New Community Center welcomes Raleigh's homeless
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Feeding the homeless in Moore Square has created a battle between business owners and the city, and even led to some arrests.
But starting this weekend, homeless people who used to gather in the park will now have a cool building where they can receive meals and even grab a seat.
The Oak City Outreach Center, at 215 1/2 South Person Street, was once an abandoned building behind a chain link fence, but now it sports a fresh coat of paint and new bathrooms to welcome the homeless.
The Center will be open every weekend from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and drinks and snacks will be available all day.
"Catholic Charities is very thankful to the City of Raleigh for providing us with this wonderful facility that we have here where we can provide a place of hospitality and welcome," said Rick Miller-Haraway, Regional Director for Catholic Charities.
Doors of the new building will officially open Saturday, taking the homeless from Moore Square, where complaints piled up over trash and crime, to a place with seats and a chance to get groceries along with a hot meal.
"I feel that a lot of folks are going to come up in here and something good is going to come out of this," said Wilbur Davis, who volunteers with Church Outreach Ministry, a group that spearheads the project.
The project is personal to Davis because he was once homeless.
"When you're homeless, you need your family because you need that support," Davis said. "Churches come up in here and feed people and they talk with people. They try to get to know the people and make the person feel like they've got a friend."
City leaders agreed to spend $110,000 to create a place that was safe and secure for people who would otherwise be eating from trash cans.
"To have someone that's been formerly homeless to come in and to see the value of what we're doing, it was just kind of that gauge to let us know that what we're doing is right," said Shana Overdorf, who makes it her mission to prevent homelessness, and explained how important this Center is not only for the people struggling but also the community.
"From something that wasn't positive, people were able to mobilize and form change and this is gonna become a true community center," Overdorf said.
