Notes from the Chair …

Couple of quick things … it’s going to be a very busy couple of weeks.

Coming on September 22 is our next “Dessert and Coffee” forum — We’re going to feature Beth Davalos of the Families in Transition Program with the Seminole County Public School system to talk about the growing number of homeless children. We’re finalizing the flyer and will get it out to you soon.

Then, on October 1, we’ll be hosting our next IDignity project at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church. We’ve heard some success stories of folks applying for jobs and benefits and putting their new IDs to work. Please note: we’re going to need to raise at least $2,000 for this project. We ask you to please make a donation of any kind and ask friends, family and your church to help.

You may direct donations to:
SACSON
P.O. Box 95
Sanford, FL 32772

Thanks much for your continued support and prayers and make it a great weekend!

Trace Trylko
SACSON Chair

Added to the links …

A link to The Sharing Center. Thanks again to Isabel for telling us more about The Sharing Center during Tuesday’s SACSON meeting. You can reach their Web site by clicking anywhere on this article or by going to: www.thesharingcenter.org

Homeless center plans draw east Orange opposition

OrlandoSentinel.com

Some say they don’t want a drop-in center near their neighborhoods

Víctor Manuel Ramos

Sentinel Staff Writer

Plans for a homeless center in east Orange County are upsetting some residents who don’t want it in their back yards.

As the county searches for a commercial building to house the center, some people in the largely Hispanic neighborhoods east of Semoran Boulevard are having meetings and lobbying against it.

“We are not against the homeless, because they need help, but they should be helped without hurting other residents,” said Elías “Rico” Piccard, who heads the advocacy group United Front 436. “Many of them are alcoholics, drug addicts — and we just don’t want to attract them to our community.”

Proponents say those complaints are rooted in a misunderstanding of what they are trying to accomplish.

The county is working with a coalition of churches and volunteers, known as Converge, to establish a drop-in center where many of the estimated 500 homeless people in east Orange could go during the day for a warm meal, a shower and a change of clothes.

Advocates say they hope the center will also become a place for others to get counseling as they struggle with poverty.

“We don’t want it to be strictly a homeless drop-in center,” said the Rev. Jeff Linman, pastor of Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church. “We want it to be seen as a housing assistance center, because the reality is that the overgrown lots of foreclosed homes in our neighborhoods are a clear sign that more than just chronically homeless people need help.”

The county has about $800,000 in federal funds to buy a building along commercial routes. Although it has not settled on a location, it’s looking near bus routes along Econlockatchee Trail, Rouse Road, Dean Road, Alafaya Trail and East Colonial Drive, mostly in County Commission districts 3 and 4, said Donna Wyche, manager of the county’s Mental Health and Homeless Issues Division.

Commissioner Mildred Fernández, a center proponent who represents District 3, said that many homeless people “are sleeping in the back yards of houses and behind local restaurants or in the woods” and that the community would not be better off ignoring the problem.

The issue has been the talk of Spanish-language radio, where callers have railed about already having a methadone clinic for recovering addicts, a treatment center for at-risk youth and a halfway house for former convicts near their east Orange neighborhoods.

William Diaz, a business owner and host of the morning radio show Cara a Cara on WONQ-AM (1030), said he agrees with listeners who don’t want another eyesore. The area is the county’s stepchild, Diaz said, “because anything that nobody wants ends up here.”

Víctor Manuel Ramos can be reached at vramos@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6186.

A note from Rhonda, with Bags of Hope

Thank you so much for posting this information. To date we have distributed #150 Backpacks with #50 more scheduled to go out this week. We have also distributed the same number of toiletry bags to go with each backpack. We have alot more to do…the need is great…. we appreciate all and any support!
thank you SACSON and SVDP for your support.

Peace and HOPE to all,
Rhonda Santolin
Bags of Hope
rsantolin@earthlink.net
407-923-2138

Rescue Outreach Mission

Added a link to the Rescue Outreach Mission’s Web site to the SACSON blog, see the list to the right.

You can also access by clicking anywhere on this article or by going to:

http://rescueoutreachmission.org/

Homeless: Orlando could be the most violent metro area in Florida, survey finds

OrlandoSentinel.com
By Willoughby Mariano

Sentinel Staff Writer

August 20, 2009

The nation’s third “meanest” city for the homeless may also be the state’s most violent toward them, say survey results being released today.

Forty-six percent of homeless people questioned in Orlando and Orange County in an ongoing local survey said they were physically attacked in the past four years by someone they thought was not homeless — well above Florida’s average of 27 percent, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.

