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Letter to the editor

Daystar Life doesn't fade at 25 years

The nonprofit center busily celebrates a milestone of service.

By EILEEN SCHULTE, Times Staff Writer
Published October 11, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - When Monsignor John McNulty started Daystar Life Center 25 years ago, he needed someone to lead it.

He knew Mary Venezia had some free time, so he asked her to be its first director.

She protested, saying she didn't know how to run a nonprofit organization for people in need. She suggested she do hospital visitations instead.

"He said, 'You know how to invite a friend in for a cup of coffee, don't you?"' said Venezia, now 82.

She said she did. Figuring out how to help people in need is just as easy, he explained.

With that, a St. Petersburg Daystar branch was created in the social hall of St. Mary, Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, on Aug. 11, 1982.

Daystar Life Center is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a golf tournament Saturday at Pasadena Yacht & Country Club, an open house on Jan. 27 and an event to address the issues of hunger, poverty and housing in the community in the spring.

The center sees at least 100 people a day who need food, hygiene supplies, a trip home on a Greyhound bus and money to cover utilities and rent. More than 570 people get their mail at the facility because they have no permanent address.

According to Jane Walker, the current director, the 2006-2007 operating budget was around $940,000 and this year's will top $1-million. About 95 cents of every dollar raised goes to individuals in need. Most of the budget comes from donations, including about 60 percent from in-kind gifts ofclothing, food and PSTA tokens. The center has one full-time and two part-time employees and about 200 volunteers.

McNulty died in 2005, but his presence is felt throughout the center.

"He had a lot of love for the unfortunates, people who needed help," Venezia said.

He also had a sense of humor.

"He smoked and when someone gave him a hard time, he said, 'Well, someone has got to keep the tobacco pickers employed,"' Walker said.

Three months after Venezia got the program on its feet, McNulty brought in SisterRuth Barthle, a nun who was back in the United States after serving for 17 years at a monastery in Bolivia. Volunteer Joanne Greenslade, 91, described Barthle as "the Mother Teresa of St. Petersburg."

"She never said no to anyone as far as I know," Greenslade said.

In 1987, she oversaw the relocation of the program from the social hall to a wooden shed behind St. Mary's rented from St. Petersburg for $1 a month. The city never collected the rent.

"It was not a nice place," said Dick McManus, a retired General Electric manager who has volunteered at Daystar for 22 years and is now its board president. "There were rats and palmetto bugs all over the place."

Volunteers called it the "Yellow Palace" because of its gaudy color. In it, they helped about 40 people a day and faced unusual challenges along the way.

"One day, a volunteer found two snakes in the donated clothing area," Venezia said.

After five years, it was time to move again.

In 1994, with the help of several donors, the charity bought the building, a former physician's office, at 226 Sixth St. S. A few years later, the city offered it a grant that led to an expansion in 2002, doubling its size to 3,900 square feet.

Walker, who has a criminology degree and nearly 30 years' experience working with the needy in Pinellas County, has seen a lot at the center's current home.

One man had a groin injury that required him to wear a bandage, but he had no underwear to help keep it in place. Walker gave him a pair.

Another man had ridden his bike to the center to get a free bike lock and while he was inside, his bike was stolen.

Walker, 52, has even seen some of her old classmates from Lakewood High walk through the door seeking assistance.

She said 25 percent of her clients are homeless. The rest are struggling to make ends meet. Many are stuck in low-paying jobs.

"We help with utility bills," Walker said. "That's a huge piece of keeping people in their homes. It's a lot cheaper than getting them something new."

In the 1980s, Daystar cared for a destitute family with a bright daughter.

"We kept them from starving," Venezia said.

Barthle, now 84, remembers driving in her old Ford Pinto up to the family's mobile home one evening. They had no electricity.

"The family didn't have any lights," she said. "(The girl) had to get her homework done before the sun went down. It was so hard to see."

Daystar assisted the family, and the girl got a scholarship to Yale University.

It was one of the program's many success stories.

Some of the center's clients did not do as well, which saddens volunteers.

"I'm a World War II vet, and the hardest part was listening to the Vietnam veterans," said McManus. "There are a lot of people who are lost. We'd give them a chit (paper ticket), and they'd go get a $5 haircut downtown at a barbershop."

The center remains busier than ever. When you call during business hours, you get a busy signal most of the time.

Its waiting room is almost always full.

"You have to respond to the need," Walker said.

Eileen Schulte can be reached at schulte@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4153.

Fast facts

Call the center

Daystar Life Center is at 226 Sixth St. S St. in Petersburg. The program accepts donations. If you are in need of services, call (727) 825-0442. To donate, call (727) 894-5323.

[Last modified October 11, 2007, 00:12:16]