Community Effort Needed to Open Heating, Cooling Center for Homeless

The St. Charles City Council approved a conditional use permit for a heating and cooling center at during the Feb. 2 city council meeting. The center will be located in a former day care center owned by the church.

It may be as long as a year from now for the center to open up, however, said Rev. Tremaine Combs, pastor of Mt. Zion.

Combs said the building must be brought up to code, which will take help from the entire community. He said he would be looking for contractors to donate time and expertise.

“The optimal thing would be to make it a community effort,” he said.

After it opens, the center would only be in use when the temperature falls below 25 degrees Fahrenheit or rises above 98 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the conditional use permit approved by the council.

Men would be able to stay at the location overnight and be able to get dinner at that facility. They would have to stay overnight and leave the next day. No more than 20 people would be able to stay on a night, but that’s 20 more people than would normally be served in St. Charles.

While there are places for homeless women and children to stay in an emergency, there is no facility for homeless men in St. Charles County.

No matter what churches do, there are people who refuse to be permanently housed, said Rev. Renita Lamkin, pastor of and president of the St. Charles Ministerial Alliance.

Terry Marshall, a homeless man who lived in St. Charles, had a heart attack and died last week after he spent the night outside, Lamkin said.

Marshall refused to stay in a hotel, although there were people who would pay for a room for him, because he would have been unable to get to the Salvation Army where he was a regular volunteer, said Lamkin.

“We want to make people as comfortable and safe as possible during vulnerable times,” she said.

The path to creating this heating and center started with the St. Charles Ministerial Alliance, a group of St. Charles clergy that chose to focus its efforts on helping the homeless.

Last spring, a Suburban Journals reporter, Raymond Castile attended a St. Charles Ministerial Alliance meeting and showed a video he and other members of a Vision St. Charles County Leadership team had made on the issue of homelessness in St. Charles. Castile also showed the video to members of the St. Charles City Council, who soon after authorized the mayor to create a homelessness task force.

The task force included people who are a part of social service organizations, government workers, and representatives from local churches. The task force looked at homelessness as a whole, but recognized it couldn’t deal with all of the issues, said Mayor Patti York.

“We wanted to look at something very particular,” she said.

Combs and his church offered the former day care center as a potential place for the warming and cooling center. It had been empty since 2009. The church members had been looking for another tenant but hadn’t worked anything out. They had been praying about the right use for the building, Combs said.

Renita said members of the St. Charles Ministerial Alliance believe that creating a place to house the homeless is an opportunity to share God’s love, but they don’t have all the resources to deal with it.

“I really believe this is a model for getting things done,” said Lamkin. “Social service doesn’t just rest in the arms of one place.”

The collaboration will need to continue to get the center open, said Combs. He said he’s excited to see churches coming together regardless of denomination.

“It’s exciting to see a city and a community want to help the least of these,” he said. “I think that God’s hand is in the midst of it.”

If you'd like to learn more about volunteering contact Rev. Tremaine Combs at Tcombs2501@yahoo.com or the St. Charles Ministerial alliance at Stchminalliance@aol.com. Donations can be mailed to the St. Charles Ministerial Alliance at  P.O. Box 323, St. Charles, MO 63302.