10/12/2026
Pastor’s Public Statement
to Dover City Council
October 12, 2026
Good evening, friends. I am Rev. Dr. Mark Parsons, pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Dover, a 312 year-old congregation here in the heart of downtown Dover at the corner of State and Reed.
Tonight, I speak in support of the work of People’s Community Center. I speak on behalf of our members and friends, many of whom are here tonight - church, would you raise your hands? I also speak on behalf of my members who served dinner at People’s tonight and our youth group who cooked the meal for our friends yesterday after church. Further, I speak as a citizen of Dover.
The work People’s Community Center does in our city with homeless persons is invaluable.
As a religious leader in the center of downtown, I am extraordinarily well aware of the difficulties the downtown area faces. I see it firsthand every single day. We serve people one day and see them arrested the next. It is exhausting and frustrating. And our neighborhood campus also experiences the same issues those who have complained about the Center have named.
But shuttering the shelter and leaving 50 men without overnight accommodations at the coldest time of year with no solution in place to address the situation immediately will create even more issues with safety and security in an area of the city that its leaders have so far been unsuccessful in addressing. Those who are already desperate for basics like food and shelter do not need to be made more desperate, or made to resort to more desperate means.
Studies have shown over and over that housing is a prerequisite for addressing systemic poverty, drug addiction, unemployment, and chronic homelessness. The problems won’t go away by closing nonprofits or changing zoning designations.
We must address these problems together with compassion AND accountability. We have the resources and the intelligence to serve the homeless AND to create a better, safer life for everyone.
We want to see our city leaders show courage and vision and work with all of their constituents to find solutions that will improve the quality of life for everyone – for the homeless and for the neighborhood.
Will the city’s leaders work to this end instead of creating even more volatility and desperation? Will you work with all of your constituents to develop a plan that will serve everyone? I believe you can. We believe you can. Will you please do it?
