A church that serves breakfast to Davenport residents in need is reopening Monday after being shut down by the city for a zoning violation.
Timothy’s House of Hope has been closed for almost a month after it moved to a new location. The group typically serves 2,000 to 5,000 meals in that amount of time.
It is reopening because Davenport has agreed to not cite the group for zoning violations while it considers changes to its code.
"So it’ll be a great blessing for a lot of people that come in," says Pastor Jim Swope, founder of Timothy's House of Hope. "We have single moms that come in with their children before school to grab a quick breakfast as well, so a lot of people have been served through this ministry."
Swope says neighborhood opposition of the group is based on stereotypes of homeless people.
"A lot of the people they call bums--some of them are Vietnam veterans who fought for our country, and some of them are people who just lost their job."
Swope says an attorney is working with the city to resolve the issue, and he is not sure how this zoning conflict will end.
