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| November 22, 2008 |
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Homeless to receive winter assistanceWith help from the Pinellas County Commission, Catholic Charities will be able to provide tents and help locate permanant housing for the homeless.
Catholic Charities Chief Operating Officer Sheila Lopez finds out how a homeless man is doing during the spring. A pilot project, to be operated by Catholic Charities, will start in December and will offer help to the homeless by offering shelter. Frank Murphy, Catholic Charities president, said Pinellas Hope is built on community, commitment and compassion. "This is a project built on the three C's of community, commitment and compassion." ST. PETERSBURG | To give the street homeless a safe place to sleep this winter and a better chance to find permanent housing, the Pinellas County Commission unanimously voted Sept. 25 to pay about $460,000 for Pinellas Hope, a project run by Catholic Charities to shelter the homeless temporarily in tents while coordinating services for them. A pilot project to serve about 200 people, it is planned for unincorporated Pinellas County on 10 acres on the southeast corner of 49th Street North and 126th Avenue North donated by the Diocese of St. Petersburg. The collaborative effort is an implementation of the Homeless Leadership Network's Interfaith Shelter Program with backers including St. Petersburg College, Progress Energy, Religious Community Services of Pinellas County and Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless. "It is a great example of people coming together to provide for the needy of our community," said Bishop Robert N. Lynch, who plans to volunteer to help feed the homeless when the site opens. The issue of homelessness in the St. Petersburg community made national headlines last year when police displaced homeless people in the downtown area by slashing the tents in which they were living. With the winter season approaching, solutions for helping the 1,275 homeless who live on the county's streets are needed, said county human services director Maureen Freaney. An annual homeless count showed an increase in the county's homeless from 4,000 in 2004 to 5,195 in 2007, said Freaney, who expects to see an influx in the number of seasonal homeless come Dec. 1, just as the doors to Pinellas Hope are opened. "This is a pilot program, and it's all about learning and gathering data," said Freaney, adding that residence will be voluntary and transitional. Participants will be tracked up to six months after their stay. As people are placed in permanent housing, their spots will allow others to seek shelter as part of Pinellas Hope. "We hope to get up to 40 percent of the individuals out of street homelessness," she said. Tents, portable showers, bathrooms and offices will be used for Pinellas Hope, made possible by county funds taken from surplus 2006-07 Health and Human Services funds that otherwise would have rolled into the general reserve. Added to that are the diocese's land, a $500,000 private pledge of funds, and Catholic Charities' coordination and administrative support. "One thing is clear: We need to do a better job than we have in the past, so staying put is not an option," Catholic Charities president Frank Murphy said. "This is a project built on the three C's of community, commitment and compassion." The shelter will be open tentatively for five months, although Murphy said he thinks it will take only four to process the homeless and have them referred to services and placed in housing. Pinellas Hope residents will have access to a bus that connects them to about 10 key places, such as Pinellas County Social Services and St. Vincent de Paul. "We will encourage them to go off-site to work and get the services they need," Murphy said. Only dinner will be served on-site, brought in daily by volunteers. HOW TO HELP "We just need the manpower to serve," said Murphy. The program will need about 10 families a day, each to cook enough for 30 people and bring it hot to the site. Other volunteers will serve. Religious Community Services, a group of congregations, churches and synagogues, have committed to providing dinners and volunteers for 40 nights. "We just need another 110 nights covered," Murphy said. The community is asked to step up. "This is a national problem. It's a community problem. It's everyone's problem," said Freaney. "We want to focus on breaking the cycle of homelessness."
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