‘We are all family’: Friends of homeless man found dead talk about surviving cold weather
By Leslie DelasBour
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KSHB) — A volunteer at Hope Faith Ministries spoke about the homeless man found dead in the snow and the realities of people living outside and surviving frigid temperatures.
“It’s like losing a family member, it’s like losing someone you love,” said Andre Murray, a volunteer with Hope Faith.
Kansas City, Mo. police officers found a man dead earlier this week at East 8th Street and Tracy Avenue.
“We are all family,” Murray said. “Everybody has these disagreements, but we are all family. We love each other, we look out for each other and we pray for each other, but it’s sad,” said Murray.
Murray and folks at Hope Faith say the man had been on the streets for a while and was trying to survive the winter.
“Being out there with no gloves just for a couple of minutes, your hands get cold, and your hands get numb and a lot of people were not adequately prepared for it before the winter hit,” Murray said.
Doug Langner, Executive Director at Hope Faith, said their doors are open, but getting folks into shelters isn’t always easy.
“What is it going to take for me to get into the shelter? Is it going to be full? And for people that travel that far and can’t get in it can be a real disappointing thing,” Langer said. “And then we have to be honest. There are a few people in our community that are going to solve their issue in their own way and many times they do,” Langer said.
Hope Faith is a low barrier shelter and they accepting people as they are.
“So when they are checking their bags in, we just ask that they don’t bring anything into the building like contraband, drugs, alcohol, weapons, things like that,” Miller said. They can’t come into the building, but they can check them in and they can get their things back the next morning,” said Miller.
Murray says during cold days he tries to offer hope to other friends on the street.
“It ain’t bad forever,” Murray said. “Life is a journey, you are going to go through some struggles. You got go through some things like this. Hopefully, stay positive it’ll get better. It just takes time,” Murray said.
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