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Agency makes it easier for the needy to get IDs

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
Published September 12, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - A small tent provided shelter for a group of people waiting patiently Monday to get an official Florida identification card. Most were poor or homeless.

Over the years, Daystar Life Center, a social services agency in downtown St. Petersburg, has helped the needy procure government IDs.

A few months ago, though, executive director Jane Trocheck Walker thought of a way to make the process easier for clients and Daystar's staff and volunteers.

She asked officials at the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles whether they would take their mobile office to Daystar's facility. Now the service is beingoffered quarterly.

Ann Nucatola, spokeswoman for the department, said the department's mobile offices "are out pretty much every day."

Called FLOW units, an acronym for Florida Licensing on Wheels, the vehicles offer residents everything except a road test, Nucatola said. "We go to community events. We go to retirement communities where a lot of people no longer drive, but they need an ID to do business."

Besides being convenient for clients, the new service saves Daystar time and money, Walker said. The agency at 226 Sixth St. S normally pays the $3 fee for a new ID or $10 for a replacement for its clients and provides bus fare for them to get to a state license office, she said.

A government ID is part of a person's "survival kit," Walker said.

"It's required for a job, but even for getting into a shelter. A lot of the services require it, cashing a paycheck and opening a bank account, food stamps and Medicaid," she said.

"Sometimes we'll get someone who is just trying to start over. We get a lot of spouse abuse victims who've had theirs taken from them or hidden from them.

The agency still assists in obtaining IDs at its offices, but there's a bonus for those waiting to get their IDs from the bus at Daystar. They get lunch.

Monday as they sat on chairs borrowed from nearby St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, they ate lunch provided by the La Sertoma Club.

The next time the van will visit Daystar is Dec. 4.

Waveney Ann Moore can be reached at wmoore@sptimes.com or 727 892-2283.

[Last modified September 11, 2007, 22:35:42]