Wichita, Kansas, Church Parking Lot Hosts Weekly Outreach to Homeless Residents

As the sun set over the parking lot of St. John’s Episcopal Church on North Topeka Street, volunteers began arriving to set up tables, play music and roll out coolers. Every Thursday night, people from different walks of life gather there with a shared purpose: to meet the needs of downtown Wichita’s homeless population and anyone else who comes by.

Brant Graves started homeless outreach in 2008, when he and fellow churchgoers began seeking out bridges and other places where homeless people gathered, hoping to share religion and resources with them. He soon dropped most of the religious aspect of the work. “As we got out here and got to know people, we realized that they don’t need preaching,” Graves said. “They know the Bible well, they just need community, friendship and some type of a support structure.”

In 2012, the work took its current form: a location where volunteers cook hot dogs and people who need help come to them, showing welcome to the hungry (Matthew 25:35). Graves calls the operation God N’ Dogs. He said volunteers now come from many churches and backgrounds, and his goal is to be as inclusive as possible. He described the group as having no central leadership. “I take responsibility, but we try not to have any central leadership,” he said. “It runs without me here.”

Suzanne Genilo said she and her husband have been involved with God N’ Dogs for about nine years. Her husband had the idea to start playing music at the “tailgates” several years ago. “It changes the whole atmosphere because everybody relaxes,” she said. Genilo said she develops personal relationships with many of the people they serve, and occasionally she has helped rent hotel rooms for people. “We’re not just going to hand out money because we know that’s not really prudent,” she said. “It’s all situational. Everybody’s life is different. Everybody’s story is different. And we just try to listen to their stories.”

From breakups to job-threatening injuries, each person offers a different reason for being down on their luck and for having nowhere to go at night. Graves pointed to a lack of affordable housing in the city as a factor that increases the problem. He said the sale of two Wichita residential buildings, the Shirkmere Apartments and the Commodore Apartments, in recent years contributed to a wave of people losing housing. Many of the buildings’ residents relied on housing vouchers obtained through the city and federally funded programs. Graves said some of the displaced residents were felons, who face barriers to finding new homes, such as discrimination from landlords and employers. “However you feel about that, I understand, it’s kind of unsavory, but they got to have a place to live, right?” he said.

Graves also attributed mental illness as one reason many people who come to God N’ Dogs are unable to keep housing. He said people who struggle with mental issues and lack support systems often fall through the cracks. “Trying to navigate the social welfare system is extremely difficult for me and I got a college education behind me,” Graves said. “But when you add somebody that doesn’t have transportation, that doesn’t have the $20 or $30 for the random fees and then has some type of mental illness or a mental disability, it’s even more frustrating. A lot of times, people just give up on trying to get help.”

Not everyone who comes to God N’ Dogs is homeless. Graves estimated that about half are not, but they still come for the food and community.

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