JUDY VALENTE: Bloomington is a largely affluent community in central Illinois with quaint shops, a historic courthouse, and well-kept homes. But Bloomington also has a hidden side.
Counselor: Where did you live before that?Unidentified Man: On the streets.
Counselor: In Bloomington?
VALENTE: Like many other smaller cities, Bloomington faces a problem long associated with large, urban areas -- a growing homeless population.
KAREN ZENGERLE (Social Worker): The homeless are made up of a lot of different parts -- that population that is mentally ill or chemically addicted, the single moms with kids who are living on very little, and it doesn't take much to bounce them into homelessness.
Reverend TED PIERCE (Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, speaking to congregation during service): If you do not reach out in worship to those who are marginalized and oppressed, God says, "I don't want your assemblies."
VALENTE: Enter the Reverend Ted Pierce, an energetic pastor whom congregation members affectionately refer to as "Rev. Ted." Two years ago, Pierce took over Second Presbyterian Church, one of the city's oldest -- and wealthiest -- congregations. The old church sanctuary had been condemned and had to be torn down, leaving an empty lot in the middle of the city and the congregation worshipping in their fellowship hall. Second Presbyterian wanted to launch a $12.2 million capital campaign to build a new church. Pierce proposed a different priority.Rev. PIERCE (speaking to congregation during service): How can we be the heart of Christ in the heart of the community?
VALENTE: Bloomington has night shelters, but the homeless desperately needed a place to go during the day.
Rev. PIERCE (speaking to congregation): They're wandering around, they're cold, they have no place to go. They're hungry. They need shelter. Their place to go would be the library, businesses. There wasn't even really a public restroom downtown they could go to.
VALENTE: Pierce decided to convert the large, unfinished basement of the church offices into a homeless shelter.Rev. PIERCE: Will people be coming in there with alcohol on their breath? Yeah. Will people be coming in there -- now, there are rules once you get in there -- will people be coming in there who have been incarcerated? Yeah.
VALENTE: Some of the members were less than thrilled.
GUY FRAKER (Member, Second Presbyterian Church): It took a considerable, I'd say, sales job on the part of Ted Pierce to sell the church on it. Our town is fairly middle-class. We don't think that we have a poverty problem.Rev. PIERCE: I preached on Matthew 25 and I called it "You Can Go to Hell." And really, if we don't feed our people, clothe our people, go to the prisons, as Christ says, "You can go to Hell." One of my buddies at the Methodist Church called my secretary that day and he said, "Now, is he preaching on 'You Can Go to Hell,' or 'You can go to Hell!'?"
VALENTE: John Meek is a former member of the church board of trustees and a builder. He had to be convinced.
JOHN MEEK (Member, Second Presbyterian Church): It takes a lot of resources to build a project of this size, and, I was skeptical about the ability of the community to provide all of those.VALENTE: There was another, practical problem.
Rev. PIERCE: How do you pay for it? You know, we have the space. Who's got the money? Who's going to do the construction? That was really the big issue.
VALENTE: Pierce turned to these men, local union officials, and asked if they would be willing to donate their labor.
RONN MOREHEAD (Laborers' Union): When we come and do something like this, it restores our faith. We're not all big burly rowdies that set somewhere and have a few drinks-type people. We're the same people that go to the churches.
VALENTE: The concept seems to be a simple one, yet few shelters operate this way. Many lack even the basic services the homeless desperately need -- like washers and dryers, phones, access to computers and the Internet to search for jobs.
VALENTE: As many as 60 homeless people come through the Compassion Center daily. The center receives about $500,000 in federal and local funds. Larry McGuire oversaw the center's construction.
RICHARD RIGG: ... I slept in parks.
Ms. ZANGERLE: We would have somebody come in for the washer and dryer, and it gave us an opportunity to say, "Tell us your situation." It's that access to them on a daily basis. We have moved 80 percent of the people that we come into contact with into permanent housing within six months of our first contact.
Rev. PIERCE: I hope that there's a sense of, "Look, we did accomplish something. We did live our faith and do our faith, like we've been doing for 150 years here."
