Volunteers connect with area homeless, needy

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correctly identify Jessica Hill.

A line outside the Osage Centre began forming more than an hour before Project Homeless Connect was scheduled to begin Friday morning.

Inside, dozens of service providers in the fields of health, legal and family services prepared, knowing soon hundreds of people in need would walk through the doors.

While the event is called Project Homeless Connect, the event organizers recognize the need goes beyond those living on the street, in their car or on someone’s couch.

“There are a lot of people who are just close to homelessness. Someone living paycheck to paycheck; they’re living in places where rent is week-to-week,” Jessica Hill, executive director of Safe House for Women, said.

Crystal Godwin trims up Joey Highfill's hair Friday during Project Homeless Connect at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau.Laura Simon

There are people who are employed, but know one illness or one missed paycheck could be detrimental, Hill said.

“So we’re just trying to help everybody move to a place of sustainability and self sufficiency,” she said.

“It’s community cooperation. That’s what it’s all about,” attendee Gary Barlow said as he waited in the medical room where a variety of screenings and services were being offered.

“It takes a bunch of individuals to make a community, but if we take care of individual needs, the community comes together,” she said.

And come together they did. To provide medical services. Clothing. Haircuts. Housing Assistance. Groceries. Hygiene products. Identification. Immunization.

“Project Homeless Connect has really tried to make it a one-stop shop,” Captain Bridgette Amick of The Salvation Army said, standing in front of racks of clothes. To her side sat dozens of “ugly quilts” made from recycled blankets from Saint Vincent de Paul. Shortly after the event started, those popular quilts could be found under the arms of many attendees.

This was Project Homeless Connect’s sixth year in operation. Each year, more volunteers come and more services are offered. Last year, for example, rapid HIV testing was made available from the Butler County Health Department, with results in 20 minutes. This year, breast exams were added by popular request.

Cassandra Loggins, a member of the nursing faculty at Southeast Missouri State University, was on hand with several nursing students, prepared to instruct visitors on proper breast-examination technique. In a nearby room, professional exams were available and, should a lump be found, free mammograms were made available through vouchers donated by local hospitals.

Three dental facilities were on hand to offer their help.

“Dental services are our most requested service,” Hill said. “Sometimes people come through, and they’ve been wanting to have a tooth pulled for months, and today’s the day they finally get it.”

Community Caring Council was on hand to help people acquire ID Cards and driver’s licenses, as well as housing assistance.

Crystal Godwin of Shear Grace was on hand, providing haircuts alongside a stylist from Trendsetters. This was Godwin’s second year at Project Homeless Connect. Her first, she did alone.

“I did 37 haircuts that day,” she said. A long day, to be sure, but she said it was one that was incredibly rewarding.

Heather Rhodes waited in Godwin’s line for a haircut. She was at the Osage Centre seeking out the services she knows she needs. Living two years sober and with several mental-health diagnoses, her religion keeps her motivated.

“I’m poor, but only in the world’s eyes am I poor,” Rhodes said. “I have some disabilities, but I’m not giving up. That’s why I’m here: to get some help.”

“They really do care,” Kim Espinoza said of the volunteers.

A resident-care worker specialist at the Community Counseling Center, Espinoza accompanied some CCC residents to the event. She said the number and variety of services offered, and the people offering them.

“They do whatever they can to help,” she said. “It just makes me feel good about everything.”

“What’s great about it, is it’s a large thing. It’s not just one person coming in saying ‘I need help,” Carrie Mott of the Community Caring Council said. “They’re not alone.”

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

Osage Centre, Cape Girardeau, Mo.