SPRING HILL, Fla — Finding warmth inside the Shady Hills Mission Chapel means a lot to Gary Charles Johnson.
“It made me cry. It was very, very heartwarming,” said Johnson.
Pastor Jen Kerouac leads the church in Spring Hill. It’s a designated cold weather shelter in Pasco County.
“We have cots for folks to sleep. We have food to warm their bellies. And hopefully, conversations that will warm their heart,” said Kerouac.
Someone even donated hand-knitted scarves and beanies to keep people warm. There’s a heart sewed on each one.
Pastor Jen said there are even more people without a home after the hurricanes.
“We had a lot of folks that were essentially living in their cars and/or campers, and because of the hurricanes, they lost those vehicles. And so now some of them because the vouchers only last for so long and the FEMA money as well. So there’s a lot of them that are in the woods,” she said.
Nelly Sysa found this church after walking across three counties.
“I kind of just did one big loop. I started in Trinity and somehow made my way to St. Pete. Walked across one of the bridges,” said Sysa.
Nelly is one of thousands of people in the Bay area who are homeless. The cold weather makes a hard life on the streets even harder.
“It got so cold some nights I would just walk through the nights and just sleep through the day. I’d like find a field or something and sleep in the sunlight and warm myself back up,” said Sysa.
This church is more than just a place to sleep on cold nights. They have a food pantry every Wednesday and visits from a mobile medical clinic.
The hope is to connect people with whatever they need to turn their lives around for good.
“This place is just amazing,” said Johnson.
The church is open again Wednesday night as a shelter and will stay open until 10 a.m. Friday.
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