WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — The motto of the Restored Church on Meade Street in Wilkes-Barre is "In the city, for the city." It's one of the many reasons the church is now opening its doors and providing shelter to dozens of people left without a place to stay after a fire last month in the Genetti apartments.
"Primarily, our church really seeks to tangibly step into the lives of those who are at risk and in need and make a difference however we can," explained Tim Walker, the church's lead pastor.
Justin Behrens, the executive director of Keystone Mission, spearheaded the effort and came to the church asking to use its space since the city doesn't have a shelter in place.
"The big myth here right now is that these are individuals that are not homeless; these are individuals that are displaced," said Behrens. "They did have a roof over their head. They did live in an apartment, and now they're living on the streets. So this is not your typical homeless person that we're seeing, and so it is very important that once they come to us that we quickly get them back into an apartment. We don't want them to result into the category of homelessness. We want them to get back on track."
The church says it's honored to free up space to accommodate the fire victims.
"A number of group classes, meetings that were relocated, but we were more than happy to make that sacrifice for those that have lost so much in this time," said Walker.
"We have a laundry facility here for them. They have beds or cots that they can sleep on. We have a community area that they can hang out and talk, but most importantly, which is the reason why we did this, is to get the agencies to connect with them," added Behrens.
He hopes agencies like the Red Cross and CEO can meet with the victims here as a central location.
The church says it will step in some places where those agencies can't.
"We're going to throw a Super Bowl party for our guests. We're going to have board game nights, game nights, all kinds of things just to try to remind people that they are not alone," said Walker.
The shelter will be open for the next one to four weeks, according to the church, while Keystone Mission continues to help the victims find a new place to live.
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