First Presbyterian partners with The People's Shelter to form warming center

For the last two winters, The People’s Shelter in Cape Girardeau has helped homeless and unsheltered people in the city find warmth, a hot meal and a place to rest when the temperature drops below 32 degrees. But due to the time commitment it takes to staff the makeshift shelter with volunteers, opening the doors of St. James AME Church for the night at 5 p.m. was becoming increasingly difficult.

“It’s just hard to get there that soon because ... everybody works,” said the Rev. Renita Green, founder of The People’s Shelter and pastor of St. James AME at 516 North St. “So, we would get to the church and not even have time to breathe before everybody’s coming in.”

The question Green kept coming back to was: “How do we continue to serve people and also be able to serve in a way that reduces the mental and physical impact on the people who are serving?”

With a solution in mind, she approached First Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau.

From now until the end of winter, the downtown church at 235 Broadway will open its doors to those in need from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., functioning as a warming shelter to bridge the gap between when temperatures begin to drop and when The People’s Shelter opens for the evening.

The warming shelter allows Green and other volunteers time to prepare The People’s Shelter for nightly dinners and overnight needs. First Presbyterian Church was strategically chosen, Green said, to allow those who plan to stay in the shelter with a chance to stretch their legs and get some space from one another.

“People don’t like to be cooped up,” Green said. “It’s close enough where people can walk and it gives that opportunity to break up some of the fussiness that may settle in, and it gives them that nighttime movement.”

While the partnership may ease some stressors at The People’s Shelter, it’s far from burdensome to members of First Presbyterian.

“I can’t overstate the opportunity that this is for us,” said the Rev. Ellen Gurnon, pastor of First Presbyterian Church. “I wanted our ministry to expand beyond the four walls, to expand outside of our building and into the downtown area, and that is exactly what we’re doing.”

Gurnon said her congregation was “really excited about the opportunity” to serve as a warming shelter, and about 20 members of the church went through the volunteer training offered by The People’s Shelter.

Green said the training was offered to the public three times in November and will likely be offered again in January. Though it is helpful for volunteers to complete the training, Green said it’s not a prerequisite to volunteering for a shift at The People’s Shelter.

In the interest of consistency, Gurnon said the warming shelter stays open when The People’s Shelter is open.

“It could be 60 degrees and we’ll be open, but that just means the temperature is going to drop overnight,” Gurnon said.

The time people spend at the warming shelter isn’t structured, but snacks — made possible by donations from the congregation — and board games are offered, Gurnon said.

“People kind of come and go as they need to,” Gurnon said. “It’s a chance for them to just sit down and relax, have a cup of coffee and a cookie.”

Gurnon said it’s also a chance for First Presbyterian volunteers, many of whom are retired, to get to know the people they’re serving.

“It’s really easy to be at home and to forget that there are people out in the cold,” Gurnon said. “But when you get to know them by name, then you go home ... and you do start thinking about these people because now you know them, and now you have a relationship with them.

“It sort of wakes people up,” Gurnon continued. “It’s waking me up.”

Though there is space for more, Gurnon said she has not seen a large number of people using the shelter.

“We’ve had usually around six people, so really not that many,” Gurnon said, noting she sees many of the same faces.

Asked why the chance to serve as a warming shelter matters, Gurnon emphasized the importance of ministering to the downtown neighborhood, of which she said many “residents” are homeless.

“We have the space to offer; it needs to be used,” Gurnon said. “This building is here for ministry, and ministry happens not just on Sunday morning when people come to worship. Ministry needs to happen all through the week for the neighborhood.”