Rockford Overnight Cafe keeps area homeless warm, safe and alive

ROCKFORD — The homeless die for a lot of reasons — drug addiction, alcohol, violence — but not because of the cold, so says the Rev. Rebecca White Newgren.

"It was really the Homeless Coalition who came to us in 2019 and said, 'There's a gap in services," she said. "There are people who are on the streets. They're cold, and they are dying.'

"No one has died in the cold since we started doing this."

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What Newgren and her church started doing was the Rockford Overnight Cafe.

The cafe is a warm, well-lit and fully-supervised space with tables and chairs, movies and cards, coffee and hot chocolate.

It's housed in the gymnasium at Second Congregational/First Presbyterian Church, 318 N. Church St., and anyone who needs a warm place to go at night is welcome.

Warm and safe

January 2019 was kind of a test run of sorts. They piloted the cafe during a six-day string of subzero temperatures.

The cafe has returned each winter since.

Chris Johnson, 23, was one of about 40 people who used the cafe earlier this month. He found a quiet spot on the gymnasium floor for his blankets and camped out near the movie projector..

"Everybody is nice here," Johnson said. "It's warm and safe."

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The goal this year is to have the cafe open from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. through March 13. A lot of that depends on funding. The program is supported by donations from the community.

"We can stay open for about three more weeks," Newgren said, "but we are looking for funding so that we can stay open for the rest of the winter."

Newgren said the number of volunteers have been limited due to COVID.

"Mostly, we are staffed and that is where the cost comes in," she said. "We are staffed to make sure our guest stay as safe as possible."

A cafe atmosphere

In addition to the spacious gym floor and sleeping bags and blankets, the space offers locker rooms with showers and laundry facilities.

"So, there's always a movie running. There's always coffee brewing, kind of a cafe atmosphere," Newgren said. "People feel safer when the space stays active."

For safety reasons, the gym remains lit throughout the night, too.

Becky Erbe, an associate pastor at the church, said the cafe is kind of a catch-all for the city's homeless population 18 years old and older.

"You know, the people who may not necessarily fit into the regular places because of mental illness," she said. "There are some who are sex offenders, and they can't always go to other places. So, they need to stay safe just as much as anybody else."

A community effort

The Rockford area is enduring a prolonged cold snap featuring single-digit overnight lows and sub-zero wind chills.

Newgren said any success that the Overnight Cafe has had in keeping the homeless safe has been and continues to be a community effort.

"It's the police bringing people here," she said. "The city of Rockford is absolutely terrific in trying to get people housed and keeping tabs on who is out there. And (Executive Director) Kay Larrick from Carpenter's Place was absolutely instrumental in helping us get this started.

So, it really takes all of us. We're just a small piece of this amazing social network."

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Donations to the Rockford Overnight Cafe can be made at secondfirst.org.

Chris Green: cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford Overnight Cafe closes 'gap in services' for area homeless