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People from Pinellas demand that Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa return some money collected on the other side of the bridges.
By KATHRYN WEXLER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 29, 2001
TAMPA -- The homeless people from Pinellas County rolled up Florida Avenue on Friday in a lavender luxury bus proclaiming itself to be an "Allstar Limousine."
The bus pulled up to Metropolitan Ministries, and the 50 homeless people spilled out.
"Show us the money!" they shouted.
The focus of their ire was a charity dedicated to serving needy people just like them.
"My Help Comes From the Lord," reads the quotation from Psalms 121 mounted on the wall of Metropolitan Ministries, but the protesters yelled that help comes from Pinellas County, too, and that the organization isn't giving enough back to the homeless on the other side of the bay.
Metropolitan Ministries solicits donations from residents throughout the Tampa Bay area but spends the money entirely on its Tampa homeless shelter. The protesters argued Metropolitan is draining precious donations for the homeless from Pinellas.
"We're against solicitation in Pinellas County, and if not, we'd like to see some of the money given to (homeless) providers there," said Steve Kersker, who organized the trip, shelled out $275 for the bus, and runs the Pinellas County organization Loving Others Together.
Karlene Kos, Metropolitan Ministries executive vice president, stood on the sidewalk and watched the protesters marching by.
"Cash is always in short supply," she said.
Metropolitan Ministries collected about $5-million in donations last year, 80 percent from Hillsborough donors, 10 percent from Pinellas, and 10 percent from other areas, she said.
All donations fund the organization's 214 beds at its 2002 N Florida Ave. residence for homeless people enrolled in a long-term recovery program. The ministry does supply other nearby organizations with hot meals and clothes for the needy, and lately has given food, toys and bicycles to Pinellas agencies.
In Friday's hourlong battle for the sympathies of a handful of spectators, the loudest outcry, strangely, came from the owner of a car detail shop across the street.
"There's one thing I learned in America," shouted Vernon Bent, who was born in Panama. "You can ask for money wherever you want to!"
Bent then played booming hip-hop music to drown out the protesters.
Kersker said he picked up the homeless people at St. Vincent De Paul in St. Petersburg, where they normally get free lunches. Since the bus left before the meal, Kersker said, he would give each person $3 to buy food after the protest.
Pastor Bruce Wright said Metropolitan Ministries' fundraising in Pinellas was short-changing some organizations there. He said his charity, The Refuge, for street youths and homeless people, had to turn away families needing food and toys for Christmas.
Of particular concern to the group was Metropolitan Ministries' direct mailings and newspaper advertisements. Neither mentions where the money is spent.
Beth Eschenfelder, president of the Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless, who did not participate in the protest, said she thinks where the money is spent should be made clear.
"God bless them for being as good as they are at fundraising because it's a very hard thing to do," she said, "but I do think it's very important that a donor knows where their money is going."
Kos denied the mailings are misleading.
"The trust of this community is very important to us and that's why every ad has our name, our address, our phone number and our Web site," Kos said.
Kos said Metropolitan Ministries is "open to partnering any way we can."
In fact, she said, the ministry has been praying lately about whether to expand its services and become more visible. Kos, wearing a delicate gold cross on a necklace, smiled as the protesters shouted their slogans.
"Sometimes God answers in ways you don't expect him to," she said.
- Kathryn Wexler can be reached at (813) 226-3383.