Public Action to Deliver Shelter sent off its guests and closed its doors for the last time at 7 a.m. this morning.

About a dozen media representatives and three PADS representatives attended a press conference Thursday to explain the closing at the shelter, 311 N. Fourth St., in a room otherwise empty except for mattresses and blankets that will no longer be used.

“We are desperately in need of a new facility to provide shelter and meals,” said PADS steering committee member Mark Richelson.

The shelter closed because the First United Methodist Church in DeKalb plans to use the building for other purposes. PADS rented the parsonage owned by the church for two-and-a-half of their four years of service. Before that time, the shelter operated on a rotating-site basis.

PADS was the only shelter for the homeless in DeKalb County. During the past season, PADS served more than 6,800 meals and provided more than 2,100 nights of shelter to about 130 guests.

A task force created in March has been looking for ways to purchase a new facility. One possibility is to combine PADS with another agency to increase funding, but so far this idea has failed. “We are back at ground zero,” Richelson said.

Richelson said PADS had a site for a new shelter in mind, but plans fell through. It has been difficult to locate a site because “we’re not the richest organization in the world,” he said.

PADS paid $750 per month, seven months of the year, to rent the parsonage, said PADS Treasurer Paul Johnson. “That’s about all we can afford,” he said.

PADS Administrative Aide Gayla Warford said about seven guests of the shelter have absolutely nowhere to go. Others have found temporary places to stay, she said.

Warford said some homeless people will end up sleeping in “cars, alleys, dumpsters, roofs—wherever.”

“We are a homeless homeless shelter,” Warford said. “This is people we’re talking about. There are more homeless people all the time. It’s our responsibility to help them.”

PADS hopes to reopen on time October 1, 1990, if a new site is found, and plans to stay within the DeKalb Tax Increment Financing district.