Annual Project Homeless Connect offers relief, hope to those in need

Hundreds of lower-income and homeless community members in Cape Girardeau were able to receive assistance at the annual Project Homeless Connect on Friday.

The Project Homeless Connect event provides lower-income people with employment, education, medical, health and beauty services, housing resources and free groceries.

Melissa Stickel, executive director of Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri, said this year’s event was scaled down to a walk-through in the parking lot of Community Partnership’s office at 937 Broadway due to the coronavirus pandemic. In past years, Project Homeless Connect has been held at the Osage Centre.

The Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center offered free flu shots and Southeast Missouri State University offered hearing testing, Stickel said.

A group of community members gather at a booth to receive free groceries during Project Homeless Connect on Friday at Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri, 937 Broadway in Cape Girardeau.Brooke Holford ~ Southeast Missourian

Arielle Limerick, 25, of Cape Girardeau attended Project Homeless Connect in search of some shoes.

“These are the only shoes I have currently,” Limerick said, gesturing to the unicorn slippers on her feet.

Limerick said she became homeless at the end of August when her mother passed away. Since then, Limerick said she has struggled with her mental health and even attempted suicide.

“When you’re living on the streets, it feels like nobody cares about you,” she said. “It makes you feel hopeless.”

Limerick said the Project Homeless Connect event helped to return some of that hope to herself and others who are facing hard times, by making resources available.

“There are people out there who are really struggling and don’t have anything, so stuff like this [event] is very beneficial for people like me,” Limerick said. “[This event] helps you get resources — helps you put food in your stomach and clothes on your back, and that really helps when you don’t have it.”

Community Partnership, along with not-for-profit Community Caring Council, has put on the annual fall event for eight years.

The Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri maximizes resources to develop and deliver a range of services to help improve the lives of individuals, children and families, and build strong neighborhoods, according to the group’s Facebook page.

Organizations who participated this year included Community Counseling Center, Catholic Charities, First Call for Help, St. Vincent dePaul Church, SEMO Food Bank, First Baptist Church, Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, Safe House for Women, SoutheastHEALTH’s Building Blocks and United Way of Southeast Missouri; plus Community Partnership’s own programs: EDGE, Housing and Community Case Management.

For information on resources and services provided by Community Partnership, call (573) 651-3747.