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Putting a miracle on street

By ANDREW SKERRITT, Times Staff Writer
Published December 4, 2007

Margarita Romo of Farm Workers Self Help is trying to raise $70,000 to convert this Dade City building into a recreation center for children in the neighborhood.
	[Mike Pease | Times]

When she looked at the old pool hall along Tommytown's main drag, Margarita Romo saw much more than the gang graffiti.

The vacant hangout along Calle de Milagros offered a rare chance to set things right in her tough Dade City neighborhood.

So several months ago, Romo and her staff at Farm Workers Self Help contacted the absentee owner. They wanted to paint over the graffiti and send a message to local gangs.

Turns out he had an even better idea: How about buying it?

The price: $70,000.

That doesn't sound like a lot of money, unless you're a struggling nonprofit. So Romo has been mentioning the building to just about everybody she knows.

There's an element of faith in her tone. Her organization doesn't own the building yet, but they've claimed it.

They even gave it a name: My Other House. When you live and work on Calle de Milagros, or Street of Miracles, you learn to expect the unexpected.

Romo would love to transform the old pool hall into a safe haven, where local kids can play and learn without pressure from thugs. Many of these youngsters are vulnerable to the lure of the streets: Most are poor, undocumented Hispanic kids who struggle to graduate from high school.

"We can create a place where people can feel safe instead of going to someone's house to do pot because they feel no one cares," she said last week.

Romo has been talking to some folks with relatively deep pockets. That's how her proposal ended up on the desk of Larry M. Starnes, area president for Wachovia Bank in Pasco, Hernando and Citrus. He didn't need much convincing.

"It's pretty obvious to anyone driving by that there are dramatic needs crying out for attention and a solution," Starnes said of Tommytown.

Most bank executives see such poor neighborhoods as bad investments; Starnes sees something very different.

"This is a great opportunity to put one more barrier between kids in the community and the drug dealers, pimps and gang members," he said. "We won't change the world with this, but we can save one boy or girl."

Wachovia easily could have paid for the building outright. But this project cries for a communal investment that will help carry it forward after the spotlight dims.

Starnes donated $24,000 and called for other bank executives in the area to lend a hand - and write a check.

What better way to welcome the season of miracles.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at askerritt@sptimes.com or 813 909-4602

[Last modified December 3, 2007, 20:44:07]