ST. LOUIS – Before Elliott Davis retired from FOX 2 as an investigative reporter and anchor, he spent 45 years of his career transforming the lives of St. Louisians in need. Still, his mission has continued into retirement.
On Saturday, Davis volunteered with a homeless outreach program, New Life Evangelistic Center, and came across a woman, Alicia Hall, and her two children sleeping in a tent in North St. Louis.
Davis said it struck him to see her five-year-old and three-year-old surviving out on the street as St. Louis received over three inches of snow and the temperature dropped into the 20s that day.
In response, Davis went to his 173,000 followers on Facebook to raise awareness and support for Hall and her children. After going live on Facebook to share Hall’s situation, over a thousand of his followers extended support for the family.
“It takes a village,” Davis said. “This was one of those situations where a lot of people came together to make this happen.”
With Davis and his follower’s support, Hall was taken to a shelter where she could stay free for 30 days. Hall remained in the shelter until an unidentified group in the community took her out of the shelter and put her in a hotel where she could only stay for a couple days.
With such a short time period before she would be forced to leave, Davis again brought Hall additional support by providing enough money for her to stay in the hotel an additional five days.
Not only did Hall receive support from Davis’s followers, but also state representative Kimberly Collins and elected officers at the NAACP, or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Hall shared her story on Davis’s Facebook page about how she ended up on the streets after she was evicted from her previous home and left without even a vehicle to sleep in.
After Hall and her children were brought to the hotel, Davis said her children were in “greater spirits.”
Since Saturday, Hall has received additional support that will bring her back into shelter and eventually into permanent housing.
“God puts us on earth for a mission,” Davis said. “That’s why, even though I’m retired, that God-given passion has not ended.”