Friday Inspiration …

Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.
~Jerry Rice

Thursday Inspiration …

Gratitude connects us to others and feeling gratitude allows us to be our best selves. When we are truly grateful, we can count on living the life we want.
~MJ Ryan

Take this bread, drink this cup — but peel back plastic first

Take this bread, drink this cup — but peel back plastic first
Sanford company prepackages Holy Communion

By Rachael Jackson, Orlando Sentinel

November 23, 2009

Fresh produce now comes shrink-wrapped, but a Sanford company takes prepackaging to a whole new level.

Make that a holy new level.

Compak Companies’ product looks like a miniature pudding cup. But pulling back the plastic reveals a communion wafer. Under another layer is grape juice. For worshippers, it’s a more convenient, more sanitary way to celebrate Holy Communion at church, company officials say.

The company, which moved to Sanford in 2004, says “Celebration Cup” sales are up 15 percent to 20 percent and have spurred ideas for several new products with uses outside the church sanctuary. Company leaders say it’s hard to pin down exactly why their sales have increased, but they say that fears about the spread of swine flu and a marketing push likely helped.

“It’s more sanitary, more hygienic and it’s a lot more convenient, especially for larger churches so they’re not having to pass two trays,” Jaquie Dua, marketing director, said.

Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta started using the product in June after hearing a media blitz about how to prevent the spread of the flu.

“We want to be mindful,” church administrator Glenda Boone said, calling it a “health measure.”

Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Eatonville started using the cups in December.

“We use them mainly for the convenience,” office manager Clarice Hopkins said.

Before Macedonia started using the cups, similar to oversized thimbles, a handful of people would spend hours filling little cups with juice and arranging bread on trays for 1,000 parishioners. Frequent spills and sticky messes resulted as trays were passed person-by-person down pew rows.

The Celebration Cups take about half an hour to arrange on trays before services. They’re more expensive, but Hopkins said the time saved is worth it.

“I love it,” parishioner Joyce Bynes said. “It makes the communion go very fast.”

“It’s probably more sanitary too,” fellow churchgoer Trish Martin said.

For Christians, the Holy Communion rite is a way to connect with Jesus Christ — the bread and juice or wine represent his body and blood.

Ronald Critton, senior pastor at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Sanford, which does not use the Celebration Cups, said some churches might see them as too contemporary and prefer the traditional trays, partially because preparing them can be a time for bonding and can help people feel like as if they are contributing. But Critton, who sometimes preaches at Macedonia, said he didn’t think the Celebration Cups took anything away from the service.

Catholics shouldn’t expect to start sipping from the little plastic cups any time soon.

“Absolutely not,” said the Very Rev. Bob Webster, director of liturgy for the Catholic Diocese of Orlando. In the Catholic church, parishioners drink wine out of a single chalice, which reflects how Jesus passed around a single cup at the Last Supper, he said. The chalice also must be made out of a non-porous and semi-precious material such as gold, silver or pewter. Webster added that, for Catholics, the bread and wine are not simply symbolic — they believe they become the body and blood of Christ during Mass.

“The dignity of what it is that we’re celebrating is not enhanced by a particular vessel like that that’s disposable,” he said.

Nonetheless, Compak Companies is planning to start making the cups with wine in them and hopes more denominations will consider the product, which costs $25.25 for a set of 100. About a million of the little cups are manufactured each week.

In a Sanford warehouse machinery does everything from forming the cups from sheets of plastic to pasteurizing the grape juice and sealing in the final layer of plastic over the wafer.

Compak Companies’ biggest customers are Christian stores, which then sell to churches, but it also sells directly to congregations ranging from Baptist to non-denominational faiths. The cups have been ordered for religious camps and conferences. And they have been used by pastors visiting people who can’t travel to church or who lead jail inmate worship.

The company was founded in the early 1990s but didn’t move to Sanford until BMJ Partners Corp., a commercial real estate business, acquired it.

Now they’re looking to offer more products that use the dry- and wet-layer concept to create nutritional products for children, portable fluoride treatments and containers that increase the shelf life of medications.

“It all stemmed from the communion cup,” Carol Buford, chief operating officer, said.

Rachael Jackson can be reached at 407-540-4358 or rjackson@orlandosentinel.com.

Possible spin-off products from the Celebration Cup:

Nutri-Pak. Would have vitamin-loaded pudding on the bottom and a cookie in the dry layer. Company officials foresee these cups being used on mission trips and in vending machines and hope to roll them out in the next two years.

Dental-Pak. Would include a fluoride tablet at the top and a liquid solution in the reservoir portion. It could be used on mission trips and offer quick fluoride treatments.

Medical applications. A pill-and-water combination or a system that would put the potent portion of an injection in the dry layer to increase its shelf life and enable a person to mix the injection shortly before administering it.

Notes from the Chair …

For it being a holiday week, we had a good turnout for last night’s SACSON meeting. Thanks to all who joined our discussion.

