The organization takes its name from an Old Testament account of David being on the run from King Saul and ending up in a “marginal place outside the empire.” Ziklag’s mission is to build relationships with people who are on the fringes of society.

“Very few people in the middle class have ever experienced poverty themselves,” Whalen said, “even through personal association or involvement with someone who is in poverty.”

For his part, Whalen learned about poverty by becoming immersed in it himself — choosing, he said, to share the powerlessness, circumstances and alienation of the poor.

“There were times when I was on the street that I didn’t have enough money to buy a cup of coffee,” he said. “I know what it’s like to have to beg.

“What became abundantly clear to me is that while I always had a way out, there are a lot of people out there that, for whatever reason, are unable, in and of themselves, to reverse that process.”