Rice shows apartments dedicated to housing homeless in Cape Girardeau

Two apartments above the New Life Evangelistic Center's Homeless Outreach Center were officially opened Tuesday as emergency shelter.

The second- and third-floor apartments at 707 Broadway will provide up to 14 nights of emergency shelter for five men and four women, the Rev. Larry Rice said as two women who had been living on the streets cut a paper ribbon in front of the door.

The women are symbolic of the focus of his ministry, Rice said, a reference to a ribbon cutting last week for the local Shelter of Hope Homeless Outreach Center a few doors away that featured politicians and business owners. The Shelter of Hope center, 733 Broadway, is just a few storefronts away from New Life's center.

"You are the real important ones," Rice told the two women. "What we are all about is helping the homeless."

The shelter is already housing two women and two men on a regular basis, Rice said during a tour for reporters.

Deborah Young, right, talks with Tekoa, left, and Lydia in the community area on the third floor women's section Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at the New Life Evangelistic Center's outreach, 707 Broadway. (Fred Lynch)

"If we have to, we will renovate more," Rice said.

Rice operates a multistate ministry that owns property in several Missouri communities as well as a network of radio and television stations.

But Deborah Young, head of the local NAACP chapter and manager at the outreach center, said the New Life effort is a Cape Girardeau program. When someone seeking help enters, she said, they are greeted by local people who understand the area and its needs.

And the people seeking help, Young said, are people from the community.

"These are people in the parks of Cape Girardeau," she said.

Rice is waiting on a decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on an application to obtain the federal building at 339 Broadway for use as an emergency shelter and transitional housing. New Life's initial application for the building was rejected in May 2009, but a federal judge in Washington, D.C., in December ordered HHS to reconsider the

request.

"The application is still pending reconsideration; therefore, no updates can be provided at this time," Mike Robinson, spokesman for the department, said in an e-mail response to a request for information on New Life's bid for the federal building.

Craig Horky, owner of the building at 707 Broadway, said the two apartments were not producing any income before New Life rented them. One was vacant and the other was occupied by a woman who had not paid rent for four months, he said.

"I offered it to them because I wanted to know if they wanted the whole building before I advertised the apartments," Horky said.

Chaplain Terry Wildman, who helped open the New Life outreach center before leaving Rice to begin the Shelter of Hope ministry, didn't want to say much about Rice's new shelter or apparent competition between the two ministries.

"All we are interested in is helping the homeless," Wildman said. "We don't worry about his ministry because we are doing what God called us to do."

A building permit to convert a commercial building at 320 S. Sprigg St. for use as a homeless shelter was approved this week and work will begin in earnest soon, Wildman said. There is no firm date for opening that shelter, he said.

The two women, Tekoa and Lydia, asked that their last names not be used. Tekoa said she is a Cape Girardeau native who returned to the city earlier this year after a lengthy absence. She said she slept where she could, including Dumpsters and empty buildings.

Lydia described herself as an American Indian from Alaska who decided to come to Cape Girardeau after reading about the Mississippi River in a travel guide. Since visiting the outreach center, she said she has been directed to help that she needs to become independent.

"If they hadn't helped me, given me help and show me where to go, I would still be on the streets," she said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

707 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.