Fire at historic KC church leaves both church and homeless program without their home
A fire at a historic church in Kansas City that is now home to The Mount Christian Worship Center has put a halt to the daily operations of both the church and the Neighbor2Neighbor organization there that serves the unhoused population in the metro.
“I’m only taking it one day at a time, until further notice,” Neighbor2Neighbor Executive Director Gregory Parr said, after the Wednesday morning fire damaged the historic building on 36th Street and Wabash.
The Mount Christian Worship Center relocated to the historic structure in 2011, but the church has stood in the neighborhood for over 100 years, Pastor Willie Thornton said. Before the Mount Christian Worship Center moved in, two other churches occupied the space in previous years.
The Neighbor2Neighbor program that operates from the church originally was started in 1996 in Westport by Parr, who was unhoused himself and struggled with substance abuse until leaving the Kansas City area to receive help.
Since then, the program has been a lifeline for those who are unhoused in the community.
The organization relocated to the church in March of 2018, and since then, has provided meals and essentials to unhoused people. Parr said the main goal of the program is to help eliminate the reasons that people struggle to keep a roof over their heads, while also providing meals and living essentials.
After the fire Wednesday, the Kansas City Fire Department boarded up the church, so the group only has limited supplies to work with, Parr said. They won’t know how many supplies have smoke and water damage until a complete inventory can be done.
Parr said he’s trying to maintain a presence there, despite the fire, in case people in need still show up.
“I want to be there to at least let them know about the fire and what we’re going to do from now on – I made sure we have the sandwiches and lunches ready because a lot of people who are homeless won’t see the news and will walk all the way from downtown,” Par said.
Fire crews responded to the fire just after 5:30 a.m Wednesday.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown, and an investigation is ongoing, according to fire officials.
They plan to either rebuild or repair, Thornton said. He’s still not sure which it will be, as he awaits a decision from their insurance company. But from what he’s seen, he believes they’ll need to rebuild.
Community support during this time — when the church and organization both find themselves without a home — is what both Thornton and Parr say they most need, and is important to helping them succeed in their mission of continuing to help the unhoused population and others in need.
“My mission is to meet the needs of God’s people, meet the needs of the community and so during this fire we’re not able to occupy our church — so we just need help from the community,” Thornton said.
According to their website, 23,240 meals have been served there this year, including breakfast, lunch and snacks. In the past five years, 503 homeless people have been placed into drug treatment facilities or given recovery housing referrals.
Besides the meal service, they also typically provide hygiene products on Thursdays, as well as clothing. Parr said a case manager is available Mondays through Wednesdays to help people get into treatment centers.
Plans for the future
Neighbor2Neighbor does have plans to expand in the near future to continue to help more people struggling with substance abuse and homelessness, Parr said.
Currently adjacent to the church is a recovery house currently housing a few unhoused men who stay to get sober, Parr said. That home was not affected by the fire.
They have a lot of space for their expansion, Parr said, it is just the funding that is still needed.
“Our next step is to create a wellness corridor — our pastor wants this to include Neighbor 2 Neighbor, a licensed social worker and a dental clinic – a block of recovery, so we do have plans to do that, we just need funds,” Parr said.
Even with the building needing repairs, and perhaps even a full rebuild, Thornton hopes to be able to use this moment to accelerate the goal of expanding Neighbor2Neighbor.
“The blessing is, if we have to rebuild, we are going to rebuild in the sense to address being able to feed the homeless in a strategic way — that’s one of my main goal that if we have to rebuild we build to meet that need,” Thornton said
There are not many medical detox center in the Kansas City metro, and Parr said that’s an issue that badly needs to be addressed.
“With being a person in lifetime recovery, that’s my priority,” Parr said, noting that despite the fire, he plans to continue providing drug treatment referrals as normal, hoping to continue to help fill that gap.
And while the fire may have slowed down their plans, Parr is not letting it incinerate his mission to help the unhoused in Kansas City.
Thursday, the group still fed between 30 to 40 people, and church services will continue next weekend at the St. Marks Child and Family Development Center located at 2008 E 12th Street.
