The Gift of God Street Church in Kankakee took a leap of faith when it closed its lucrative thrift shop in March to start housing homeless women and children there. The mission had served only men for years, providing food and shelter in exchange for tough love and the Bible.
Now, it serves both men and women, but the change has brought the mission perilously close to running out of money.
"We're really in trouble," said the Rev. Ed "Street Ed" Kannapel, who runs the Gift of God Street Church's shelters and serves as its pastor. "If we closed, they'll all be back out on the street."
To make ends meet, the mission reopened the thrift shop on Monday, moving the women's shelter to a smaller space upstairs at its North Fifth Avenue facility. Kannapel said the thrift store still has "warehouses" full of inventory since it closed but has been missing the $3,000 in monthly income it provided.
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