Southeast side homeless shelter in danger of closing
A homeless shelter on the southeast side faces financial trouble that could force it out its building, leaving nearly a hundred people already without a home, homeless once again.
Southeast side homeless shelter in danger of closing
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By Vanessa McClure Fox59
3:07 p.m. EDT, September 28, 2010
wxin-homeless-shelter-closing-092810
Indianapolis —
A homeless shelter on the southeast side faces financial trouble that could force it out its building, leaving nearly a hundred people already without a home, homeless once again.
The ministry, “For God So Loved The World,” runs the shelter but can no longer afford the mortgage and no time is running out quickly before eviction.
The “For Sale” sign in front is an unwelcome sign from the bank. The shelter needs $100,000 by Monday or it’ll have to put the people who live here back on the streets. Kenny Coats is one of them.
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Coats said before he found “For God So Loved The World Ministries,” he was hardly living. He said he was dealing drugs and sleeping on the streets.
“I’d probably be dead. I didn’t care I just thank God every day I’m here when I wake up. Now I’m in a whole other frame of mind. I’m doing right for the first time in my life,” he told Fox59 News.
Coats and the nearly 90 other people, including women and children, who’ve found a second chance here are now on the verge of being homeless again. Pastor Rhonda Langston runs the shelter. She says she can’t afford the mortgage and the bank who owns the building is threatening to take it back.
“{They} stuck a ‘For Sale’ sign in our yard we’re gonna have to leave. I honestly don’t believe that. Someway, somehow somebody’s gonna hear our cry and help us,” Pastor Langston said.
Langston said she used to be homeless herself. About 20 years ago, she said she made it her life’s mission to help put Indy’s homeless back on their feet.
Through food and faith she said, the shelter turns lives around. She knows these are hard times for many but she says even the smallest donation would help her continue to put people back on the right path.
“I would ask them to put the shoe on their foot. As a woman who has put everything she has into this, my cry is to help us. Help us, help us help the homeless,” she explained.
“I just thank God every day that it’s here and it’s open to help people myself and everyone else,” echoed Coats.
Pastor Rhonda and those who live here told Fox59 they have faith that generous people will come forward to donate and help them keep the doors open.
If you’d like to help or to give a donation, below is the contact information for the shelter:
For God So Loved The World Ministries
5353 East Raymond Street
Indianapolis, Indiana
Phone: 317-359-1294
Mail Donations To:
Take Time And Pray Church
P.O. Box 4534
Carmel, Indiana 46033