If you haven’t had the opportunity, be sure to check out the Sunday, November 22, 2009 edition of The Sanford Herald. Hank Dieckhaus has a column on Page 1/continued to Page 8 titled: The question isn’t ’should’ we help the homeless? It is ‘how’ and ‘where’
On Page 2 Gene Kruckemyer writes: ‘Urban outdoorsmen’ and the need for change.

As soon as both articles are posted on mysanfordherald.com, I will link to them from our blog.

Father Rory Harris’ column is due in the Wednesday, November 25, 2009 edition of The Herald and I’ve written a column that may be included in the Sunday, November 29, 2009 edition. Lots of folks talking about these issues is a good thing for our community.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Trace Trylko
Chair – SACSON

Wednesday Inspiration …

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
~Melody Beattie

My Word: Let’s row in same direction

OrlandoSentinel.com
My Word: Let’s row in same direction

By Richard T. Crotty

November 25, 2009

Scott Maxwell’s recent column asserting that Orange County was “AWOL” on the Central Florida Regional Commission on Homelessness followed by Friday’s editorial accusing us of being “miserly” toward the homeless are shameful displays of fiction posing as fact. Because the Orange County dollars in question are really taxpayer dollars, it’s important to set the record straight.

Orange County has had a long-standing commitment toward mitigating the causes and effects of homelessness. This year, the county targeted more than $7.6 million to assist the homeless and those on the cusp of homelessness. This includes $1.1 million to the Health Care Center for the Homeless to provide medical, dental and pharmacy services, and $3.6 million in housing and shelter assistance.

This doesn’t include our $4 million contribution toward the new men’s service center at the Coalition for the Homeless. Our Youth and Family Services division also dispensed more than $1.9 million in rent payments and utility assistance, a program that clearly prevents homelessness. The sum of $7.6 million may not satisfy Sentinel opinion writers, but tax dollars are limited, and the demands for services are many. We do our best to address needs in a compassionate and fiscally responsible way.

The Regional Commission on Homelessness was predicated on the idea that a group of community leaders could bring a fresh perspective on homelessness and provide the leadership to leverage resources. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and I did not form the commission, but when asked to serve as co-chair, I was proud to do so. This was not supposed to be another group to fund, but one that could maximize the funding that is already here.

The community organizations that service the homeless have developed independently over time to address specific issues. The Homeless Services Network of Central Florida apportions close to $5 million in federal funding to these varied organizations.

The new paradigm being advanced by the regional commission is consolidation and coordination. This model has shown great results in our community with collaborations such as the Primary Care Access Network, which increased primary care medical services from 8,000 individuals in 2000 to 125,000 today. Another fine example is the county’s Central Receiving Center, which has assisted more than 30,000 individuals who are in mental-health crisis.

Far from being a “last ditch plea for help,” merging HSN with the regional commission is a culmination of thoughtful design. The HSN board understands how to provide services for the homeless. The regional commission understands community planning, leveraging assets and streamlining processes. Uniting these forces under one umbrella makes sense.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness calls such an effort “rowing in the same direction.” I invite the Sentinel to get on board and row with us.

Richard T. Crotty is Orange County mayor.

Mission undone

OrlandoSentinel.com
Mission undone
The gist: A panel’s slack effort and broken promises compound the region’s homeless crisis.

November 20, 2009

If people could reside in dusty recommendations and abandoned lofty resolutions, Central Florida’s homeless crisis already would be a faint memory.

Two years ago, the Central Florida Regional Commission on Homelessness, led by Mayors Buddy Dyer and Rich Crotty, trumpeted its goal: wiping out chronic regional homelessness within a decade.

A tall order in a region where nearly 10,000 people are likely to be homeless at some point this year. Unfortunately, this trifling commission would need to make great strides even to be criticized as lackluster. And the buck stops with Mr. Dyer and Mr. Crotty.

Unbelievably, the outfit that boldly proclaimed it was prepared to end homelessness within 10 years might not even survive the next 10 months. Brought to its knees by budget woes, the commission now hopes a surefooted regional homeless-services network answers its Hail Mary plea for a merger.

Overall, a disgraceful showing. One that stands as both another half-hearted effort to end homelessness and a shameful confirmation of the dearth of compassion and political will on this issue.

It was in 2003 that the Working Committee on Homelessness drafted nearly two dozen proposals to curb this regional shame. Although such measures could reduce the estimated $100 million Central Florida taxpayers annually pay out on the homeless for everything from emergency-room care to social services, three years passed and almost none of the measures had been seen through.

Into the breach rode the commission. The panel, a diverse group from Orlando and Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, included a Who’s Who of sincerely dedicated captains of industry, including Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton, CNL Holdings CFO Tracy Schmidt and banking executive Ed Timberlake.

