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Letter to the editor

Todays Letters: Keep Pinellas Village as it is

We want everyone to know about our home, Pinellas Village, a not-for-profit apartment community and self-sufficiency program for single parents.

Pinellas Village provides a support system of 100 other single parents who understand the strife we face daily, and on-site case managers who help us through hard times and cheer our victories.

Our home is not on "Easy Street," nor do we receive handouts - only a hand up. We pay our rent and bills, work or attend school full time, attend parenting and life skills classes, donate community service hours and visit on-site case managers regularly. We came to Pinellas Village because of a life crisis and realized that we needed guidance in order to improve our families' lives. We love our home and want to be there to complete the five-year program.

But will Pinellas Village as we know it still be here to help make our dreams come true?

We are worried about the future of our home. A proposal has been presented by our major funding source that would dramatically change our community. This proposal would eliminate the on-site case managers that are the core of our community. Instead, off-site case managers would visit us monthly and not be readily available for us during crises. We would lose many other benefits that the on-site case managers organize.

Our Pinellas Village family would disintegrate, just as many of our own families already have.

In the past 15 years, 320 residents have earned a certificate or degree, 164 have found full-time employment in their fields, 98 have continued their education and 84 have purchased homes. We invite you to learn more about Pinellas Village by visiting our community or our Web site at www.pinellasvillage.org. We hope you believe in us as much as the Pinellas Village staff does so that we, too, can attain our dreams.

Angel DeLong, Largo

Pedestrians must take care of selves

Over the past several weeks, I have read several letters to the editor about pedestrian safety suggestions. All well and good, but first it's up to us to protect ourselves from an accident.

Even if the light is with us, we need to check traffic in every direction before moving. We have drivers on our roads who are intoxicated, on medication, on drugs, on a cell phone. Why, just the other day, a driver drove through a red light and T-boned a vehicle. He said he was changing a compact disc and didn't notice the light had changed.

In combat, when "all clear" is sounded, we move out carefully, zigzag and look for the glint of a rifle barrel in the trees because we want to get home safely. Pedestrians need to be keenly alert to survive Tampa Bay area streets.

Charles Slater, Largo

Food service needs your help

There is a service called F.E.A.S.T. (Food Emergency and Services Team) at 2255 Nebraska Ave. in Palm Harbor, (727) 789-5275, where families in need of food can get help. In northern Pinellas County, this agency helped more than 1,300 families in January. In January, 39 new families were added for food support.

This organization is celebrating its 25th anniversary. It is totally self-supporting and receives no government aid. It has operated for 25 years on the generosity of individuals and local companies that support it. The Boy Scouts and local letter carriers conduct yearly food drives supplying F.E.A.S.T. with more than 15 tons of food for distribution. F.E.A.S.T. distributes more than 30 tons annually to needy families.

The food pantry is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. until noon to serve our Palm Harbor neighbors. Walt Anderson is the executive director, who oversees F.E.A.S.T. with the help of some 30 volunteers.

These difficult economic times, in addition to the agency helping to supply emergency food when natural disasters occur, have created the need for much more food at this time. F.E.A.S.T. accepts donations of food, supplies or cash contributions.

This is an agency that deserves our community support.

James A. Chapman, Palm Harbor

[Last modified February 11, 2008, 20:52:30]