Soup kitchen in downtown Du Quoin

In the coming days the office of Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi, Fire Chief Bob Shaw and the city council will be wrestling with a plan to begin a clothing mission and eventually a soup kitchen in an East Main Street storefront. The project is called Grace With a Mission and is going into the Moore Than Memories scrapbooking storefront.

Zane Moore, the son of the shop owner--which has vacated the property--lives up above and wants to create a meaningful mission that would involve clothing and eventually a soup kitchen as well as a mobile mission.

There are no ordnances barring such an outreach, but there are fire codes. The dialogue is just beginning.

Also of note, Matt Jackson of Sunfield and friends have set up a Vision Church meeting place in what was formerly the New Wave cablevision office at 15 South Mulberry Street.

Mayor Guy Alongi has met with Zane Moore to discuss the project, which Moore says is still in its infancy.

While there is no ordinance preventing such an outreach in a downtown storefront it goes without saying that such a project flies in the face of five years worth of work to bring retail businesses and professional offices to the downtown. Alongi's concerns aren't about how well-intended Moore's proposal is, but rather about real world issues like fire safety, larger numbers of people in small spaces and the warehousing of mission items.

Alongi said this project is new territory for the city, but it begs the question about the need for an ordinance which requires new business owners to obtain a permit from the city before opening a new business or project. The permits would be free, but permits 60 days ahead of an opening would allow the council, the fire department and the safety officer to see if there are any real concerns before a proposal goes too far.