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On some mornings the line begins forming as early as 2 a.m.
Some ride wheelchairs paid for by Medicare for miles on bumpy city sidewalks, past condo construction and $30-a-plate restaurants. Some beg neighbors for pocket change so they can catch a bus. Some drive their cars on fumes, wondering if they will have enough gas to get home. Some walk, sometimes for hours.
And when 8 a.m. arrives and the doors unlock at Metropolitan Ministries on McCallie Avenue, one of the last vestiges of emergency financial help for Chattanoogans teetering on homelessness, 33 people shuffle in to take a number and a seat.