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Sydnney McGerald, 14, serves a meal to Martin Toney at the St. Vincent De Paul Shelter.
[Times photos: Fred Victorin]
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By THERESA LINNERT
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 21, 2003
A Palm Harbor church's youth group discovers simple blessings in preparing meals for the homeless.
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For many teens, preparing dinner means heating something in the microwave or running through a fast-food drive-through.
But for a youth group at Palm Harbor United Methodist Church, a meal it prepares once a month means much more. The group prepares and serves food to the homeless at the St. Vincent De Paul Shelter through the St. Vincent De Paul Street Ministry program.
One Monday a month, several youth-group members prepare dinner and dessert in the church kitchen. A typical dinner is chicken, rice, beans, fruit and brownies. The preparation begins at 4 p.m. and takes two hours. The youth group then makes the 45-minute drive to St. Petersburg to serve it to the people at the shelter. The group members return to the church at 9 p.m., a little tired but filled with the satisfaction of serving others.
Sherilyn Guzell prepares a plate of food for members of her youth group to serve as part of the St. Vincent De Paul Street Ministry.
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"I feel very good inside, because I have done a good deed and served God in the process," said Sherilyn Guzell, 12, a seventh-grader at Westlake Christian School in Palm Harbor who began doing Street Ministry about four months ago. She participates because her mother chaperoned once, and Sherilyn said she got hooked.
X-Team reporter Theresa Linnert, while serving food, stops to talk with Doug Brown, director of the St. Vincent De Paul Street Ministry.
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One Tuesday each month, another group rides to the shelter to serve dinner to the homeless. Those meals are prepared by another church.
Lynn Stevens, assistant youth director at Palm Harbor United Methodist, said that Street Ministry started about five years ago at the church. (The church adopted the Street Ministry name from the St. Vincent De Paul program). Fifteen to 20 youth-group members prepare and serve the food on Monday, and 10 to 15 serve the food on Tuesday.
Stevens said that the main objective of Street Ministry is to feed the homeless in St. Petersburg and to put some action behind the group's goal of being servants. She said that it takes a lot of dedication to prepare and serve the food. "I think we have an awesome group of kids who really enjoy coming out and doing this," she said. "Their dedication and service just blows me away."
The youth-group members involved with Street Ministry also have strong feelings about what they are doing. Sherilyn said enjoys being able to serve the homeless and be with her friends at the same time. She said that if you have had a bad day, all you have to do is smile and the people at the shelter will cheer you up.
Jessica Stevens, 15, a ninth-grader at Tarpon Springs High School, got involved with Street Ministry when she was in the fifth grade because her older sister was doing it and her mother was chaperoning. She does Street Ministry every month.
"I like serving the people and cooking the chicken and rice," Jessica said.
Although there are many enjoyable and rewarding aspects of Street Ministry, it has challenges. Becca Lynch, 14, an eighth-grader at Palm Harbor Middle School, does Street Ministry every month. She said that a challenge she faces is dealing with different kinds of people. Those who come to the shelter have diverse backgrounds and experiences, and it takes strong communication skills to talk with them.
Doug Brown, director of the St. Vincent De Paul Street Ministry, volunteers his time to help run the shelter. The St. Vincent De Paul Shelter has been around for two years and the Street Ministry for 19. People come to the shelter for reasons that include job loss, alcohol and drug abuse, and mental disabilities. The shelter is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner weekdays and weekends, with about 150 people coming for each meal. St. Vincent De Paul provides breakfast and lunch, and churches and organizations supply dinner.
St. Vincent De Paul runs the shelter with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Like Brown, all the workers are volunteers.
Several other churches and organizations are involved with Street Ministry. They include Oakhurst Charity, First United Methodist Church of St. Petersburg, First United Methodist Church of Pinellas Park, Clearview United Methodist Church, Dunedin United Methodist Church, Union Street United Methodist Church, Eckerd College and Calvary Church.
"We are always looking for volunteers to help us. We never have enough volunteers, and we could always use another person," Brown said. "We are looking for people to pray and talk with the people (at the shelter), cook a meal, deliver meals and sort out clothes."
Clothing is a big part of the ministry as well. The shelter occasionally gets about 500 to 600 pieces of clothing a day.
The church's Street Ministry program is very rewarding, not only to the kids who participate but to the chaperones. Jan Agisotelis was a chaperone for the first time a few weeks ago and was impressed with the facility and the people running it. The prayer before the meal impressed her, too. She believes that the people at the shelter were fed spiritually and physically.
Mrs. Agisotelis said that she would chaperone again. "I thought the kids did a great job serving and everyone was on task," she said. "Everyone was in good spirits, and the people appreciated it."
Becca Lynch hopes to encourage more young people to help. "It is a fun time to spend with your friends while serving God and helping others," she said.
Jon Michael Richardson, 15, a 10th grader at Palm Harbor University High School, said that kids have to participate just once to want to be involved more.
"Once you get them here, they'll experience the whole atmosphere of what we do, and they'll want to come back again and again and again," he said.
-- Theresa Linnert, 13, is in seventh grade at Westlake Christian School in Palm Harbor. She also is a member of Palm Harbor United Methodist Church and participates in the youth group that helps with the Street Ministry.
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