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Happy Holidays 2006

Carolers to support city's homeless

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
Published December 3, 2006

About ASAP

ASAP was started in 1986 and provides a variety of services for homeless people, including emergency apartments for women and children and a drop-in-center serving nearly 7,000 clients. Services include showers, clothing, food, bus tokens, and much more.

More than 100 people are expected to join in a 20-year tradition Friday as they sing Christmas carols to honor St. Petersburg's homeless.

The "Still No Room at the Inn" carolers, sponsored by ASAP Homeless Services, will visit various homeless shelters and nursing homes in downtown St. Petersburg.

"This is a real community effort," said John Stewart, a teacher at Osceola High School who is helping to organize the caroling event.

"When we started the caroling 20 years ago, there were only a few of us and we drew little attention," he said. "Last year we had over 140 carolers."

This year, Stewart recruited the school's choral director, as well as many of the school's cheerleaders and chorus members, to join.

TASCO, a teen development program operated by the St. Petersburg Recreation Department, has recruited Group X, a local rap group, to participate.

The annual caroling event draws parallels between the homeless and the Nativity story and supports ASAP's efforts to help the homeless.

"We are caroling to remind St. Petersburg residents and themselves that 2,000 years after the first Christmas there is 'still no room at the inn' for homeless people in St. Petersburg," Stewart said.

As many as 1,600 people seek shelter every night, according to ASAP director Karen Butler. Of those, 44 percent are adults with jobs and 24 percent are children under the age of 18, many of whom are on their own.

[Last modified December 2, 2006, 22:43:00]