A faith-based organization from Clarksville, Tennessee is looking to open a homeless shelter across state lines in Oak Grove, Kentucky.
The Pursuing Life Center – an offshoot of the Clarksville group Right for One Ministries (R41) – is hoping to purchase a vacant church in Christian County to serve as the group’s first shelter. R41 provides services such as feeding, clothing, sheltering and Bible teachings to those in the Clarksville, Oak Grove, and Fort Campbell areas. Pursuing Life seeks to expand and increase access to those services by setting up an emergency shelter in Oak Grove.
The religious group had originally intended to operate in Clarksville but was unable to find a suitable location in the city. Executive Director John Carter is now eyeing the former Maranatha Baptist Church – over 20 minutes outside of Clarksville and across state lines. Carter said the property has everything they’re looking for in a potential shelter.
“[The] building is over 20,000 square feet,” Carter said. “It has a church already built in, which is a big part of what we plan on doing. It's near a police station. It's not far from a bus stop,... so for us, it’s a really good facility.”
The facility is intended to serve as emergency and transitional housing. Carter said he is in talks with the current owner of the church and is in the process of acquiring funds to purchase the property. He hopes to partner with local churches and community groups for financial support. After that, Carter said he wants those partnerships continuing into the future operations of the new facility.
“Pursuing Life Center envisions a future where the church and the community unites to raise up those [affected] by homelessness, restoring them through faith and by the power of God's word to advance God's kingdom and make a global impact,” Carter said.
Pursuing Life plans to hire staff to work at the center and provide onsite services and support, in addition to asking its community partners and local volunteers for assistance.
Carter also said that onsite church services will play a leading role in their program. It’s a model he said was effective in the past.
“We've had people who have come out of drug addiction [and] come out of homelessness at R41,” the executive director said. “We have a basic model, but it starts with the Bible. It starts with God's word. And so, that's an area where we don't want to compromise on because we've seen great success with that.”
According to data from the Kentucky Housing Corporation, nearly 100 unhoused individuals reside in Christian County. The majority of the population is said to be utilizing emergency shelter, but KHC estimates that over half a dozen people were without shelter when the “point in time” survey was completed earlier this year. Additionally, according to a report from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy detailing “illegal camping” citations under HB5 across the state, five people were issued citations in Christian County for street camping over the last year.
Lt. David Donegan works for the Hopkinsville Corp of the Salvation Army. He oversees the only other temporary residential shelter available to homeless people living in Christian County. Donegan is familiar with his county’s local population and said he isn’t certain if a new facility in Oak Grove would address the needs of his area.
“Based upon what we [know], there’s not many homeless people in Oak Grove,” Donegan said. “They're all… in the city of Hopkinsville and not in the county.”
Donegan also noted that the availability of emergency shelters in Clarksville has changed in recent years. Previously, The Salvation Army’s Clarksville Corp offered year-round overnight shelters, but after recent renovations the Clarksville Corps only offers cooling shelters during the summer months and transitions to a warming shelter during the winter. Unless temperatures drop below a specific threshold during winter months, homeless people can’t spend the night in the Clarksville Corps’s shelter.
Donegan said the community would likely not be enthusiastic about more homeless people residing in their community. It’s an issue Donegan said his group has already had to contend with.
“We're located in the downtown area, and even the people here want us to move outside of the downtown area because they're concerned about the amount and the increase in homelessness,” Donegan said. “I think the concern would be that those individuals that couldn't seek shelter in Clarksville would then come to Christian County, which could possibly increase the amount that we would see here in the downtown area of Hopkinsville that we have.”
Carter has spent the last two months meeting with both Oak Grove’s community and leaders. According to Christian County Now, Pursuing Life has already received push back from local residents.
However, Carter still sees a path forward despite the concerns. He said the group plans to install security cameras and has suggested renovating a chain fence that currently only covers a portion of the property to surround the church.
“I completely understand, if somebody was considering doing something like that around my area, I would have my concerns too,” Carter said. “I want to make the best effort that I can to ensure that not only does it run smoothly, but that the area is actually safer.”
The Pursuing Life Center is still searching for community partners and volunteers. Carter said the organization hopes to announce a fundraiser with the goal of purchasing the building in the near future.
