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Letter to the editor

Hope lives here

By DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD, Times Staff
Published January 13, 2008

Dian Maloy, 53, waits for a ride to her new home Wednesday after being homeless for more than a month. Maloy said she and her boyfriend came to Pinellas Hope after he lost his job, forcing them from their rented mobile home. Maloy said he has a new job and they found a new home.
	[Douglas R. Clifford | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Douglas R. Clifford | Times] Pinellas Hope resident John Plein, 31, helps move 60 turkeys to the camp's kitchen Wednesday. The turkeys came from Mike Dodaro's business, Mike's Pizza and Deli, and his friend Phil Wasserman, of Sarasota. Dodaro cooked the turkeys in the Pinellas County Jail's kitchen, courtesy of Sheriff Jim Coats. [Douglas R. Clifford | Times] Sheila Lopez, left, Chief Operating Officer for Catholic Charities Diocese of St. Petersburg, shares a laugh with Eileen Bezemek as she dries laundry Wednesday at Pinellas Hope. The outdoor shelter opened Dec. 1 and will close in April. "It's clean, it's healthy, it's friendly, I feel like I have a condo," Bezemek said. "we are all common people striving for common goals."

Asked what makes their experimental project to house the homeless a success, many of the residents of Pinellas Hope craned their necks in search of Sheila Lopez (shown above, at left, sharing a laugh with resident Eileen Bezemek). The residents described Lopez as a savior, a saint and an angel. She sees herself simply as a mother hen, making her daily rounds among the 240 tents at Pinellas Hope.

At Pinellas Hope residentsgravitate to Sheila Lopez, who has an endless supply of warm hugs and encouraging words. She is chief operating officer of the Catholic Charities, Diocese of St. Petersburg, which is managing the 10-acre outdoor temporary shelter. But her efforts are bolstered by an army of volunteers, many of them residents, who divide up a schedule to make the project work.

Many at Pinellas Hope are fighting alcohol and drug dependencies. Some have mental illnesses. Some teetered on the brink of homelessness before unemployment or health issues sent them into the streets.

Whatever the case, 240 of them have found their way to Pinellas Hope, some from as far away as Miami, to take refuge and to make new beginnings.

[Last modified January 12, 2008, 22:21:42]