St. James Church's People's Shelter puts out call for help as winter nears

This story has been edited to correct pastor Juliet Kent-Hemphill's email address.

For the volunteers of The People's Shelter at St. James AME Church, the needy who come into the shelter are family.

The shelter has provided warmth and food in the basement of St. James AME at 516 North St. in Cape Girardeau since 2018. It opens its doors every year when temperatures reach below 32 degrees and provides food year-round.

This year, in order to continue providing its services, shelter volunteers are asking for help.

"We need to come together as a community like we always have and see who can help us, because we know we can't do it on our own," volunteer Geneva Allen-Patterson said.

As the church's small congregation ages more every year, member Ramona Bailey said community support and volunteers are integral to maintain the shelter's operations.

"Elders make up a lot of our congregation and a lot of them can't participate as they want to," Bailey said. "The more people we could get from the community to help us do this the better."

The People's Shelter is in an adjustment period as St. James AME transitions to new leadership. The church's former senior pastor, the Rev. Renita Green, founded The People's Shelter during her six-year ministry at St. James AME.

Charleston, Missouri, native Juliet Kent-Hemphill became pastor of the church in September and wanted to stress the shelter will still open this year regardless of the leadership change.

"We're still open and we still need the community's help," Kent-Hemphill said.

In addition to volunteers, food and monetary donations, St. James AME asks for community partnerships from agencies to help support the shelter's mission.

This winter, the shelter will provide 10 beds on a first-come, first-served basis for those who need a warm place to sleep. Church members would like to serve more people by placing them in hotels during cold months, something they did last year through the help of donations from community partners.

The shelter was recently assessed by a health inspector, according to Bailey, who invited an inspector to see how the shelter could reopen its warming shelter safely.

St. James A.M.E. Church is seen Jan. 11, 2018, in Cape Girardeau.Southeast Missourian file

Shelter volunteers want to make sure COVID-19 protocols are followed so the shelter can open safely. They've set up a temperature check station, a contact-tracing system and placed hand sanitizer and masks near doors.

More volunteers are needed to serve food, help with laundry, organize lunch boxes and assist with administrative tasks.

"We'll take as many people as we can get," Kent-Hemphill said. "No one will be turned away."

St. James AME will host an informational meeting for prospective volunteers at 6 p.m. Nov. 30. The meeting will be held in-person and online through Zoom. Email Kent-Hemphill at revjhemp@yahoo.com to RSVP.