MEMPHIS, Tenn. — For the past two weeks, Pastor Charlie Caswell of Union Grove Baptist Church has been packing a cooler full of water then loading it onto the church van and hitting the streets.
“Well just basically because it’s being 100-degree weather, we’re reaching out to those who are homeless out here, stopping in the communities seeing kids that are out here playing.”
His first stop Wednesday afternoon was at Frayser’s Denver Park.
The idea is to check on children too young to understand this stifling heat is nothing to play with.
“We do understand our community at large, that parents are at work a lot of times and kids are out there playing and they’ll overexert themselves, so we’re just making sure they have water.”
Pastor Caswell also drives neighborhood to neighborhood in Frayser, stopping anywhere he thinks people might need something cool to drink.
The church has also spent a great deal of time checking on homeless people.
“Just take them to shelters and pay for them to stay in the shelters you know and just asking the people there to keep them a couple of days,” explained Caswell.
Caswell says fortunately, the last few days, people have been taking advantage of the city’s cooling centers.
On Wednesday, Caswell drove the van downtown anyway, double checking on the people inside shelters and especially those sitting outside on the streets.
“If all hands are on deck then we can make an impact, and prayerfully nobody will die in this weather.”