30 days until …

IDignity Sanford on Thursday, October 29!

IDignity Sanford on Thursday, October 29: Location

Just a quick reminder of the location for IDignity Sanford:

St Paul Missionary Baptist Church
813 Pine Ave
Sanford, FL 32771

Dessert and Coffee Forum Photos … # 2

Dessert and Coffee Forum Photos … # 1

An important note from Michael Dippy regarding IDignity …

Hey Trace,

We are confirmed to have IDignity Sanford on Thursday Oct 29th at Missionary Baptist Church. Sorry for the rescheduling, but the Seminole County Health Department is really struggling with the H1N1. We will be transporting clients that need Florida birth certificates to their office, via the HOPE team van. The SCHD will reserve a teller for our clients. After the first of the year they assured me they would like to attend the future events.

IDignity has greatly streamlined the OSBC process to where we are submitting nearly every application via direct mail. This cuts out the middle man and has provided better feedback from the various states. It is actually easier and cheaper, now that we know what we are doing. It is proposed that SACSON recruit several volunteers that would be willing to be trained of the new process prior to the event. The two IDignity leads that could go to Sanford for the training would also likely attend the event, but there is a bit too much training to be done at the event.

Keep up the good work.

Peace,

Michael Dippy

Notes from the Chair …

Hi everyone,

Many thanks this Wednesday to those who helped us put together another successful “Dessert and Coffee” forum.

First, thanks to our special guest, Beth Davalos with the Seminole County Public School System. Beth’s presentation was eye-opening for me as I had no idea the scope of the numbers of homeless children Seminole County-wide. Thanks Beth!

Many thanks to our SACSON team for handling all of the details, from refreshments to setting up the chairs.

This event attracted 39 folks, 13 of whom were new faces. Sanford Mayor Linda Kuhn was in attendance.

We are building a true faith-based coalition that’s working to educate the community, as well as provide the backing for events like IDignity.

But, there is much more that we need to do. Would someone please e-mail me at sacson1@yahoo.com and volunteer to attend this coming Monday’s Sanford City Commission meeting? Details are in the Calendar section. Having presence at those meetings is paramount so we’re in the loop on items like the proposed panhandling ordinance. Further, it’s one of the goals we approved for our 2009-10 plan and one volunteer per meeting is needed to take some notes and report back to SACSON.

We meet again on Tuesday, October 13 at 630 pm at Holy Cross Episcopal Church. Stay tuned for a final date on our next IDignity project as we had to reschedule the October 1st date.

Thanks everyone,

Trace Trylko
Chair – SACSON

Sanford May Pass Tougher Panhandling Laws

Click anywhere to see Channel 9’s story …
WFTV.com

SANFORD, Fla. — The city of Sanford wants to be able to arrest some of its most aggressive panhandlers. Downtown business leaders have been pushing for tougher panhandling laws for years and now the city is about to pass them.

There’s nothing illegal about begging for money and, technically, that won’t change. What will be regulated is so-called “aggressive” panhandling, which is panhandling by someone who touches the person they’re asking for money, blocks an entrance to their car or building or anyone who panhandles while drunk.

For parents with babies or a group of shoppers, downtown Sanford may seem like an escape from urban hassle. But the very urban problem of panhandling has hit downtown hard. Now, the city thinks it may have a solution.

“I think it’s wonderful that they’ve actually done something about it,” Exclusive Cuts Salon owner Brenda Iles said.

Iles organized business owners after a panhandler forced his way into her salon. She likes the idea of arresting those who use intimidating tactics.

“That’s pretty much what the situation was, is they always wanted more. Once you gave them a little, they took more,” she explained.

However, targeting people who claim they’re just “asking for help” involves hurdles. There’s nothing illegal about walking through a public space with a cup or a hand out asking for money. In fact, it’s even protected by the Constitution.

That’s why Sanford leaders say the plan will only work if the city is very clear about what takes legal panhandling into the aggressive realm.

“The police know what they can enforce and citizens know what they can do or not do,” assistant city attorney Lonnie Groot said.

While many businesses welcome tighter restrictions, a few insist it’s a problem best handled at the personal level.

“You treat them with a little bit of respect and you explain to them that you’re in business the same way that they’re in business, to try and make a little bit of money,” Willow Tree Cafe owner Theo Hollerbach said.

The panhandling problem becomes more serious on the streets during the winter months, so the change comes at the right time. People who panhandle aggressively would face as much as 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Copyright 2009 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

An Uplifting Message sent by our friend Steve Cook …

I’m passing on the following quote relayed to me by Joel Miller of the Orlando HOPE Team. The highlighted text is most appropriate if you’re a member of a Seminole support group!

