Priest has long history of helping homeless in downtown Las Vegas

The Rev. Courtney Krier arrives at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in downtown Las Vegas just after dawn every Monday through Friday.

Krier, a 61-year-old Ohio native, supervises a small team of volunteers as they cook breakfast in the tiny church at North Ninth Street and East Ogden Avenue, preparing for the arrival of 100-plus homeless people. By 8:30 a.m., a trainlike procession of the homeless are lined up around the corner of the church, waiting patiently for a free, warm meal that many say is crucial to keeping them alive.

“This is our community, and we want to make sure everyone is taken care of as much as possible,” Krier said. “Food comes first. When people don’t have food, they become desperate.”

It has been like this for Krier at St. Joseph’s for nearly 26 years, and it hasn’t been easy. He’s been threatened and even assaulted by the people he’s trying to help. He’s worked relentlessly as an advocate for the homeless, but many times, he said, his voice is ignored. And, working just a few doors down from the Alpine Motel Apartments, he’s coped with the grief and aftermath of the worst residential fire in the city’s history — a Dec. 21 fire at the Alpine that killed six.

“It needs to be torn down because it is just going to bring nightmares,” Krier said. “I knew these people. They are here, for the most part, every day. We are taking care of them. And they didn’t need to have that happen to them.”

‘A little hope’

Stefen Szekeres, 31, is homeless. He gets breakfast at St. Joseph’s on a regular basis. As he stood in line recently outside the church, Krier approached and greeted those in line with a “Good morning! It’s a good day.”

“God bless you,” one man responded quietly.

“There is something they have here that I don’t think anyone else can give you,” Szekeres said. “Some hope, some relief from the streets and stress.”

Hawley Pourtau is originally from California, and he, too, is homeless. He sleeps on the streets in what he describes as his “hiding spots,” then goes to St. Joseph’s for breakfast. He said that despite what many may think, Las Vegas is a tough place to be homeless. He said he would go hungry if not for Krier and the church.

“It is a good feeling going to bed at night knowing you can get up the next morning and know you have some place to go,” Pourtau said. “A little hope. It gives you a little boost in your day.”

Patrick Garrett Dinsmore, 51, has been homeless in Las Vegas since 1998. He said he regularly sleeps in a field off Boulder Highway, living mostly off temporary jobs and food stamps. He often makes his way on the public bus to downtown Las Vegas to eat at St. Joseph’s. Krier allows Dinsmore to use the church for his mailing address on job applications.

“He helps out everybody,” Dinsmore said.

Krier said securing the food to feed those in need is a constant struggle, but it always seems to come together.

“The food, I would say, that’s always a miracle for me,” the priest said.

Some food comes from 7-Eleven, and some comes from the Three Square food bank. Krier said people from the parish also cook food and take it to the church.

Bigger-picture goals

Krier is an active member of an informal, downtown Las Vegas advocacy group called the “God Squad.” The group consists of downtown residents, most who prefer to remain anonymous, who have attempted for years to work with the city of Las Vegas, police and others to improve the quality of life in the downtown corridor off Las Vegas Boulevard.

The Alpine, meanwhile, is a regular topic of concern for the God Squad. Members of the group have repeatedly complained about the property in emails sent to city officials for years.

One God Squad member, Don Walford, documented with a camera how the back door of the Alpine was bolted shut shortly before the lethal fire. The Alpine also went more than two years without a fire inspection, despite a history of previous failed inspections going back more than a decade.

“It has always been a place where it seems like there is constantly fights going on, there is constantly drug dealers going there,” Krier said. “The people are neglected. They come here, I’m giving them everything I can, and they are always thrown out because of a fire in some room or a water leak or whatever else. And they are for the most part on their own until they get the problems fixed up and the codes are finally met.”

He said the God Squad regularly complained to the city and law enforcement about the Alpine. He said residents of the property routinely voiced concerns to him, as well.

“When the fire happened, people were complaining,” Krier said. “They were saying there was no heat there, of course. We knew that the doors were locked. But when we put in the complaints and talked to the city … we thought they were actually addressing the problems. But apparently it was off limits to them, and so my question was: Why was it off limits to them?”

Krier said the tragedy at the Alpine, in his opinion, is symbolic of a bigger societal problem: a lack of concern for those in need.

He has bigger-picture goals when it comes to addressing the homeless problem in Las Vegas. He envisions community leaders coming together to offer a safe place with food, social services and work opportunities. He cited the nonprofit Opportunity Village, which provides employment and vocational training for the intellectually disabled, as an example of this type of place.

“Productive, doing something, that is what you would want here,” Krier said. “A community for these people where they would have something but also having something that is productive, where they have some sense of dignity.”

Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0390. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.