Soul feeding
By CHANDRA BROADWATER, Times Staff Writer
Published October 21, 2007
BROOKSVILLE
She sat by the window, waiting for friends on an April afternoon. They were late. But something told her to stay. A few hours later, Darcy Chase saw a haggard-looking man trudge up quaint Main Street. He looked like a bum, someone most people in downtown Brooksville would ignore.
But she knew: This is why she had stayed parked on a sofa inside the Rising Sun Cafe that afternoon.
Pete Bell paused in front of the shop, holding on to the strap of his backpack, his only possession.
Chase could tell he was hungry. He turned away and moved on.
She ran outside and stopped him. "Are you hungry?"
He said he hadn't eaten in three days. But he wanted no help.
"Leave me alone," he told her. "I'm going back to the woods to die."
Little did either Bell or Chase know that their encounter that day would lead to much more.
* * *
It's 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon.
Cars begin to pull into the yard at American Legion Post 99 on Fort Dade Avenue. From open trunks come trays covered in tin foil. Out come bags of day-old baked goods from Panera Bread.
For the last three months, this quiet procession of local business owners and volunteers has arrived like clockwork at the modest veterans' hall. They are with Love Your Neighbor Inc., a recently born nonprofit group.
Every sabbath, there is a Sunday dinner for whoever is hungry. Guests are mainly Hernando's homeless and families who make sparse groceries last through the week with the help of this meal. No matter what, from 4 to 6 p.m. there's always a place for food and fellowship.
Inside the patriotic red, white and blue room on this particular Sunday a volunteer begins to line up donated clothing on a few rows of tables. There are stacks of blue jeans and shorts for men, women and children. There are T-shirts, sweaters and an assortment of shoes.
On another table are toiletries. Rolls of toilet paper and baby wipes are there for the taking, along with soap and shampoo.
A cooler filled with bottled water is placed outside on the front stoop. As it nears 4 o'clock, those who begin to line up for dinner drink the chilled water while they wait for the door to open.
But before that, volunteer Eric Kessel, Bible in hand, reflects.
Remember the story where Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread?
The parable shows that the world has a way of sorting itself out, even in the midst of disorganization and chaos, Kessel says. It can mean a bit more.
"The disciples saw the fish and bread multiply, but they still came seeking food," says Kessel, who owns Kesseltech Inc., a computer company in downtown Brooksville.
"We're not here just to be good people. A lot of people coming here today will be here because they're hungry in their belly. But they don't realize that they're hungry for more."
* * *
Inside the coffee shop that April day, Chase, a customer, bought Bell a cup of soup.
Her new friend slurped it up. She paid for a week's worth of lunches for him.
After that, Lisa Callea, co-owner of the Rising Sun, paid for more meals.
Day after day, Bell showed up for lunch. With each bowl of broth, he told them a little bit more about how he ended up in the woods.
Not long before, Bell was living in Texas. A trained chef, he had an apartment above the restaurant where he worked. But when a fire destroyed the building, he was left with nothing. Before that, his marriage had fallen apart, and he struggled with alcoholism.
With nothing else left, he decided to find his brother, who he heard had been living somewhere around Brooksville. So Bell, who is in his 50s, walked from Texas to Florida.
Months later, the reunion he hoped for hadn't happened. But he did find a group of people who wanted to help. Callea and her husband, John, set Bell up in an apartment that they helped him pay for. Then he got a job at the Hungry Thyme cafe.
Bell talked about his struggles with alcohol. And as they got to know him better, the Calleas noticed other homeless people in Brooksville. Here and there, they saw faces emerge from the woods.
Where did these people come from? Why hadn't they seen them before? What could they do to help?
"It became clear that we had to do something," John Callea said, looking around the crowded Legion hall on a recent Sunday.
"We began to ask ourselves how we could help these people get back on their feet again."
* * *
Carl Wayne stands outside Post 99, waiting for the door to open. He shows up with others who live in tents and abandoned sheds in the woods near Cortez Boulevard in and around Brooksville. The dinner is the one constant in their lives.
The 45-year-old Wayne grew up in the area. His wife, along with two kids, left him several years ago because he's an alcoholic. That's when he started living in the woods.
He's had a few beers this particular afternoon - four to be exact. He knows that the Calleas and others at the dinner only ask that people who come to break bread show up sober. But today wasn't a good day.