Romans 12:8 (The Message)

6-8 If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

–
Steve “ROCKY” Cook
Sanford Hope Team

Putting talk into action …

SACSON member Cathy Goretsky is an inspiration as she’s taken to the streets and has personally visited the following in promotion of Tuesday’s “Dessert and Coffee” Forum:

Rapid Image Reproductions
Casto Mower Parts
CORA
CHANGEZ Salon
Mane Attraction Hair Studio
Framing 508
Investors Realty Network
Paulucci International Corporation
EGS Properties
CPH Engineers
Antiques and Dustables
Sassy Fashions
Gourmet 2 Go
Tuned Up
The Colonial Room
Maya Books
The Willow Tree

Can’t say enough how important this person to person contact is, something we speak of during SACSON meetings. Thank you Cathy for putting talk into action in a meaningful way. Will you please do the same and e-mail us who you’ve visited over the next week? sacson1@yahoo.com

Father Rory Harris makes his Sanford Herald debut

Centennial Forum: There is hope for homeless in Seminole
by Father Rory H. B. Harris, Special to the Herald

The face of the homeless person may surprise you. It defies the stereotypes that many seem to hold.

One out of four of the homeless are veterans who served their country. In Seminole County, some 1,100 are children living with one or both of their parents in motels, cars or camping out in the woods. There are more whites than people of color who are homeless.

Many in the current economic recession have lost everything: their homes, their jobs, their self-dignity, and are far from the “insensitive” tag put on them after last year’s “Project Homeless Connect,” Northland Church/Homeless Services Network’s venture at the Sanford Civic Center depicted by some as “bums on bikes.”

Some 1,900 persons become homeless in Seminole County each year. It could be you if you lose your home, your job, your car, your health, and your will to deal with the bureaucracy that offers some modicum of safety net.

There are few shelters to seek refuge in Seminole County or the city of Sanford. On any given night there are probably more than 500 adults and children who are homeless throughout the county, and 125 or more in Sanford.

We see the homeless in our parks, on our streets, some panhandling downtown, looking for something or someone to assist them to address their basic human needs. They do not have shower or laundry facilities available to them, so they don’t smell clean.

They are looking for a “Hand Up… Not a Hand Out,” mostly.

Is there hope for the homeless of our community?

Yes, we can help them transform their lives if we pull together as a community, and instead of complaining about the problems they pose, work together to try to remove the obstacles that keep them in this horrific cycle of despair.

The Seminole Action Coalition Serving Our Needy (S.A.C.S.O.N.) is a coalition of concerned citizens, business owners, churches and social agencies trying to address this issue, and the needs of the poor among us.

Their mission statement is that S.A.C.S.O.N. is “a faith-supported community organization that educates the public and provides programs and services to those in need in North Seminole County.”

They meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. at Holy Cross Episcopal Church’s Parish Hall, 4th Street and South Park Avenue, Sanford, and welcome others to join and meet with them in this venture of hope.

S.A.C.S.O.N. currently is composed of All Souls Catholic Church’s St. Vincent de Paul Society, Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Grace ‘n’ Grits, St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, Sanford/Longwood Sharing Center, Rescue Outreach Mission, Recovery House of Central Florida, Helping Hands, the Homeless Services Network and many concerned citizens.

The organization has compiled a community-resource guide flier that has most of the agencies and their telephone numbers to assist those in need, and give help to business owners and concerned people to direct the homeless and needy in the right direction to find assistance.

A “dessert and coffee” forum is planned for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Sanford Chamber of Commerce, 400 E. 1st St., featuring Beth Davalos with “Families in Transition” discussing homeless children in Seminole County. This is open to

everyone to attend, and will also feature a CBS News feature on homelessness that included scenes from Sanford. This is the second public forum sponsored by S.A.C.S.O.N. on this subject.

The group sponsored a Sanford I-Dignity event last spring, and another I-Dignity day is planned Oct. 1 at St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, 813 Pine St. I-Dignity is the idea of Michael Dippy of Orlando and offers free identification cards to assist the needy with representatives from Social Security, Florida Department of Motor Vehicles, Department of Health and Public Services (for birth certificates), and Veterans Affairs on hand to help the needy and the homeless get birth certificates (Florida and out of state), Florida identification cards, and Social Security cards that were lost or stolen.

Without basic identification cards, the homeless cannot get jobs, social-service assistance or even stay at some temporary shelters. I-Dignity fulfills a most basic need in removing the obstacles toward a person getting basic help.

A growing consensus within the county is that what is needed is a one-stop transformational center that would offer the kinds of services that could help rebuild lives and turn the homeless person into a housed, employed, tax-paying citizen.

One of S.A.C.S.O.N.’s long range goals is the creation of such a center, “The Gateway to Hope Transformational Center.”

The center would need to be in Sanford to make the greatest impact in Seminole, and funding is the core problem to this envisioned program where case management of the clientele would be crucial.

Is there hope? Yes, if we pull together.

Change starts with your help.

Father Rory H. B. Harris is rector of Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Sanford. Comments can be sent to FrRoryHolyCross@aol.com or Herald publisher Gene Kruckemyer at GKruckemyer@MySanfordHerald.com. Topics for The Sanford Herald’s Centennial Forum opinion series are chosen by the community writers.