Dare to Be Different: Local ministry helps uplift Penn North community

BALTIMORE — For more than 20 years, Dare to be Different Ministries has been a beacon of hope in Baltimore's Penn North neighborhood. 

For 37 years, the ministry has served residents by providing clothes, meals, offering mentorship, and more.

"We're a ministry that helps North, South, East, and West," said one of the ministry's founders, who chose to remain unnamed. "We provide clothing, referrals, help families and friends, and the whole community. We feed them, advise them - we're like mom and dad to the community," Daisy Bush, the ministry's founder. 

Driven by their faith and the desire to embody the caring spirit of Jesus Christ, the founders started this ministry with a mission to reach out to people and help them in every possible way.

"When I gave my life to Christ, I saw how Jesus helped people," Bush said. "I decided I would do what Jesus did. That's how I got started/"

Much of the work done by Dare to be Different Ministries is entirely free of charge, supported by the founders' commitment to their faith and community. 

"This is our life. This is what we do. The people are our business. They love us, we love them, we take care of them, they take care of us," the ministry's co-founder stated. 

Bush said she views her work as a mother would her children, embracing everyone who comes to them for assistance. "I'm mom. I look at everybody like my children," Bush told WJZ. 

As the ministry continues its mission, the love and respect from the community affirm its founders. 

"I'm happy that they respect me. They look out for me and they know that I care," Bush said.