Howard Riebe and Jim Sipes spend every Wednesday morning visiting with the guests at the House of Charity shelter at Pacific Avenue and Browne Street in downtown Spokane.

They are there to listen to people’s problems, and possibly pray for them, in a ministry started by their pastor several years ago.

Riebe said the main goal is to let the people they encounter at House of Charity “know they aren’t walking alone.”

The charity provides overnight dormitory shelter for men and a day facility for a wider segment of the community.

It is not uncommon to see people spread out on the shelter floor getting some sleep during the day. Security personnel keep an eye on things as a crowd comes and goes.

The vast majority of people arriving at the shelter are homeless and in poverty. Many have health problems.

At a visit earlier this month, some of the guests reported in a matter-of-fact way that a man had died in the dorm overnight, Riebe said. “They accept things as they are,” he said.

Riebe and Sipes have been making the weekly visits for more than three years. The ministry was started by their former pastor, the Rev. Ken Onstott, at Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church where they attend services.

Riebe, 76, said the experience has taught him to have greater compassion. “They all have a story,” he said, and many are heartbreaking.

Sipes, 71, said, “It teaches us how to become humble.”

At the start of their visits they mingle over coffee at the tables with those inside the shelter and then invite some guests to join them in the centrally located chapel for prayer.

As many as eight or nine people may join them. They gather in a circle and talk about what issues in their lives they would like the group to pray for. Then they go around the circle and each person expresses that prayer request for the person next to them.

Last week, Doug McKenney, who has been staying at the House of Charity in recent months, was the only one to join in the prayer.

“Here people have a lot of problems,” McKenney said. “But I’ve got a lot of friends.”

He counts Sipe and Riebe among them. “It’s nice to talk with someone like that.”

McKenney said he often prays for his brother, who is suffering from severe diabetes.

Riebe held a number of jobs in his career, including a decade as head of Washington highway maintenance in the Spokane region.

Sipes has worked in business, including a job of designing and selling commercial security systems.

Sipes said that one advantage of retirement is the ability to help other people.

Sometimes, the two men will hold a memorial service for someone who has died.

Other times the news is good. Riebe said he learned last Wednesday morning that one House of Charity regular was moving into a house after two years of being homeless.