BELLEFONTE—There’s no homeless shelter in Bellefonte, but Trinity United Methodist Church is working to change that, and the public can help.
The church, also known as Trinity Bellefonte, has community meal programs and a food bank. “Our doors are open six and sometimes seven days a week because we’re here so much,” said Linda Mundy Boone, the church’s outreach coordinator. “This is how we’ve met lots of homeless people. And what we try to do is find them accommodations. This has opened our eyes to the need.”
She said the Out of the Cold homeless shelter in State College is usually full, so they’ve used hotels, B&Bs and recently an Airbnb.
To provide funding for this program, Trinity Bellefonte is holding its first Hearts for the Homeless Challenge race from 6 p.m. on April 7 through 6 p.m. on April 8 at Governors Park, off Airport Road and Governors Park Road.
“Ultimately, the long-term goal is a homeless program in Bellefonte,” Boone said. “We’ve filed for a nonprofit corporation to be the shell for that. We have some members of the community that will be the board of directors. Right now, all we’re doing is finding accommodations for people that come in. But ultimately, we want to create a homeless shelter. We’re calling it The Neighborhood Help Center.”
For the Hearts for the Homeless Challenge race, Boone said people can choose to run or walk for six, 12 or 24 hours on the one-mile course.
“We will log how many miles they go every time they come around past the aid station,” Boone said. “We have personal sponsors and corporate sponsors for the race.”
The homeless program will also benefit from the race registration fees — $85 for a 24-hour race; $65 for 12 hours; and $45 for 6 hours. The start times are 6 p.m. on Friday, 6 a.m. on Saturday and noon on Saturday, respectively, according to the signup website.
Pastor Doug Conway said people can sign up on the day of the race, but the church can’t guarantee they’ll get an event T-shirt.
“People have offered to sponsor me by the mile,” Conway said. “I’m an ultramarathoner.”
Boone smiled. “The race was Doug’s idea because of his personal passion for running.”
“We do what we can right now,” Conway said. “Part of the ultimate goal is to have a church van to transport people to medical appointments or in whatever way we can use it to help. And we have a lady here who helps them navigate the social services system.”
He said the Wednesday night hot meals average about 80 people every week for takeouts, deliveries and eat-ins.
“That’s really the program that we built everything else off of,” he said.
“With the Bellefonte Lunch Program, different churches volunteer to bring a meal and serve it,” Boone said. “Trinity is the host location.”
Conway said, “For the food bank, we get food from the Central PA Food Bank and we get food from Giant three days per week. We get donations from individuals at times, too. The hours are 8 to 2 Monday through Friday, and there’s an emergency contact on the sign. We have personal hygiene items and diapers for infants. Anyone can come.”
“Here’s what our ministries are all about,” Boone said. “Meeting a need and building relationships with people. Everyone’s welcome here for everything we do.”
“The people here, they have big hearts,” Conway said. “We have run all these programs on donations and grants, mostly from our denomination. We’re hoping with the 501(c)(3) nonprofit (status) that we can qualify for other grants. We got a nice grant from the Bellefonte Elks.”
Trinity Bellefonte is located at 128 W. Howard St. A colorful “Open” banner hangs by the Spring Street door when the church is open. For more information, visit trinitybellefonte.com or call (814) 355-9425.
