At a press conference held in front of 1411 Locust St. in St. Louis on Saturday, June 30, Rev. Larry Rice and the New Life Evangelistic Center ‘s homeless first responders assisted a large number of homeless people with a wide variety of services to help them cope with the heat and meet other needs in their life.
“Jesus said, Matthew 8:20, ‘Fox have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head,’” Rice said. “That’s why we have a Jesus statue here that doesn’t have a face on it because, if you want to see the face of Jesus, look at the face of the homeless.”
The statue in front of 1411 Locust is interpreted as Jesus because the figure has nail holes in his feet.
“We can’t just be hearers of the word and entertain ourselves by going to just church,” Rice said. “We got to be church, and that means going out among the homeless and doing what Christ told us to do.”
The press conference also highlighted the present impact that closing New Life’s open-doors shelter at 1411 Locust has had on the homeless and the critical need to reopen this facility, particularly in light of the city’s problems finding a facilitator to operate the Biddle House.
New Life says it is presently costing taxpayers over $900,000 a year to provide basic services at Biddle House. This facility provides just part of the services New Life made available at 1411 Locust at no expense to taxpayers.
New Life provided an open-doors walk-in shelter that provided homeless people with a place to take a nap, a place store their belongings, laundry service, meals, showers, resources and more. It still operates a day center in Springfield, Missouri that serves 150 to 250 homeless people a day.
“All these different services in Springfield, but here in St. Louis when we try to do it, we are up against gentrification,” Rice said.
Rice claims that the “rich folk” in the Terra Cotta Lofts that neighbor New Life gathered people with materialistic interests who were intent to shutter the center to keep homeless people away from their lofts. Ultimately, the Board of Public Service appointed by Mayor Francis G. Slay voted to close the shelter. Rice said the city’s attempt to exclude the homeless continues under Mayor Lyda Krewson.
“If you drive between the 14th and 15th block of Locust, every sign that you see is a proclamation of discrimination. Right outside the homeless shelter reads “Obstruction of sidewalk prohibited” and “No stopping or standing in street or at curb,” Rice said.
“Those people, if they got their way and the city looked like Krewson wanted it to be, every poor person would be out on the streets with these homeless.”
In order for the shelter to reopen, Rice said the City of St. Louis needs to approve their architectural plans, let the evangelistic team enter the building to make the repairs they say are needed, and give them permits for their day center as they continue to proceed through the courts.
“For the first time, August 1, we’re going to be before a board that’s not appointed by Mayor Slay or Mayor Krewson,” Rice said.
“It’s a Missouri Court of Appeals, and we’re appealing the fact that they have to agree with how we practice our religion in order for us to open our shelter. In the meantime, we are doing everything the city wants us to do as far as repairs are concerned. They know we should be allowed to get all the permits we need to open up for the daytime to help the homeless while we’re going through court and the rest.”
At the press conference, the majority of homeless people being treated were African-American. There were children standing in the burning sun outside of the building where they could have been sheltered from the heat as they grabbed supplies like clothes, food, water, toiletries, and bus tickets in front of the establishment on June 30, a 90-degree summer day.
“It’s tragic because if we had this building open, we’ve made all the repairs, those children could be in air conditioning right now,” Rice said. “They could all be inside.”
He said New Life continues to serve the homeless in the ways it can.
“We go through 12,000 bottles of water a month right now,” Rice said. “I need to be having 25,000 bottles of water. We go through 1,000 bus tickets a week, and we receive no city, state, or federal dollars. We need people to pray for us.”
To help New Life in its efforts to help the homeless community, call (314) 421-3020. For more information, visit http://www.newlifeevangelisticcenter.org.
