SHELTER FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE BEGIN SET UP IN CITY

A new shelter for homeless people that is being established by the New Life Evangelistic Center is more than just a shelter, says the Rev. Larry Rice, director of the St. Louis-based center.

"Our primary goal is to get people off the streets," said Rice Monday in reference to the facility at 713 Morgan Oak St. "But our program goes far beyond that," he said.

"We have extensive training programs," said Rice, who will visit the new facility here Thursday morning to discuss the programs in detail. "We offer programs in building repair, construction, electrical engineering, broadcasting and other classes."

Corey Swan, who will be one of the managers of the facility, is in the process taking the electrical engineer course.

"I've been involved in the New Life program with Rev. Rice about six years," said Swan, who met Rice in St. Louis after moving there from Miami, Fla. "I recently started taking the engineering course."

Another manager at the facility here is Willie Dorsey, a St. Louis native, who has been working in the homeless shelter program for three months. "I found myself a homeless person." he said. "Now, I'm serving the Lord and helping other people."

"This is what the program is all about helping other people," said Rice. "We want to help homeless people learn a trade."

The Free Will Evangelical Center has homeless programs in a number of areas in Missouri: Springfield, Columbia, Kansas City, Jefferson City, St. Louis and Cape Girardeau.

"We have a few other facilities," said Rice. "But most of our work is in Missouri. Outside the state, we have a shelter in East St. Louis, Ill., and we have orphanages and schools in India and Nigeria."

Rice has been involved in working with the homeless program for about two decades. "He founded the New Life Evangelical Center in St. Louis 20 years ago.

"We started in a 50-foot mobile home," he said. "The center has grown over the years, with the public's help.

"We're all volunteers in the program," he said. "My wife and I don't have a salary. We're provided with room and board like other volunteers, and we take our clothes from our thrift stores."

Rice said a thrift store would be studied for the Cape Girardeau area.

"We'll analyze the situation," he said. "There area already a lot of thrift store operations in the area, more than is usual in a community that size."

Rice said he is hopeful that people in the community will respond with help.

"We have had a large bequeath to help operations," he said. "But we would hope that the new center at Cape Girardeau will eventually be self-sufficient. We think people will respond by donating food, furniture and other items needed by the shelter."

At present the center is set up to sleep only four people with a pair of double-deck bunk-type beds.

"The center will be open at 7 each evening," said Rice. "We don't expect more than three or four people to start with."

Rice said as many as 50 to 100 people show up each night at the St. Louis Center on Locust Street.

"We will be closed Friday and Saturday," said Rice. "Eventually, we may remain open seven days a week. Right now, the center will close at noon Friday and reopen at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Rice said he has found that people get stranded in Cape Girardeau.

"A lot of homeless people traveling between Memphis and St. Louis find themselves stranded at Cape Girardeau," he said. "We'll be providing van service to St. Louis each Friday and Saturday."