At Bethel A.M.E. Church ’s A.R. Nelson Christian Outreach Center east of downtown, volunteers hand out food, clothing and tend a garden with cauliflower and collard greens destined for families struggling to get by.
Depending on the season, the church offers homeless people a chance to warm up or cool off in another building on the property, where one formerly homeless man will soon move in permanently.
The leaders of the small church now are exploring another way to help their neighbors: building affordable housing for seniors on an empty lot along North Swiss Street next to Bethel…