Homeless Gulf Coast residents have joined together to offer recipes for a cookbook that profits a complex of apartments for the homeless.

William Richardson will sign “Mailbox Muffins and Other Recipes From the Gulf Coast Homeless” at Lorelei Bookstore at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Richardson, who is from Jackson, spent time on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina and oversaw distribution of a Katrina recovery fund to nonprofit organizations. He became interested in securing a homeless shelter to replace one lost to the storm by The Salvation Army in Gulfport.

City leaders rejected his shelter proposals. “There’s a stigma with these things,” said Richardson.