospital with a 105 temperature, and my brain was like cooking,” Laque said. “I didn’t know if I was going to make it or not. My sister was with me and I told her I was just seeing black. I didn’t think I was going to make it.”
That is when she said a doctor came out of nowhere with an assignment from God.
“He came up to my sister and told her, ‘You need to move to the side. God sent me to pray over her. I need to pray over her.’ I fell into a dream and God told me ‘I can’t let you go, Doris. I need you here to help the community,’” Laque said. “He goes ‘I need you to build a refuge home.’ I said, ‘Lord, how am I going to do that?’ He told me, ‘You are going to make crosses and you are going to sing, and I will do the rest.'"
Laque said she was so caught off guard and emotional by her experience with God, but she knew she had a job to do.
Because Laque is disabled due to having venous stasis, she can no longer work. She also has to tend to her bedridden husband 24/7.
“My husband is paralyzed and I stay home to take care of him because we don’t qualify for any assistance,” Laque said. “I am happy with what I do. I don’t think, if I didn’t have my crosses in my life, I would be happy.”
She said taking care of her husband is no easy task.
“He had a stroke three years ago,” Laque said. “It is not easy taking care of a handicapped person. It is very hard and when you don’t have help, and they weigh about 200 pounds, you have to do what you have to do.”
Laque said she was devastated when his stroke happened.
“He is like my best friend,” Laque said. “I was lost. I cried a lot. It was just not fair for him. I couldn’t let him be put in a nursing home or none of that. I gave up everything to help him. I told God ‘Don’t take him. If you let him live out here like all of us with me, I will help you. Whatever you need I am here.’ He held me to it. He held me to it. So that is what I do. I do God’s work.”
Doris collects wood of all kinds across the city. She collects pallets, brush, and other donated materials to make her crosses.
“I would be going to the store or something and I would see pallets and God will say ‘There is free wood.’ So I will take them apart and I make crosses. I make crosses because God is real. God is real and he needs people out there to understand that he is alive, and he is very real and don't ever think that God can’t listen to you. He always listens to you.”
She makes crosses for any occasion a person may need it for and sells them for $10 each to keep food on her table and for her service to the homeless.
“God will send a homeless person to my home and I will ask them, ‘Do you believe in God?’ They will say ‘Yes’ and I will let them in,” Laque said. “I pay them a little bit of money because I don’t have much. I provide them with clothes and food and if they need a place to stay, I give them a place to stay.”
In addition to helping her with making crosses, the homeless also helps her take care of her husband.
“I don’t think people deserve to be out in the street,” Laque said. “I think they deserve a chance. That is why God wanted me to do a refuge home so I can give these people a chance to clean up their act and find a place in life and becomes somebody important.”
Laque said she hopes her story inspires everyone to give, even if you don’t have much to give.
“I have had venous stasis for 20 years and I am still walking so I am living proof that no matter what, you can make it. You just got to have faith. Without faith, you don’t have anything. If you want the best in life, you got to work for it. It is not just going to come to you. There is nobody that is not important in this world. God has everybody out here for a purpose, you know and I am serving mine right now. Just give. When you die, you can’t take your money with you. Share it.”
If you know someone like Laque who is making a difference in the South Texas community or who has a unique story, send us your tips. Contact Japhanie Gray on Facebook or @JGrayKSAT on Twitter. You can also send your tips to KSAT 12 & KSAT.com on Facebook.
