Mashantucket — Selfless, humble and caring were just some of the adjectives used Thursday to describe the Revs. Catherine Zall and Michel Belt. 

Belt, the former rector of St. James Episcopal Church in New London, and Zall, the pastor of the First Congregational Church of New London and executive director of the New London Homeless Hospitality Center, were honored for their work to shelter the region’s homeless.

They received the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut’s prestigious William Crawford Distinguished Service Award during a ceremony at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Chamber President Tony Sheridan called them “two of the most humble community leaders you will ever meet.”

While the rector at St. James Episcopal Church in 2006, Belt had established a temporary homeless shelter at the parish hall, not long after a homeless man was found frozen to death in the woods.

The shelter remained open until 2013 when, together, Zall and Belt organized the effort to raise funds to convert the former St. Peter & Paul Polish National Catholic Church on State Pier Road into the New London Homeless Hospitality Center, which contains support offices to allow for counseling and help to find jobs and permanent homes.

Grace Jones, president emerita of Three Rivers Community College and parishioner at St. James at the time the shelter opened, remembers that there was some controversy in the congregation as names of homeless in trouble with the law would sometimes appear in the newspaper with the address of the church.

Belt, she said, put together a study group to address the issue and worked with the community as a whole while holding to his convictions.

The Day Publisher Gary Farrugia said Thursday at the ceremony the “classic Crawford winner is a builder, a banker, an educator, a scientist who also performs good deeds. Tonight we have something different. Tonight the Chamber of Commerce honors two people who are pure, plain do-gooders.”

Farrugia said the true inspirational genius of their shelter is that it provides more than a warm meal and a bed.  “They envision a sustainable sanctuary for those who have lost their way in life, to regain their footing,” he said.

Lisa Tepper-Bates, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, who said she works with 75 organizations, acknowledged that Zall stands out not just in Connecticut, but nationally, as a leader and visionary.

Zall, she said, understands that “the goal is not just to shelter people who are homeless. The goal is to end homelessness.”

g.smith@theday.com

Twitter: @SmittyDay