His eyes are glassy and his words roll slowly out of his mouth. The scent of alcohol emanates from him. His words reek honesty.
Wayne gets up every day at 6 a.m. and heads over to one of the town labor pools looking for work. The money he gets from whatever job he's assigned is enough to buy the basics: some food, some beer and maybe some cigarettes.
He knows of at least nine homeless camps in the Brooksville area, all of them in the woods. Their size fluctuates, but usually there are at least five people who consistently live at each one.
A count last year by the Mid Florida Homeless Coalition reported that there are about 250 homeless people in Hernando on any given day. But those numbers are hard to pin down because it's not always possible to find the homeless.
Along with people in the woods, the homeless include people facing eviction from their homes or those who may be in transition and without a permanent place to live. The Hernando County Health and Human Services Department averages about 18 calls a day from residents who find themselves in such predicaments.
While Love Your Neighbor and other groups help provide relief, Wayne says there are not nearly enough support services in the county. If someone doesn't like the rules that must be followed at shelters such as Jericho Road Ministries, where do they go?
And while people at Love Your Neighbor have been nothing but nice, he says most people in the county choose to ignore the growing homeless population.
"When you're driving by the woods, you're driving by people," he says. "But you don't see the faces looking at you."
* * *
Inside in the kitchen, volunteers begin to fill plates. The scent of today's menu - penne pasta with a thick tomato sauce and salad, courtesy of Papa Joe's Restaurant - wafts through the air. The dessert trays, full of cookies and cake and whatever else has been donated, are ready to go.
Big feet and small feet begin to shuffle across the hardwood floors. The diners are seated, and then served.
"What would you prefer to drink?"
"May I get you some more?"
"Butter?"
John Callea stands in the corner and watches the people file in. After 15 weeks, more than 1,300 meals have been served by Love Your Neighbor at the Sunday dinners. Most weeks, between 60 and 150 people show up during the two-hour dinner.
At first, when he and a handful of others created Love Your Neighbor, they figured they would have to exist on their own monetary donations. They couldn't have been more wrong.
First, the Legion let them use the hall for free. Then, one by one, businesses throughout the community stepped forward to provide the food and help for the growing crowds each week.
Lisa Callea donated a few meals through the Rising Sun. Then Chick-fil-A provided sandwiches. Then Papa Joe's came in with pasta. Then Panera came with the bread. Then donations began to extend beyond food.
Once, they needed size 13 shoes. Someone came by with a van full of shoes, including several size 13s. The deliverer even took off his own size 13s and left them at the Legion hall.
If desserts are on the list, women from a local church will show up with loads of Twinkies. Somehow, it always works out. And while it does have some money to use if necessary, Love Your Neighbor hasn't ever had to spend a dime.
Alongside other organizations in the county, such as Daystar and the Salvation Army, the Calleas want to figure out how they can expand services. Their hope is to make their community the best it can be, with everyone's help.
"I'm still amazed at how many people want to help," Lisa Callea says. "This is about anyone who has needs, and it goes beyond feeding them meals."
While involved in its creation, Chase has been busy with her life in Citrus County and feels her part with Love Your Neighbor has been fulfilled. She looks at what exists now as a result of people listening to their hearts.
That's what she did when she waited at the coffee shop. That's what she did when she saw Bell walk by outside. And that's what the volunteers are doing now with the Sunday dinners.
"More often than not, God gives us the opportunity to help others, but we miss them," she said. "I've missed many, but thank God I didn't miss this one. It's awesome to see so many people with the heart to serve others. We just needed a way to focus all that."
Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or 352 848-1432.
FAST FACTS
How you can help
- For information about the Sunday dinners for the homeless or Love Your Neighbor Inc., contact John Callea at (352) 428-5947 or send e-mail to him at FirstThes514@hotmail.com
- Also, National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week begins Nov. 11. In Hernando, the Mid Florida Homeless Coalition will hold a stuffed sock drive that week. Inside a pair of new white socks, donors are asked to put shampoo, soap, razors, toothbrushes, crackers, drink boxes and other similar items.
-Drop-off locations will be at the following addresses in Brooksville: Jericho Road Ministries at 1090 Mondon Hill Road, Jericho Road Thrift Stores at 15319 Cortez Blvd. and 16479 Wiscon Road, and the Mid Florida Community Services building at 8320 Kennedy Blvd. For information, call (352) 796-1425.