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Food pantry for residents will replace soup kitchen

Solid Rock Christian Church also plans to open a "Triage Center" elsewhere in Lealman for homeless alcoholics. Federal money will be used.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published April 12, 2006

LEALMAN - The soup kitchen at Solid Rock Christian Church, once a source of controversy in the neighborhood, will close Friday.

In its place will be an expanded food pantry at the church and a new residential recovery program that will be based elsewhere in this unincorporated area.

Unlike the soup kitchen, which targeted both the homeless and the working poor from the neighborhoods around 28th Street N, the food pantry will serve only residents.

People who want food must have a mailing address, a Social Security card and identification. The food bank will be open four days a week. Currently, it is open twice a week.

The Rev. Glenn Miller, who runs Solid Rock, said the soup kitchen is being closed because the church is now offering a better program that will help get alcoholics off the street.

The new program, which he calls the "Triage Center," is being funded with money from the federal government through President Bush's faith-based initiative.

This is a first for Solid Rock, which has always been self-funded. Miller has spurned government aid in the past because it would have prevented his preaching the gospel, but that's not true of this program.

"It does not compromise my ability to share the gospel," Miller said Friday. "It enables me to, no matter what the person's background is, if they want help, to provide help for them.''

The Triage Center is a 13-month program designed to help homeless alcoholics become a functioning member of society.

The federal money will pay everything for the first month, from housing and food to outside counseling and job services. After that, the client will have to contribute out of his or her salary.

Miller said the program began March 1, using the 16 homes Solid Rock owns in Lealman and in St. Petersburg. The program also has access to housing run by the Christian Recovery Network for Tampa Bay, which covers Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Manatee counties. Miller is president of the network, which has access to more than 600 beds.

"It is very large,'' Miller said. "It is one of the largest in the state."

The 23 addicts who have joined the program to date come from as far away as Massachusetts and Puerto Rico.

Miller declined to say how much money he is receiving from the federal government, but said it is enough to pay for a month's care for 30 people, including the outside counseling. He did not say how long the funding would last.

Miller said he plans to house the Triage Center in an industrial portion of unincorporated Lealman.

"I want to be able to do this so it is a blessing to the community rather than an eyesore to the community," Miller said.

In the past, Miller and Solid Rock, 4224 28th St. N, have come under attack from some neighbors who accused the church of attracting undesirable homeless to the area. The homeless came for the meals at the soup kitchen.

But Miller has always maintained many of the soup kitchen's clientele were the working poor from the neighborhood. He also responded by cracking down on those who loitered outside the church. He joined the Lealman Community Association, attending all meetings and becoming a part of the community.

That's something Miller said he wants to continue.

"It is my intent to benefit this community," he said. Any major changes in Solid Rock's mission will be broadcast to the LCA and to appropriate governing bodies so there are no surprises, he said.

Ray Neri, president of the LCA, agreed that when Miller moved into the area about six years ago, he was not well received and was blamed for many of the problems in the area around 28th Street N.

More investigation showed, however, that many of the problems were not attributable to Solid Rock but to the day labor pool or other groups in the neighborhood, Neri said, adding that Miller also has tried hard to work with the community.

"He's done good things in the community for people who are needy. ...We think his organization is doing some good and valuable work," Neri said. "I hope he always has a presence in the Lealman community.''

[Last modified April 12, 2006, 07:14:01]