A homeless man’s death haunted him, so he vowed to help

Visit a planned first-of-its-kind Beaufort homeless shelter, and you’ll find the door already propped open.

John Dortch will leave the chair in his makeshift office to greet you. Soon he plans to welcome many more into the brick building in the shadow of City Hall on Boundary Street.

After work is completed on the building at 1816 Boundary St., Dortch will open Circle of Hope Ministries Hospitality House, which will provide transitional housing for veterans and other homeless individuals when space is available.

It’s a service believed to be the first of its kind in Beaufort and is needed, Dortch said.

“There are more here than you would imagine,” Dortch said of Beaufort’s homeless population. “It’s like the invisible community.”

Dortch has made Circle of Hope the focus of a life that has included service in Vietnam. He spent 15 years in federal prison for his part in an attempted bank robbery that left a young police officer dead in 1974.

A Beaufort native, Dortch had graduated from Robert Smalls School and Howard University. He became a top insurance salesman in Washington, D.C., leaving to start his own business selling securities.

When the business failed, Dortch organized a bank robbery, according to Dortch and multiple published reports. Police were tipped off to the plan, and officers met Dortch and William Bryant as they were on their way to the bank with bags of weapons.

The men ran separate directions. Bryant shot and killed a young female police officer when confronted in a parking garage.

Dortch pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for his role. After he was released in 1990, he enrolled in law school and passed bar exams in the District of Columbia, Maryland and West Virginia.

None of the bars would admit him to practice law, citing his felony conviction. He still served as an adjunct professor at the University of the District of Columbia, where he had earned his law degree, and led programs for first-time juvenile offenders and an anti-violence initiative.

“The bottom line is, God had a different plan for me,” Dortch said.

He returned to Beaufort and became a pastor, leading Central Baptist Church before stepping down to focus on Circle of Hope.

Dortch said an encounter with a homeless man a few years ago led to the idea for the shelter. The man looked unwell but declined Dortch’s offer to help, Dortch said. The man was found dead a few days later.

“The bad news is that what he’s providing is needed,” said Mayor Billy Keyserling, who has met with Dortch on past community outreach efforts. “The good news is John is close enough to the community that he sees a lot of what other people don’t see, and that is that people are struggling.”

The building came together through a loan from CBC National Bank. The $185,000 sale closed in 2014.

Work on the shelter is being funded by grants from the likes of the Coastal Community Foundation and Hilton Head thrift stores The Bargain Box and Church Mouse.

On Friday, Dortch was in his office pointing to a set of plans posted on the wall. One room will include five beds for women, and another will have five for men. There will be a common dining area and lounge and a commercial kitchen in the back.

Before the layout can be completed, thousands of dollars will be needed to clear asbestos and thousands more to connect the facility to a sewer line.

Dortch pointed out the projects during a tour of the property and said his hope is for a thrift store to one day be built on site to help fund the shelter.

A man in camouflage pants approached Dortch on Friday in the building’s parking lot, and the men talked for a few minutes in the office.

Dortch sent him away with information on Circle of Hope.

“Thank you, brother,” Dortch told him. “Welcome to the Lowcountry.”

Site of Circle of Hope Ministries planned homeless shelter

This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 4:57 PM with the headline "A homeless man’s death haunted him, so he vowed to help."