[August 23, 2011] A heart for the homeless Tweet ASHLAND, Aug 22, 2011 (The Daily Independent - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- It takes a lot of faith to believe a former hardware warehouse with crumbling mortar and a leaky roof can become a day shelter for the homeless. Faith is something the members of Misfit Ministries have a lot of. Enough to overcome their own addictions. Enough to clean up their lives. Enough to establish a Saturday al fresco worship service and breakfast in Central Park that draws as many as 100. Now the ministry wants to establish a shelter where the homeless and nearly homeless can stop in and cool off in the summer or warm up in the winter, during the daytime hours when shelters like the Salvation Army operates are closed. The vision includes laundry facilities, play areas for children, job counseling and spiritual guidance -- all in a nonjudgmental arena. The shelter will be across the street from the city building in a Greenup Avenue structure that most recently was used as storage for a construction company, said Brad Adkins, president and co-founder of Misfit Ministries. Adkins wants the shelter to be a place where a homeless person or family can feel a little bit like they did when they actually had homes. "One thing homeless people miss is normalcy. It would be great to have a place where maybe a mom could bring her kids and they could watch TV or play with toys while she reads," he said. The ministry is a rag-tag grassroots group of former drug users, petty criminals and delinquents who turned to Christ and found a mission along with deliverance from their demons. They share their troubled past not proudly but prominently, believing they have much in common with the homeless and heartsick. Adkins was sexually abused as a child, he said, and then dependent on drugs until his own spiritual awakening in his 30s. He and his colleagues believe their backgrounds bring them closer to the homeless people they are trying to help. "Everybody hits rock bottom at some point. It could be one death, one paycheck, one sickness away from being homeless. These people are real people. If you listen to their stories you realize anyone could be there," he said. "Jesus was the original misfit," he likes to point out. "Jesus was homeless." Other members of the ministry are working on a fundraising campaign. They are trying to enlist 20 area churches to pledge $50 per month to the shelter. That would cover utilities and repair costs, like the drip in the ceiling Adkins just noticed while showing a visitor around Monday. They also could use help stocking the hygiene kits they hand out to homeless people at Church Without Walls, their name for the Sunday morning services in the park. Adkins would like to be able to provide the kits at the shelter too. Once they finish cleaning the building and fix the major flaws, they intend to furnish it so people will have places to sit and read, talk or just relax. Later, if they can swing it, they plan to put up some interior walls for rooms to use for computers, counseling and devotional programs. What they don't want to do is duplicate services. There are already clothing closets, food pantries and a lunch program at the Community Kitchen, so the shelter won't provide those services. Adkins plans to coordinate with CAReS, the area clearinghouse for administering charitable services. Those who want to help may call Misfit Ministries at (606) 232-0574 or at [email protected]. The group has a website, www.misfitsforchrist.vpweb.com, and a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/MisfitMinistries. MIKE JAMES can be reached at [email protected] or (606) 326-2652. ___ (c)2011 The Daily Independent (Ashland, Ky.) Visit The Daily Independent (Ashland, Ky.) at www.dailyindependent.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]