Garden of Peace Lutheran Church finds opposition to its plan to shelter homeless people on cold nights.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published November 16, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - A church's plan to open a cold-night shelter for the homeless is noble, but it shouldn't be in their neighborhood, some residents say.
Garden of Peace Lutheran Church, 6161 22nd Ave. N, near Tyrone Square Mall, wants to take care of homeless people on nights when the temperature falls below 40 degrees. Homeless people, up to about 20 initially, would eat and sleep in the church's fellowship hall, arriving at 6 p.m. and leaving by 7 a.m. the next day.
Neighbors and parents of the church's preschool are angry. They say the church is creating a dangerous situation for their children and those who attend nearby public schools. They have fears of kidnappings and often mention Elizabeth Smart, the teenager taken from her bedroom in Utah.
The church will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. Monday to answer questions and allay concerns.
"Often, people's fears are fed by half truths or myths," said the Rev. Jerry Straszheim, the church's interim pastor.
"There is always a risk in doing any kind of ministry. There are people within worship services who are not mentally stable. The parish hall is used for two polling precincts. You can't tell me that some of those folks who come on to our property for voting, there isn't a percentage that are unstable?"
Straszheim also said the children will not be at the school at the same time as the homeless people, but some residents say there is no guarantee that there would be no contact.
Thora Cook, who has a 4-year-old at the church's preschool, is simply hoping for warm weather.
"Who is monitoring these folks?" she said.
"We're all assuming that there's not going to be a problem. Is it going to be just Pastor Jerry and a bunch of women? ... All I can say is: Elizabeth Smart. I don't have to say anything else. ... I feel that small children and the homeless, it's just not a good mix. I think that those are two vulnerable populations that could easily be in opposition to each other."
The church has an obligation to assist the needy, Straszheim said.
"We are simply trying to be faithful to the reason we are here as a church. Christians are to respond to concrete needs."
Laura Di Donato, who lives in the neighborhood, said she is considering pulling her 41/2-year-old daughter out of the preschool.
"I've already contacted other schools. I am really concerned, especially with the men. You don't know their sexual histories," she said.
Like other parents, she said there is no guarantee that the people who show up at the church, where about 150 families worship, will want to leave the property the next day.
She envisions "Will work for food" signs appearing in her neighborhood.
"I don't want to bring that element into our neighborhood. There's no need for it here," Di Donato said.
Shelter organizers say the homeless people already are in the Tyrone area, hanging out at businesses, particularly the bookstores. They say the preschool children will not come in contact with them because the homeless will be housed and fed in the fellowship hall, which is detached from classrooms and other church property.
Danell DeBerg, an attorney and a nurse, said her church "perceived a need" for a cold- weather shelter in the area.
"It's just not a downtown problem, and we have homeless people who come to the church. We thought we would reach out and keep them out of the cold, because we believe that's what Jesus wants us to do. Those are the kinds of people he hung about with," she said.
The shelter would be open only on nights when the temperature falls to 40 degrees or below and will run from Dec. 1 to March 31. Last year, DeBerg said, that happened for just eight nights. The program is part of the Pinellas County Homeless Coalition and is being run by its faith-based committee, she said.
"We are one of very many churches that open to bring people in," she said, adding that many parents and church members have volunteered to help.
Larry Sewall, whose grandchild attends the school, won't be one of them.
"What concerns me is they don't know what kinds of folks they are going to be bringing in. I don't find any redeeming social value in forcing them on people," he said.
"The church should make up their mind that they are either going to be a day care or a homeless shelter or cold-night shelter."
