Miami outreach volunteers say closed church could be used as warming/cooling center and food hub; no council vote yet

Rick Aldridge, a community presenter, told the Miami City Council on Oct. 7 that volunteers and outreach workers have recorded a recent influx of people living on the street and are pursuing purchase of a closed church building for use as a service hub.

"We are potentially very close to getting that building purchased," Aldridge said, naming the property as the Northwest Assembly of God. He said the facility would not be run as a formal shelter "for insurance purposes," but would provide a kitchen, meals, a fresh-food bank and warm- and cooling-space where people might stay overnight in extreme weather.

Aldridge described outreach operations that include daily counts and a volunteer "work party" that provides labor opportunities, and said volunteers counted 32 people new to Miami on the day he spoke and had 47 people at a recent feed. "We're just over 200" was his estimate of people currently living on the street in and around Miami, he said.

Council members asked how the program helps people reunite with their home states and whether nearby neighborhoods had been canvassed about the proposed facility. Aldridge said volunteers try to obtain identification and bus tickets when possible; he said his team had sent six people home in recent months and that some people refuse assistance.

On neighborhood outreach, Aldridge said sellers of the closed church reported conversations with long-time assembly members who supported the reuse; he also said three other organizations had shown interest in the property. He said two pastors — "a Baptist pastor and an assemblies pastor" — would be involved in the planned ministry at the facility and that the sanctuary would be left intact.

Aldridge and council members repeatedly emphasized a focus on services that aim for "a hand up, not a handout," including work opportunities and referrals to Grand Lake health services for assessment and Medicaid enrollment.

No formal action or vote to purchase the property was recorded at the meeting. Council members raised follow-up questions about zoning, neighborhood canvassing and insurance/regulatory limits; Aldridge invited further engagement and said the outreach group could perform a door-to-door neighborhood canvas.

Community members and staff will bring more details to the council before any sale or formal city action, and Aldridge said outreach operations would continue while those steps proceed.