Scott City Pastor bridges the gap after Salvation Army of Cape Girardeau says they cannot open as an overnight warming shelter
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – The Salvation Army of Cape Girardeau has announced they cannot open as a warming shelter.
The Salvation Army opens its doors each year to help those fighting homelessness stay warm overnight.
This year they say they can’t because they don’t have heat.
Standing inside the Salvation Army in Cape Girardeau where in previous years there would be cots laid out for those facing homelessness to stay warm at night, however this year’s looking a little different.
According to members of the Salvation Army board there’s a problem with the HVAC system which is causing the heat not to work inside the gym they use as a warming shelter and their roof needs repaired.
Bob Lenz is the Pastor of Restoration Church in Scott City and a Salvation Army board member. He says the board had a meeting on Wednesday to discuss fixing the heat and an issue with the roof, but they do not know at this time when these issues can be fixed, which means the salvation army is unable to open as a warming center-leaving those on the street with nowhere to go when temperatures drop below freezing overnight.
“So right now I don’t know of any backup plan as far as housing, I know Street level helps put people in hotels and restoration church we’re going to open our doors. The training is tonight and then we’re going to set everything into motion says Lenz. We’ll have team captains and shifts will be assigned and then we’ll go head and announce when we will open up.”
Lenz says do to them not being able to do background checks they cannot accept women and children with men as they want to keep everyone safe. So only men will be able to stay at Restoration Church, but Lenze says he hopes other community members will step in.
“Ya, know I pray someone will step up and say ya know if you got the men, we would take care of the women and children, let’s get them into hotel rooms. That would be the ideal situation.”
Lenz tells me many have asked him why as a pastor in Scott City he is stepping in. His answer-simply because he wants to help other human beings.
“I don’t want to wake up tomorrow and turn on the news and see that someone froze to death of hypothermia or went hungry. It’s a social concern.”
A concern that Lenz says takes a community working together to fix.
“Let’s rally up, lets fix this together and why do we have to wait until it gets cold to start doing this? We need to work on this all year long. Let’s become a well-oiled machine and then we can just get a building or whatever we need to do, and my prayer also is -how does the city get involved in this.”
Lenz is hoping to have the church open this week, but he still needs some help. He says he’s in need of cots, food donations, blankets, volunteers and help with transportation. Anyone who would like to help can call Restoration Church at 573-212-4100.
Salvation Army of Cape Girardeau Facebook Page
