Southeast Missouri’s bitter cold and freezing ice impact no one harsher than the area’s homeless, says the Rev. Gregory Kirk of United Gospel Rescue Mission, who is pleading with the public for donations of water-resistant hats, gloves, underwear, socks, used coats and other outdoor winter wear.
“Some of our homeless guests are showing signs of frostbite, hypothermia, respiratory problems and more,’’ said Kirk, who is executive director of the mission, which offers a hot meal daily to the area’s homeless, as well as running a rehabilitation program for men seeking to reclaim lives stolen by homelessness and drug addiction.
The cold is making it difficult for the homeless — or those who just take advantage of a daily hot free meal — to find a way to the mission at 400 S. Broadway. The bitter temperatures have temporarily cut the number of visitors who dine daily from noon to 1 p.m. from about 100 to 35, he said.
“Everything is iced over,’’ said Kirk. “I think basically people can’t get out of their houses. And a lot of our people walk over here. When it’s icy, they just don’t get out.’’
“It’s slowing me down, to be honest,’’ said Marcus Mead, 37, who came to the mission Thursday for lunch wearing a light nylon pullover and sneakers. He says he typically crashes at night at friends’ houses while he is looking for work to get back on his feet.
“I usually find somewhere to stay, thank God,’’ he said.
But the weather makes it hard for him to look for work.
“I try to do something productive’’ every day, he said. “There ain’t much I can do in this weather.’’
Wade Walker, 42, came for a meal of fish bites, Tater Tots and green beans Thursday. He said he was hoping to spend the night again on a friend’s couch.
And if that break didn’t materialize?
“The truth?’’ he responded. “Find an abandoned house or sleep under a bridge.’’
Walker says he lost his rented home of nearly five years, a house on Relief Street, when his work as a housecleaner evaporated with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When COVID came, they didn’t want people in their houses,’’ said the divorced father of three.
He says he has tried to get work, and has even been offered jobs, but that his wallet with his social security card, birth certificate and license was stolen, preventing him from being able to be hired.
Walker and Mead are both “couch surfers — they’re staying at a friend’s house until a friend’s tired of putting them up,’’ Kirk said.
The mission only provides shelter for transient men three times a month between 8 p.m. and after morning breakfast. More information is available here, http://www.pbrescue.com/programsDetail.php?Transient-Men-Housing-3
The mission also offers a year-long residential program for men seeking help in recovering from drugs and homeless. More information is available here, http://www.pbrescue.com/programsDetail.php?New-Life-Discipleship-Program-2
“It’s really a ‘get your life together’ program,’ Kirk said. “If you want to make a change in your life, we’ve got a program for you. If you just want to flop on the bed, we don’t have a program for you.’’
You can make a donation of waterproof gloves, hats, underwear, socks, gently-used winter coats, cough drops, ibuprofen, lip balm, lotion and nonalcoholic cold medicines at the United Gospel Rescue Mission, 400 S. Broadway, in Poplar Bluff.
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