Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

For 30 days, church becomes home

Northwest Presbyterian converts its cold-weather shelter into temporary housing.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published March 15, 2007

Michael Amidei's idea seemed simple enough: Given the plight of the county's homeless, why couldn't a shelter designed for cold weather stay open nightly, regardless of the temperature?

Amidei, who says he was one of the movers and shakers behind the first tent city, shopped the idea around.

Northwest Presbyterian Church on 54th Avenue N in the unincorporated Lealman area on the western edge of Kenneth City was the first to agree.

"They've basically said, 'It's your facility for the month,' " Amidei said.

The congregation decided to open its doors to the homeless for 30 days, starting March 1. After that, it will return to being a cold-weather shelter.

Amidei hopes by then that other churches or faith-based groups will step up to provide another temporary shelter, then another and another, one after another until a permanent solution is found.

"This is a better model than tent city," Amidei said. "This is just another option and another way to go."

The program is funded largely by the county and by the Coalition for the Homeless. But other churches and organizations, such as the Suncoast Haven of Rest Mission in Pinellas Park, help by providing food and other items. The volunteers also come from many places, such as the Turning Point program in St. Petersburg.

When open as a cold-night shelter, Northwest can handle 75 people. But for this program, capacity was capped at 50.

"We've always reached that," said Amidei, who is the director of FLASH, which stands for Faith, Love and Spiritual Harmony, an outreach program of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Clearwater.

The shelter won't take sex offenders. The homeless also can't be intoxicated, disorderly or have a serious medical issue that can't be handled by laymen.

On Monday night, a woman who had a seizure was taken to a motel because of concerns for liability and the shelter's inability to care for her. She turned down medical help from paramedics.

The shelter is open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily. Some of the homeless come from the surrounding area. Others are picked up from Williams Park, St. Vincent de Paul's and tent city in St. Petersburg.

When they arrive, they sign in, giving their names and other information, such as the length of time they've been homeless and where they spent the previous night. If they want a shower, they're handed a number that will be called in order after dinner. They're also allowed to wash one load of clothes.

They're given dinner, which on Monday consisted of hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, with fruit and brownies for dessert.

A vat of chili was already being prepared for Tuesday night's dinner.

For breakfast, they'll get a continental style meal. Monday morning's was pastries and boiled eggs.

"By and large, people come here from work, have dinner, flop down and get ready to go to work the next day," Amidei said.

About 40 percent are employed as day laborer, he said.

By 6 p.m. Monday, 10 or 15 people had already gathered under a tree on 54th Avenue outside the church to await the shelter's opening. By 7 p.m., some people had already crashed on floor mats.

"They're doing a wonderful thing here," said Jack Cross, a 47-year-old Kentucky native. "Everything's good."

Cross says his drinking problem began when he was 14. At 18, he went into the military, was stationed in eight different countries and "I just kept going."

Cross calls himself a "traveler" because he likes to go places. "Once you get it in your system, it's natural," he said.

Of his drinking, Cross said, "I've quit a lot. Stopped a lot. It's easy to stop. Real easy."

The last time, he was off alcohol for six weeks, then a big time in Daytona Beach came up. He decided he'd drink for the weekend and stop again.

"I drank for 15 days straight," Cross said.

Now, though, he wants to get off the alcohol and find a place to live because his 20-year-old son is moving here.

"I'm not going to let my son come down here and see me like this," Cross said.

[Last modified March 15, 2007, 06:54:46]