At 10 a.m. on Monday, August 21, St. Louis was getting ready for the solar eclipse. And in Lucas Park off 14th Street, just north of the St. Louis Public Library’s Central Branch, a group of several dozen homeless men and women were preparing for the eclipse, too.
The “Eclipsing Homelessness” event, organized by Rev. Larry Rice – whose New Life Evangelistic Center’s homeless shelter was shut down a few months ago due to failure to comply with health regulations – and Bishop Jerome Bracely, of Step Into The Light Ministries, wasn’t an ordinary eclipse watch party.
They did give out the standard, ISO-approved eclipse glasses to all attendees, but they also distributed clothing, food, toiletries and Metro Transit passes. There were booths helping people with health services, and others helping connect people to psychological evaluations and job placements.
The park filled up with people, who picked out new clothes and sandwiches, and sat talking or dozing on folding chairs in the shade. Chris Rice, Larry Rice’s son, played acoustic guitar and sang for the attendees.
This green space, which covers about half a block, is now mainly used as a dog park. But as Larry Rice explained, it was once a gathering place for the homeless residents of St. Louis.
“What happened is the millennials with money moved in the neighborhood, and kicked the homeless out and put their dogs in,” Rice said. “We’ve got a legal permit for this today, and already they’re calling the police over and over.”
This eclipse party was held to restore dignity to these human beings by “retaking the park back from the dogs” for the day, as Rice put it.
“The homeless are often forgotten, particularly on a great day like this when there’s an eclipse,” Rice said.
“A lot of people were getting glasses, and getting ready for the eclipse, and we wanted the homeless to feel a part of it too,” Bracely said. “We want to see people coming out of the dark, into the light. We are here giving hope back to the hopeless.”
One man, who gave his name as Liam, said he wasn’t really there for the eclipse as much as for the resources. Like most of the attendees, he had heard about the event through word of mouth.
“We need resources! We need help, and we’re tired of the police harassing us!” Liam said.
He wasn’t surprised when he heard that the eclipse gathering was getting complaints.
“All these lofts all around, they’re calling cause they’re rich white people,” he said. “We’re not disturbing nobody. There is no trash. We’re not drinking, we’re not drugging. What’s the problem?”
A man with a bag of candy walked around the park, distributing it to all attendees.
Another man at the gathering wouldn’t give his name, but said he’d been on the streets for about three months now. He came to the eclipse party because of Larry Rice.
“I been knowing about Larry Rice,” he said. “He’s the only person I know that’s into helping people that don’t got no homes.”
One woman – she wouldn’t give her name because she was worried her abusive ex might find her – disagreed, saying she would rather sleep in a vacant building “than at Larry Rice’s place” where, she said, “The bedbugs just jump out at you.”
But two other women, Rhonda and Angela, said a shelter unable to meet health codes is better than no shelter at all.
“It’s dangerous for us women to be out here by ourselves,” Rhonda said. “It’s very scary. You don’t know what you’ll end up meeting, or who’ll be beside you the next morning, or what’ll happen.”
Connie Lamka, a former caseworker from New Life Evangelistic Center, said she has been working to find a church willing to lend some space. “The main thing is sleep,” Lamka said. “And maybe showers, but those are negotiable.”
Most of the homeless women there said they were trying to get away from former husbands or boyfriends who had abused them.
Most of the people there expressed hope that after this eclipse, the work to “eclipse homelessness” and get people the resources they need to get back on their feet will continue.
Another St. Louis area shelter – the emergency summer shelter St. Louis County set up – is scheduled to close on September 15. That will, according to Lamka, “put another 40 or 50 people out on the street.” At this time, there are no new shelters planned to take those people.
“We all are out here for different reasons, we all want to do different things, but keep in mind we’re still human,” Liam said. “Even you. You’re just one paycheck away from being homeless. I hate to say it, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s gonna hit home, and it’s gonna hit everybody.”
Around 1 p.m., after hours of waiting, the eclipse itself finally began.
“If I look at it without my glasses, do you think I’ll turn into a superhero?” one man joked.
Everyone gathered in the middle of the park, looking up through their glasses as the sun got smaller and smaller. A couple of people had been sleeping by the fence at the edge of the park, but someone nudged them awake as the eclipse approached totality.
When the sun shrunk to just a sliver, all the streetlights switched on, as did the lights inside the library, and it looked like dusk in the middle of the day.
“That’s God! That’s God!” said Larry Rice.
After a few minutes, the light started to come back.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” one man said softly, staring up at the partly covered sun. “That something so small can make so much light?”
The eclipse perceptibly cooled the park for a moment.
“I see why we need the sun now,” said a man who had slept on the street in the cold. “It would be so cold. I appreciate the sun now.”
