Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
JON WILSONMid-Pinellas Homeless Outreach has "helped in getting people off the streets" in Lealman, one observer said.
LEALMAN - After one year in business, Mid-Pinellas Homeless Outreach hasn't solved all the hard-luck problems in its unincorporated east Lealman neighborhood. County officials still get calls from residents complaining about people browsing alleys, or camping out and drinking, or - that catch-all gripe - appearing in public while disheveled.
But officials say the complaints do not target Mid-Pinellas, a spot at 5301 Haines Road where poor people, many of them substance abusers, drop in for coffee, a set of work clothes and a chance to have a friendly chat with someone who may have struggled, too.
Up to 40 clients a day come in, said Sam Carte, who supervises the center.
He thinks its presence relieves a problem. If folks have a place to go in the morning, if they can stay inside awhile, they're less likely to become eye poison hanging on someone's street.
And while homelessness has been a simmering issue here for several years, it appears to have subsided a bit, said Frank Bowman, manager of the County Connection Center that oversees Lealman.
"It's certainly not as hot an issue as it was. I'm not certain if that's because conditions have changed, or the behaviors of the homeless guys may have changed so they're not as noticed in the neighborhoods," Bowman said.
Mid-Pinellas, he observes, has done "a pretty good job.'
"They've helped in getting people off the streets. They're also talking to them, saying stay out of (sensitive) areas. We've seen some changes in behavior."
Clients can pick up mail and phone messages or use the phone to work on employment or medical appointments. There's a book exchange, an AA group and a Saturday lunch.
William and Lynn McLean were major participants in opening the center last year, after another with the same name closed in 2002.
"We sort of just fell into it," said William McLean, 45, who is the Mid-Pinellas president.
The McLeans are often involved in projects to help the homeless, and they were part of a group that wanted to see the center re-opened.
One day they were taking a load of food to a group of youngsters camping in the Ocala National Forest. Their station wagon got hit head-on. Injuries were minor, but insurance on the totaled wagon brought $2,500, McLean said.
It furnished some of the seed money to open the center.
Now, Carte said, the center operates on about $1,200 a month "to have a cushion." Rent is $750. Water and lights are extra.
It is entirely funded by donations, both of material and cash.
People drop off clothes. Volunteers go to the flea market to shop for socks, always in demand. A few churches help out. McLean said his mother donates $40 a month. His brother, who lives in Seattle, pays the Internet bill.
The center is trying to build up its computer resources so clients can receive and send e-mail and perhaps work on resumes.
With winter coming, the center also needs coats, blankets and sweat shirts, McLean said.
David and Ruth Haggett live nearby. When they moved in 18 months ago, "Three, four, 10 times a day, someone would come up the alley between the bars, looking for something to eat," said David Haggett, 46. During Mid-Pinellas's presence the past year, he has seen three or four total, he said.
Both Haggetts are now hard-core volunteers. Like the McLeans and like Carte, both have experienced homelessness.
"They've been there, done that," Bowman said. "I think the development of a concentrated strategy to work with the homeless is focused on that. They can say something to somebody, and they'll believe them."
In recent weeks, three letters have come in from people the center helped. One person starts a job Monday. Another praised the staff for helping her get a wheelchair.
Ed Brant, president of the Ponellas County Coalition for the Homeless, said about 4,081 people have been identified as homeless countywide. It's not known how many have spent substantial time in east Lealman.
But, "A lot of the reason (Mid-Pinellas) is there is because of the outcry in that area about the number of homeless there, and there was no place the homeless could go for direction," Brant said.
The center lately has been able to expand and is developing an enclosed "backyard" patio. It will be a spot for the weekly East Lealman Community Coffee House, which supplies an open mike format for music and poetry.
Plans call for another shower and a washer and dryer.
And, during the next year, efforts to win more community involvement.
"I look for them to do a lot more," Brant said.