The corner of McCallie and Spruce is home to a small structure that’s easy to miss. Painted grey and located next to a taller brick building, it’s likely hundreds of people drive by it every day and never see it. Even its name, Metropolitan Ministries, is painted onto the side of the brick edifice rather than the facility in which the charity is housed.
Harder to miss is the line of people that forms outside Metropolitan Ministries most weekdays. While the rest of the world sleeps, people take their place outside and then wait for the opportunity to receive help. If they’re standing there, they probably need it.
They are Chattanooga residents who are days, or sometimes hours, away from being homeless. In recent years, their numbers have grown as people living at or below the poverty line have lost jobs. For them, Metropolitan Ministries is a wellspring of hope.
The agency prevents homelessness by providing support to people in the middle of a financial crisis. Help can come in the form of third-party payments to landlords, utility companies, and pharmacies; Chattanooga Food Bank vouchers; and bus tickets for people who need to leave town. Executive director Rebecca Whelchel calls these things “the quick fixes.”
“We try to put out the fire,” she says. Once Metropolitan Ministries has reduced the ashes to a smolder, its staff begins connecting the client to the necessary support services, which might include food stamps, TennCare, addiction counseling, help applying for disability, legal aid, and veterinary services. Yes, veterinary services.
“Dr. Darlene White comes in once a month to do shots, dewormings and minor surgeries. As a person sinks into poverty, relationships drop off, and a person’s only remaining connection might be with his or her pet. We believe it’s critical to keep them together.”
Metropolitan Ministries has also joined forces with another agency to offer HIV testing.
“We’re opportunistic. We have specific things we do, but other stuff is always cropping up,” Whelchel says.
She refers to the people who come to Metropolitan Ministries for help as “clients.”
“It’s our goal to receive all who come to us with dignity and respect. We consider them our guests.” Stabilizing the lives of the guests of Metropolitan Ministries is no small task for the employees of the agency, which in 2010 served approximately 7,200 clients.
Work begins at 8 a.m., when Whelchel opens the doors and the line begins pouring into the building. The intake portion of the day ends and the administrative portion begins when the staff has assisted 30 people. Thursdays have the added pleasure of what Whelchel calls “a mad rush to pay the bills.”
Although the work is exhausting, Whelchel says Metro-politan Ministries is not a dour place. “We hear sorrow after sorrow, but we also hear jokes, share recipes, and talk about our kids. I’ve never laughter harder,” she says. An outreach ministry of the Episcopal Church, Metropolitan Ministries has been a part of Chattanooga for 32 years. Local congregations pledge money to the agency to pay its overheard, but the bulk of the financial aid Metropolitan Ministries provides comes from individuals who understand the importance of its work. No one appreciates the value of Metropolitan Ministries better than its clients. Whelchel says one man was so thankful for their help, he became a donor when he got back on his feet.
“A Vietnam vet had fallen into homelessness during the recent recession. He was a mortgage broker, and had been doing quite well, but he ended up living in his car. To get by, he rode his bike, cut brush on a horse farm, and took certification classes. He wasn’t twiddling his thumbs.
“He walked in a couple of months ago, all spiffed up, and said, ‘How do I write a check to this place?’ He’d landed his first loan in three years, and wanted to give us some money.”
Whelchel says Metropolitan Ministries could not do what it does without its volunteers, which include Sue Hyatt, who has coordinated the agency’s support services without pay since the grant that had paid for her position ran out; the person from State Farm who brings bread from Panera for guests to eat; the attorneys who provide pro bono help; and countless others. Their generosity and the money donors provide are keeping people off the streets of Chattanooga. “Chattanooga is not a great place to be homeless. While Community Kitchen and Inter-faith Homeless Network do amazing work, there are more homeless in the city than people realize, and we don’t have enough shelters for them,” Whelchel says. Fortunately, help is available in the small grey building on the corner of McCallie and Spruce.
Visit www.metropolitanministries.org for more information.