Arnold Food Pantry Thrift Store

An event to help the homeless and others in need is scheduled to be held Thursday, May 26, at the Arnold Food Pantry, 2024 Key West Drive.

A Jefferson County Homeless and Essential Needs Outreach Event will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Thursday, May 26, at the Arnold Food Pantry, 2024 Key West Drive.

The event will be held in conjunction with a food-distribution at the pantry, where numerous area agencies that provide assistance to the homeless populations or others in need will be on hand, said Jillian Bissell, a prevention specialist with the Jefferson County Drug Prevention Coalition and Jefferson County Health Department.

The event is part of the Project Homeless Connect-Jefferson County effort.

“We start doing these type of events in December,” Bissell said. “We are trying to do these events on a quarterly basis. We will rotate around the county to meet people where they are at. The goal is to bring services to those who need it because transportation can be an issue.”

Comtrea, the Jefferson Franklin Community Action Corporation, 25:35 Ministries, the Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy in Pevely, Nurses for Newborns, Finding Grace Ministries, the Missouri Job Center and others will be at the event.

Resources and services will be available, including food, general wellness checks, basic dental care, clothing, personal care items, vaccinations, housing and utility assistance, and services for the homeless veterans, youth and families, Bissell said.

“We are trying to help as many people as we can,” she said. “It is not just for people who are necessarily homeless.”

Bissell said homelessness in Jefferson County may look different than what most people imagine.

“Most people think of the homeless population as people on the side of the road and sleeping on the sidewalks or in tents,” Bissell said. “Out here, some people are in the woods in tents or makeshift shelters. A lot are living in their cars, couch surfing or in an RV that doesn’t have access to water or electricity.

“I think it may be a little worse than before everything that happened with COVID and uncertainties in the economy. A lot of people are being put out because rent is outrageous and it is almost impossible to find a house to buy. There are situations that are putting people out that wouldn’t normally.”

The events are being held as the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an initiative to identify and find ways to assist homeless people.

Sheriff Dave Marshak said two corporals were assigned in January to address complaints and calls generated about the homeless population. The two are collecting information to identify the county’s homeless population, coordinate resources to help the homeless, create connections between those considered homeless and the Sheriff’s Office mental health team and find ways to enforce violations that impact the quality of life in the community, according to a letter sent to community leaders about the initiative.

The Sheriff’s Office is expected to generate a report about its findings in July.

For more information about the initiative, go to the Project Homeless Connect-Jefferson County Facebook page.