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Burglary at Jackson, Miss. Women's Shelter

Aired October 02, 2003 - 15:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there will be no shelter anytime soon at a Jackson, Mississippi, homeless shelter for women that was about to open its doors. Burglars looted the facility, taking thousands of dollars in donated furniture, appliances and fixtures. They even stole the kitchen sink. Investigators are trying to determine if a man charged in another area burglary was involved.
Joining us on the phone now from Stewpot Community Services is the Rev. Frank Spencer.

First of all, Revered, we're extremely -- well, when we heard the story, I guess you could say, we were really disappointed. So we want to be able to do as much we can to help. Why don't you first of all tell us about this shelter and how it helps women?

THE REV. FRANK SPENCER, COO, STEWPOT COMMUNITY SERVICES: Thank you, Kyra.

This shelter is actually a shelter for homeless women and children. There is a chronic lack of space in the Jackson area for women that have lost where they were staying because of not able to pay the rent or illness or something like that and they have children. And so this shelter was going to attempt to alleviate that shortage in the Jackson area.

PHILLIPS: Why don't you tell us about the difference a shelter has made in the lives of a lot of these women and children? Kind of give us a glimpse into your success stories.

SPENCER: Well, it has -- there have been instances where women were just thrown out into the world because they were evicted from where they were staying because of the absence of a spouse or those other type of troubles and just have no place to go. And so, Matt's House has traditionally filled this void in the Jackson area where women can come and stay with their children on an emergency basis.

And our staff is a wonderful staff down here and what they do is they counsel the women on job opportunities, housing opportunities, and other counseling as needed.

PHILLIPS: So now someone -- someone obviously with an absolute lack of any respect and definitely not a heart -- came in and looted your facility. Is everything gone? Are you in the need of completely rebuilding here?

SPENCER: Yes. Everything is gone. All the supplies we had to fill out the shelter with the exception of one large refrigerator that was apparently too much to -- for them to carry out. But there were appliances taken that would take about four men to haul off. So, yes, we've been cleaned out with these donations that people have given us in the past.

PHILLIPS: Now there has been a man charged that's been charged in another burglary. Do they believe this is the same individual that robbed your shelter?

SPENCER: I really don't know. We haven't heard from the police on that, so I'm -- it's too early for us to speculate.

PHILLIPS: Where are the women and children now that normally would find refuge in your shelter, Reverend?

SPENCER: Well, we have a place called Matt's House where women and children are currently staying. This is a new facility that we were attempting to open on Mill Street. And the purpose of the facility was going to be to separate women and children from single women that are housed at the Matt's House to get them away from a lot of our clients that would come in that are not married and don't have children, have drug problems or some kind of chemical dependency or they're slightly mentally imbalanced.

This was a facility that was hoping to get the women and children away from the chronic homeless.

PHILLIPS: All right. Reverend, we're going to bring up a phone number now. Why don't you tell our viewers what you need immediately and we're going to show this phone number here, the 601-353-2759, where folks can call and make a donation.

Give us just a brief overview of what you need immediately.

SPENCER: Well, I'll tell you what we've lost. We lost a commercial refrigerator, a large commercial freezer, large commercial gas stove. We lost the tile for the floor that was going to be put down, other construction stuff. And like you said, we lost the kitchen sink. We lost commodes, bathroom sinks, endtables, lamps, ceiling fans, tables for the people to eat on and a large dinner hood (ph). It's about $15, 000 worth of things that were stolen.

PHILLIPS: All right. And here is the number if you want to call and give a cash donation or any of those things the Reverend Frank Spencer says that he needs.

Sir, we thank you for your time. We are sorry about what happened and we'll check in with you and get an update of where you stand, OK?

SPENCER: Well, thank you, Kyra. We appreciate your interest and your attempts to help.

PHILLIPS: Well, we appreciate your time. Thanks, Revered.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 2, 2003 - 15:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there will be no shelter anytime soon at a Jackson, Mississippi, homeless shelter for women that was about to open its doors. Burglars looted the facility, taking thousands of dollars in donated furniture, appliances and fixtures. They even stole the kitchen sink. Investigators are trying to determine if a man charged in another area burglary was involved.
Joining us on the phone now from Stewpot Community Services is the Rev. Frank Spencer.

First of all, Revered, we're extremely -- well, when we heard the story, I guess you could say, we were really disappointed. So we want to be able to do as much we can to help. Why don't you first of all tell us about this shelter and how it helps women?

THE REV. FRANK SPENCER, COO, STEWPOT COMMUNITY SERVICES: Thank you, Kyra.

This shelter is actually a shelter for homeless women and children. There is a chronic lack of space in the Jackson area for women that have lost where they were staying because of not able to pay the rent or illness or something like that and they have children. And so this shelter was going to attempt to alleviate that shortage in the Jackson area.

PHILLIPS: Why don't you tell us about the difference a shelter has made in the lives of a lot of these women and children? Kind of give us a glimpse into your success stories.

SPENCER: Well, it has -- there have been instances where women were just thrown out into the world because they were evicted from where they were staying because of the absence of a spouse or those other type of troubles and just have no place to go. And so, Matt's House has traditionally filled this void in the Jackson area where women can come and stay with their children on an emergency basis.

And our staff is a wonderful staff down here and what they do is they counsel the women on job opportunities, housing opportunities, and other counseling as needed.

PHILLIPS: So now someone -- someone obviously with an absolute lack of any respect and definitely not a heart -- came in and looted your facility. Is everything gone? Are you in the need of completely rebuilding here?

SPENCER: Yes. Everything is gone. All the supplies we had to fill out the shelter with the exception of one large refrigerator that was apparently too much to -- for them to carry out. But there were appliances taken that would take about four men to haul off. So, yes, we've been cleaned out with these donations that people have given us in the past.

PHILLIPS: Now there has been a man charged that's been charged in another burglary. Do they believe this is the same individual that robbed your shelter?

SPENCER: I really don't know. We haven't heard from the police on that, so I'm -- it's too early for us to speculate.

PHILLIPS: Where are the women and children now that normally would find refuge in your shelter, Reverend?

SPENCER: Well, we have a place called Matt's House where women and children are currently staying. This is a new facility that we were attempting to open on Mill Street. And the purpose of the facility was going to be to separate women and children from single women that are housed at the Matt's House to get them away from a lot of our clients that would come in that are not married and don't have children, have drug problems or some kind of chemical dependency or they're slightly mentally imbalanced.

This was a facility that was hoping to get the women and children away from the chronic homeless.

PHILLIPS: All right. Reverend, we're going to bring up a phone number now. Why don't you tell our viewers what you need immediately and we're going to show this phone number here, the 601-353-2759, where folks can call and make a donation.

Give us just a brief overview of what you need immediately.

SPENCER: Well, I'll tell you what we've lost. We lost a commercial refrigerator, a large commercial freezer, large commercial gas stove. We lost the tile for the floor that was going to be put down, other construction stuff. And like you said, we lost the kitchen sink. We lost commodes, bathroom sinks, endtables, lamps, ceiling fans, tables for the people to eat on and a large dinner hood (ph). It's about $15, 000 worth of things that were stolen.

PHILLIPS: All right. And here is the number if you want to call and give a cash donation or any of those things the Reverend Frank Spencer says that he needs.

Sir, we thank you for your time. We are sorry about what happened and we'll check in with you and get an update of where you stand, OK?

SPENCER: Well, thank you, Kyra. We appreciate your interest and your attempts to help.

PHILLIPS: Well, we appreciate your time. Thanks, Revered.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com