THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 25, 1994 TAG: 9411250052
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
During a Dec. 26 service, a man walked into St. Paul's Episcopal Church and asked the congregation: ``How can you be Christians and go to heaven when there are homeless people dying in the streets of Newport News?''
That question was the impetus for a program that now provides 50 beds a night at five downtown churches during the winter, said Melissa Hoffman, a volunteer for Newport News Living Interfaith Network.
The LINK's shelter system - called People Offering Resources Together - opened Wednesday night to serve the estimated 500 to 600 homeless people in the Peninsula area. Before the program began, 112 beds were available for the area's homeless.
The program is based on a similar Norfolk system called NEST. It is funded by a $10,000 grant.
The shelters open at 6 p.m. and serve dinner each day. They close the following morning after breakfast, Hoffman said. She said churches will take people on a first-come, first-served basis.
Volunteers from some 25 downtown churches staff the shelters.
By 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, eight men had come to St. Paul's to avoid a night on the streets. After eating lasagna and salad and drinking coffee, four of them watched ``Star Trek: The Next Generation'' on a small color television.
``I came to stay out of the cold,'' said Greg Sanford, who was bundled in a gray, hooded sweatshirt as he sat at a table underneath a sign with bold letters that said ``REJOICE.'' Temperatures reached a low of 31 degrees overnight in the city.
Sanford is divorced and has two children. He said he became homeless after being laid off from a $310-a-week job as an equipment operator. He said the company he worked for folded a few months ago.
In addition to St. Paul's, four other downtown-area churches will serve as shelters. The other churches are First Presbyterian, Trinity Methodist, First Baptist and Carver Memorial Presbyterian, Hoffman said.
The 50 beds will rotate among the churches every week, she said. Each church is expected to take two turns at hosting the shelter. Two additional churches may serve as sites before the end of winter, she said. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Roland Friedman, left, a volunteer, pours coffee for James Hogge,
who is homeless. A new shelter system has opened for the winter in
Newport News. The shelter will rotate among five churches in the
downtown area.
by CNB