Shared Blessings hopes to reopen soon

The Shared Blessings homeless shelter in Bonne Terre has been closed for a couple weeks.

But Charlene Huskey hopes it will reopen next week.

Their last caretaker moved away so Huskey and her group hired another caretaker from a local church to start Oct. 18. Huskey said the woman seemed excited about working at the shelter but she moved out the same day she moved in.

“It was perplexing to say the least,” Huskey said.

A couple days later, Huskey got a call from an Oklahoma pastor and his wife who were friends with a local pastor. The couple have been missionaries overseas and were looking for a ministry to settle down with.

“They seem very eager,” Huskey said. “They sound like what we’ve been looking for since we opened.”

The couple, who is currently caring for a woman with terminal cancer, plans to be at the shelter by Tuesday.

Last week, the group received calls from two different families who needed homes but she said the families didn’t call back. She said two or three other homeless individuals called.

Once they open, Huskey said their biggest need will be money to maintain the house.

In December, the homeless shelter moved from East Bonne Terre to Grove Street in Bonne Terre, a former nursing home Sharo Shirshekan remodeled and donated to the group.

The new shelter, which is located at 518 Grove, has 10 bedrooms. It has enough room to house about 30 people. There’s also an apartment for the live-in caretaker.

The shelter does not get any funding from the government. It is funded entirely by donations.

Huskey said the rules say a person can stay up to 30 days in the shelter if that person is really trying to get a job. There is also a curfew and they try to make sure no one is abusing drugs or alcohol because it is a family shelter.

Teresa Ressel is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 179 or at tressel@dailyjournalonline.com.