The same organization last month ranked Orlando as the third “meanest” city in the country, behind Los Angeles and St. Petersburg. A coalition report released earlier this month said that in 2008, Florida led the nation in violence against the homeless for the fourth year in a row.

This year alone, at least two homeless men have been slain in Orange County.

“To me, the statistics are shocking. It shows the problem is much worse than we thought,” said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Orange County’s results in this most recent survey are preliminary. There were 35 Orlando respondents and 1,350 statewide. However, in Orange Osceola and Seminole counties there are about 3,800 homeless people at any given time, according to the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida.

The network is in the midst of a more extensive local study that aims to survey 650 homeless people. It plans to release results this fall.

Here’s more about the coalition’s survey, and what it means.

Click anywhere to read the full article

Bags of Hope

To All Bags of Hope Supporters and their friends:

Thanks for all your help and support with this project. With 2,000 Homeless children heading back to school from Central Florida alone, we are trying to give them the tools they need to be prepared for school. We would like to give as many children as possible- backpacks with school supplies inside, toiletries, clothing and shoes. As everyone knows EDUCATION is the key to saving these children from a cycle of poverty. It is their ticket for change and new beginnings! Let’s work together, so that they have the things they need to head back to school prepared and feeling confident- despite their living conditions.

Here are the items that we are still needing:

* Pencil boxes (8.5” X 2”)
* Crayola Thick Markers (classic Colors) 8 count
* Colored Pencils 12 count 7” style
* Sharpie Fine Markers (Black)
* Yellow Highlighters
* Pencil Sharpeners
* Index Cards (3X5) ruled
* Scissors
* Pink Beveled Erasers
* Hand Sanitizers with pump
* Toiletries: Toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, body wash, deodorant, shampoo
* Girls Backpacks (new please)
* Girls and Boys underwear and socks (new please) ALL Sizes

If anyone does not have the time to do the shopping and still wants to contribute in whatever way they are able,

They may send a monetary donation which is tax deductible made out to: One Bread, One Body and notate in the memo section

BOH Children’s Outreach. Then mail to: Rhonda Santolin 120 Essex Drive Longwood, FL 32779

Donations may be brought to: 120 Essex Drive Longwood , FL (the address above- Bags of Hope is being run out of our garage) or to the two donation boxes in the Cultural Center of Annunciation Catholic Church. If you need other arrangements feel free to call me at the number below.

Let’s continue to work together to help our local community! Every donation makes a difference! With the present Back To School Sales going on~ $1 can buy 4 packs of crayons…and trust me those crayons will make a huge difference to a child heading to school! Every donation will come together to make a big impact. Thank you for your support!

Peace and Hope,

Rhonda Santolin

Bags of Hope

An effort of One Bread One Body Charity

407-923-2138

The latest on David Ashby …

David Ashby, the 14-year-old Orlando teen who is walking to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of homeless children, has made a lot of progress since I wrote about him last. Not that it has been a stroll in the park.

Click anywhere to read the full article

Homeless for a day: Kids learn what it’s like

Kate Santich

Sentinel Staff Writer

August 6, 2009

Twelve-year-old Trinity Fore was roused too early from sleep by the clanging of a ladle on a pot. She choked down a stale doughnut and water for breakfast and had 30 seconds to grab something to wear from a pile of hand-me-downs. Then, before she had a chance to wash her face or brush her teeth, she was hustled out into the dawn along the streets of Parramore, a homeless man as her guide.

It was what you might call Compassion Camp — a 24-hour immersion experiment this week to help young people understand a life very different from their own. For the rest of that hot, sticky morning, Trinity and 30 of her young friends would have an all-too-vivid taste of homelessness. They would be rebuffed as panhandlers, threatened with arrest by a police officer and shadowed by a drunken man who wanted to enlighten them on various government conspiracies.

Historic inn offers new beginning for homeless women

Another faith-based organization that deserves our attention. Click anywhere to read the full article.

By Martin E. Comas

Sentinel Staff Writer

August 2, 2009

CLERMONT — New Beginnings, a nonprofit organization that helps the homeless, has purchased the historic Mulberry Inn, an 1890s Victorian house in downtown Clermont.

When it opens this summer, the property will offer transition housing and training for homeless mothers and their young children.

What is New Beginnings?

Started in May 2007 by Steve Smith, New Beginnings Inc. is a nonprofit, faith-based organization that offers food, clothing, counseling, job-skills training and job placement to the homeless. The organization’s goal is to help displaced people make a transition into more stable and productive lives through a nine-month training program.

“We are not a shelter. We are transitional housing,” Smith said. “We are all about getting people back to work.”