Church offers to take tent city next

By Matt Batcheldor | The Olympian • Published September 05, 2007

Just a couple of weeks after Olympia's homeless camp moved to St. John's Episcopal Church, another church has agreed to play host to the tent city after that.

The council of the First United Methodist Church of Olympia voted Tuesday to bring Camp Quixote, as the tent city is called, to its grounds starting about Oct. 1, said Jerry Smith, a parishioner who is working to move the camp. Smith said the church's Christian beliefs compel it to take on the camp.

"There's a great deal of biblical stuff about taking care of the poor and feeding the hungry," he said. "It's pretty basic to the Christian core of beliefs about behavior."

The Methodist church, at 1224 Legion Way SE, will be the fourth congregation to host the homeless camp since it began in February. Previous hosts have included the Unitarian Universalist Congregation and United Churches of Olympia.

In advance

Smith said the church announced the camp's move a month in advance to meet the city's new requirement for notifying neighbors. It knocked on doors and passed out fliers in the neighborhood. The city passed a law in July recognizing and regulating tent cities.

Glenmar Hapa, one of 18 residents of the camp, said Wednesday that the Methodists' adopting the camp further proves that a community once skeptical of the tent city idea is embracing it.

"See, I knew people would have a change of heart," he said.

At the current camp, St. John's volunteers staff an information table and occasionally cook meals for campers. On Wednesday night, the group ate hot lasagna.

Paul Peck, a member of St. John's who was volunteering Wednesday night, said he was at first reluctant to meet campers. He recalls driving by the camp's first location on a city block near Columbia Street and State Avenue and not having the gumption to introduce himself.

Now, he's at the camp every night.

"These people really do honor us with their presence," Peck said. "In each of their faces, we see the face of Christ."