Trailers removed from shelter rezoning request

An amended proposal to place a volunteer-run homeless shelter and child care center on North Main Street will be presented to the Shelbyville City Council next week, removing a request for rezoning, meaning there are no plans to place trailers at the location.

The revised plan is unchanged except there will be no mobile homes or trailers proposed for Community Religious Outreach Social Services (CROSS), which has been presented to the council by Dr. Carl Bailey.

Bailey told the T-G that the idea for shelter and child care for the homeless at 262 North Main St. has been praised and well received by the public and city officials, but the main sticking point for many has been the rezoning request for four trailers.

So Bailey says he is resubmitting the plan to the council without the plans for the trailers. The property Bailey is looking at using is owned jointly by the city and county.

The property is one acre and the building would not change except for a new paint job, Bailey told the council earlier this month. Access to the property is off North Jefferson Street. The building is currently not habitable. CROSS is also in the process of being registered as a non-profit organization.

Bailey said the purpose of CROSS is to help people get back on their feet. Bailey has said he does not propose 'a soft services' facility," like anger management or parenting classes, but a place to meet immediate needs, such as shelter.

The facility would provide interim, short-term shelter, so that people can get back on their feet, off the poverty rolls and back to work. The basement would be dedicated to a community pantry, and an office would be dedicated to a cultural integration office to help the county's minority community, such as Hispanics and Somali refugees.

Bailey said according to the deputy director of Tennessee's Department of Children Services, if the cost of taking care of children of single-parent families could be done away with, it would take care of about 40 percent of those at the poverty level in Bedford County.

Bailey told the council that CROSS is not trying to compete with all the child care facilities in the county, which charge $90 per child a week or $120 for two kids.

"A single person working at a low income job ... can't pay that, because they'd have nothing left to eat," Bailey said. "So they choose not to work and stay on welfare and be their own child care. We want to break that cycle." Bailey said the child care would be $25 to $50 a week.

Also planned is a ride-to-work program, Bailey said, which he said is getting "very positive support" from the pastors of area churches for the idea, who have already promised the donations of vehicles and volunteers.

Bailey stressed that he is not trying to supplant any existing organization, but just wants to meet immediate housing needs, food and clothing, and employment help.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

For more information on CROSS, contact Dr. Bailey at 575-9954.