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Letter to the editor

Services expand to help homeless

The county's homeless population has nearly doubled, and the Homeless Emergency Project grows in turn.

By SHANNON TAN
Published November 6, 2004

CLEARWATER - The therapist worked with the homeless for five years. It was her passion.

She met people who lost their jobs because of mental health, substance abuse or physical illness. Their homes always followed.

Now, some of Tawny Swain Castle's former clients are her neighbors.

"I knew it could just as easily be anybody," said Castle, 33. "I just didn't count on it being me."

A rare neuromuscular disease robbed her of her ability to work and walk. She lost her health insurance, could no longer afford to pay rent, and filed for bankruptcy. Castle called the Homeless Emergency Project at 1120 N Betty Lane for help.

After all, she had referred clients there before.

They found her a wheelchair-accessible apartment, which she shares with a roommate, in a newly constructed eight-unit complex. "Now I'm a statistic," she said.

The Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless counted 4,081 homeless people this year, nearly double last year's number.

But the Homeless Emergency Project, a charitable outreach of Everybody's Tabernacle, has always strived to do more than provide temporary shelter. By expanding its services, it hopes to solve the problems that cause homelessness.

That means doubling the size of its free dental clinic, opening a 13,000-square-foot thrift store and constructing an eight-unit apartment complex for individuals with disabilities. City, county and federal officials celebrated the grand opening of those facilities Friday.

The $65,000 dental clinic expansion will allow volunteer dentists - who have already provided more than $1-million in free care - to serve more clients. Castle's roommate, 54-year-old Sue Fisher, got a set of new dentures at the clinic.

"All our needs are met" here, said Fisher, a former photographer who had to stop working because of a mysterious autoimmune disorder. "There's a sense of community."

The $600,000 thrift store at Betty Lane and Engman Street opens next month. It will sell donated items and serve as a training ground for residents to learn furniture repair. The funds will go toward the shelter's operating expenses.

Fur coats, leather jackets, even wedding dresses hang on racks next to bedroom sets. Children's toys and clothes jostle for space in another corner. Vintage jewelry is neatly arranged on a glass case.

The original thrift store was destroyed by arson in 2002, and items had to be stored in a small building on the other side of Betty Lane. The building will be demolished, and another eight-unit apartment complex built south of the new complex.

All the projects were paid for with city, county and federal grants.

On Friday, the city also dedicated Otis C. Green Drive, which was renamed for the founder and pastor of Everybody's Tabernacle church. Green, who is known simply as "the Preacher," started the shelter some 35 years ago when a church member needed a place to stay.

The nonprofit shelter has since grown into a multiservice agency offering emergency, transitional and permanent housing, free meals, and tutoring and parenting classes. About 220 residents, including 48 children, currently live at the shelter, said Bruce Fyfe, president of the board of directors.

"People who come here find that the next step is a wonderful life of normalcy and contribution to society," he said.

Wayne Spilo, 57, had an apartment, disability income and a "drinking catastrophe." A social worker at a veterans hospital referred him to Everybody's Tabernacle. He started going to church and helping out in the kitchen. Now he lives at the shelter.

"The past year and a half has been a real miracle for me," he said. "I had just given up on life."

As Castle waits to receive disability and Medicaid, she remembered that a client once told her, "homelessness is an illness."

She's easily fatigued, can barely stand and suffers muscle spasms in her hands. Her three jobs as a basketball referee, St. Petersburg College teacher and therapist are now a memory.

"I'm happy to have a roof over my head," she said.

Shannon Tan can be reached at shtan@sptimes.com or 445-4174.

[Last modified November 6, 2004, 00:56:27]