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After about 185 people were evacuated due to a fire that broke out early Friday morning, many residents at the Missouri Hotel homeless shelter are seeking temporary refuge at Springfield’s Crimson House Church. Eight people had to go to the hospital, and have since been released. KSMU’s Rebekah Clark began by talking to Pastor John Pace at the Crimson House, who rushed into his church in the wee hours of the morning to open it up as a shelter.
[Nat Sound: Talking/John Pace]
“Right now we are in the fellowship hall where we housed the first group of folks who came in; it’s where we served them breakfast, where we’ve now served them lunch. Some slept in the pews and needed to get up and go to work, so they slept in the pews. Others stayed upstairs,” he said.
All day long volunteers and staff at the Crimson House have been working with the American Red Cross to help those affect by the fire, which happened at about 3 o’clock this morning. Pace walks me through the fellowship hall.
“We also used the nursery upstairs for the kids. Now the kids have gone to the daycare that The Kitchen has.”
Pace says his church is really not set up for any long-term holding, but he did say that the families with children will go to Cox North Hospital, and couples or singles will go to Day Spring Worship Center here in Springfield.
Pace says it’s unclear when the families will be able to move back into the shelter, but he wants to get the word out about what he thinks is the best way for the public to help these families now.
“Again, we were more first response. I would say the best thing to do would be contact the Missouri Hotel, contact their management, and they would coordinate the best way to get stuff to them and all the donations. We were able to receive things for the next few days, but long haul, they would need to go back into the Missouri Hotel system.”
I met a woman named Teresa who was a resident at the shelter Thursday night during the fire. She told me how truly scared she was for her life.
“I opened the door, and I couldn’t see anything. It was all smoke and I could feel the heat, and I was like ‘Oh my gosh, what am I doing?’ Terrified. I was so seriously terrified. I couldn’t see anything so I was just walking down the hallway from memory and faith. I was like, ‘I hope I’m not walking into a fire.”
Teresa found the door and made it outside. She and other residents were then taken to the hospital to get checked out after inhaling so much smoke.
“I’ve never inhaled the smoke, never been that close to an actual fire where I didn’t know where it was or what I was doing. Now I’m just glad everyone is safe.”
People interested in donating or volunteering can call the Missouri Hotel at 837-1540. Right now, it needs cash donations, as well as baby diapers and formula.
For KSMU News, I’m Rebekah Clark.