LEWES, Del. - As Code Purple at the Cape grows, so does the demand for help in the Lewes - Rehoboth area.
At St. Jude's The Apostle Church, part of the church is full of empty cots belonging to those who need them most. The church serves as shelter to the homeless during the brutal winter months.
Mike Agnew, Site Director for Code Purple at the Cape says with the help of the State Fire Marshal, he can continue meeting the increasing demand for help.
"He opened the door a little bit and relaxed the regulation allowing us here at St. Jude for the first time to increase the number of guests in our shelter from the regulatory limit of 14 guests and two volunteers, to a number greater than 14 with one stipulation," said Agnew.
That stipulation is called fire watch. The means the overnight hosts must stay awake all night to keep an eye on the facility. Due to this stipulation, Agnew needs more men to volunteer and help make this growing mission a success.
"For those volunteers that we have, which is now close to 300 volunteers, we'll be looking for some of those volunteers to change roles," said Agnew.
"We're going to ask them to step up and become overnight hosts so that we can manage this fire watch that we have each night and allow us to continue to operate the shelter," he explained.
The Housing Alliance Delaware shared in their Point In Time counts that homelessness increased by 9 percent in 2024. The Point In Time counts the number of people who are sleeping in an unsheltered place which includes a car, park, encampments along with people sleeping in emergency shelters and transitional housing projects for people experiencing homelessness.
Father Brian Lewis, Pastor at St. Jude's says the reason behind opening the church doors is simple.
"We're opening up our doors because we're opening up our hearts and we're called by God to do that. Not for selfish gain but simply out of love. We love because he loved us first," said Father Brian Lewis.
As temperatures continue to drop and Delmarva faces another round of snowfall, those at Code Purple at the Cape say they need your help to help other people.
If you are interested in volunteering, email codepurple@stjudelewes.org.