Bishop Kihneman blesses the Mercy Cross Center for Homeless in 2024

Dick Eckert is a member of St. Alphonsus Parish and American Legion Post 42 in Ocean Springs. Post 42's primary mission is to support veterans and currently supports the veterans home in Collins Miss., with books, magazines, new and used cleaned clothing, and hygiene items. Dick attended the center blessing to access the needs of homeless veterans in the community and see how Post 42 could help. The center was a dream of Bishop Kihneman’s heart since his arrival in Biloxi in 2017. For Dick it was a long memory back in time when Mercy Cross was combined with Sacred Heart Girls and Notre Dame High School for Boys in 1981. Dick had five of his six children graduate from Mercy Cross; one was the valedictorian of the first class in 1982. Years later Dick would serve as president of the Mercy Cross School Board and was a booster club member. Mercy Cross, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, was combined with St. John and Mercy Cross into St. Patrick High School by Bishop Rodi while Dick served on the Diocesan Finance Committee. Mercy Cross Center is the first multi-agency center supported by other religious denominations and nonprofit agencies and the city of Biloxi to provide temporary day shelter for homeless veterans and others in the community.

Volunteers outnumbered the homeless four to one.