 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Salvation Army hires a director
By RYAN DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, The Salvation Army domestic violence program has replaced its director, who resigned last month after her boss proposed cuts. Michele Anderson, 52, who was a counselor and supervisor at Gulf Coast Community Care in Tampa, started Wednesday, said Maj. Tom Vick, the director of the West Pasco Salvation Army. Anderson will oversee the domestic violence shelter and outreach services, which include legal assistance, counseling and other support for victims. Director Stephanie Walley resigned after Vick asked the state Department of Children and Families' permission to eliminate outreach services, essentially leaving just the shelter's operation. Walley said Thursday that the proposed cuts were among several reasons for her resignation. She would not elaborate on the others. The state denied Vick's request to cut, but the episode brought to light the program's financial picture. Vick has said he has turned away government grants to avoid owing to the state Salvation Army headquarters in Tampa an 11.25 percent administrative fee on those grants. The grants forbid using the money to pay the fee to state headquarters, so Vick said he needs to raise private donations in order to pay off the fee. He hasn't been able to raise enough. The result: While the Salvation Army is turning away much-needed dollars, it is asking private donors to give more. Anderson has no professional fundraising or grant-writing experience, she said. But she has raised money as a member of the Lutz-Land O'Lakes Women's Club and she intends to take a grant-writing course. "I don't feel like it will be a concern," she said. "I'm a pretty resourceful person." Anderson has worked for Hernando-Pasco Hospice and spent a few months working at the Spring of Tampa Bay, a Hillsborough County domestic violence shelter. By mutual agreement, Walley left her job when Anderson started, Vick and Walley said. In submitting her resignation she agreed to work through next week, but with a new director in place it isn't necessary for her to stay, Vick said. "We went ahead and paid her through June 8, and she's finished," Vick said. Eight people applied for the job and the agency interviewed three, he said. - Ryan Davis covers higher education and social services in Pasco. He can be reached at 800-333-7505 ext. 3452.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From today's Pasco Times |