Homeless advocates dared hope the high-powered commission would blueprint remedies such as specialized housing, bolstered with social services as a buffer to keep tenants again from winding up on the street.

However, those high-flying expectations quickly nosedived. The commission shrunk an initial funding target of $50 million to $3 million. Yet, it hasn’t sniffed anything even close to that. After collecting only $425,000 its first year, the commission has followed up this year with just $80,000.

It hasn’t helped that commission partners have been reluctant to put their money where their mouths were. Seminole County has ponied up a paltry $25,000. Mr. Dyer and Orlando commissioners have put up just $111,000 — far short of what the commission expected.

Still, Orange County has proved the most miserly. Mr. Crotty and the Orange commissioners have yet to pitch even a nickel into the commission’s tin cup.

That the commission’s failure to launch comes as the state weathers a perfect tsunami of reversals only amplifies its abject default. Foreclosures in Florida — second highest in the nation — record unemployment and population erosion have stalled the economy and swelled the numbers squatting in abandoned buildings, shivering in camps, or elbowing for limited shelter spaces.

Last month, the commission approached the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, all but conceding failure and needing a lifeline. Teaming up with an organization that boasts more than 13 years of expertise makes sense. Maybe network officials would better leverage its business talent. Network officials are mulling the proposal.

This is certain: Whether or not the commission survives, the region can no longer abide grand words on homelessness that don’t spark grand actions.

From Orange County, frames the issue well for what SACSON might face in Seminole County

Homeless advocates want to speed search for east Orange center

David Damron, Orlando Sentinel

November 23, 2009

Edward Moore sleeps in a tent on a forested lot off Colonial Drive a few miles east of Semoran Boulevard, surviving on $200 a month in food stamps, church food banks and the free heart medicine he gets from a health-care ministry that walks a winding, wooded trail to bring it to him.

The Health Care Center for the Homeless, or H.O.P.E Team, is a vital link to his survival, and the volunteers for the nonprofit health clinic started by doctors guard the exact location of his camp so he won’t be run off or robbed. But the 44-year-old from Toledo who gets around with a cane and a bike says that’s not enough if he is to make his way out of the woods and into a home again.

“We need food, clothes and a place to get clean,” said Moore, who has been at the camp since April and living in the woods for the past three years, since he suffered a series of financial, mental and health setbacks, including a massive heart attack.

Moore is among the estimated 500 to 600 people living in the camps that dot the woods of rural Orange County, as far east as Christmas. Some host more than a dozen tents.

Experts say the numbers are growing as the economy worsens, and many homeless flee what they describe as harsh police treatment and shelter conditions in downtown Orlando.

So advocates are pressing the county to build a drop-in service center in east Orange, to provide food, job and housing assistance and a place to do laundry, shower and get mail. An $800,000 federal grant arrived in May to build such a facility.

But county officials say it’s been a struggle to find the right site. And the patience of some commissioners is wearing thin.

“I don’t know what’s taking so long,” said Commissioner Linda Stewart, who along with Commissioner Mildred Fernandez is pressing for the site-selection process to move quicker.

“It should move faster,” Fernandez said, who like Stewart is a candidate for county mayor next year, “but you’re dealing with government.”

Creation of a center — which would not provide overnight accommodations like a shelter — has caught the attention of area residents, some of whom fear that panhandlers and drug users will congregate there.

Commissioner Bill Segal said that’s reason enough for the county to take its time finding a site and not buckle to politics. “You want to be careful where you put it,” said Segal said, who along with Fernandez and Stewart, is also running for mayor.

Last month, Stewart held a community meeting to reassure concerned residents that the center would be built in an industrial or commercial area and away from homes. A key factor, she said, is proximity to a Lynx bus route, so it’s accessible to those who need it.

The county is working with Converge, a coalition of churches and homeless advocates, to find a location. So far, the county’s real-estate division has looked mostly along the Econlockhatchee Trail, Rouse Road, Alafaya Trail and East Colonial Drive.

“In the beginning I never would have been open to something like this in our community,” said Ken Frenden, a retired beverage salesman who lives in the area and volunteers to deliver day-old bread to area churches to hand out. “When you hear homeless, you think of bums. But a lot of these people are there due to health-care issues and foreclosures. They have nowhere else to go.”

A key problem is that many services and health-care options are located in downtown Orlando — a place many homeless say they would rather avoid.

This year, Orlando ranked third nationally as the “meanest” city toward the homeless — behind only Los Angeles and St. Petersburg — according to a report by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless.

“If you don’t want to go to jail, don’t go downtown,” said Moore’s campmate, a 43-year-old Florida native who declined to be identified. “They’ll arrest you for no reason at all.”

Nancy Martinez, a H.O.P.E team outreach specialist, said it’s that attitude drives many to the woods in east Orange.

That’s true for Doris Boltz, a 59-year-old who has lived in the woods for seven years with her dog, Lucy. Aside from $200 a month in food stamps, she scrounges for cans and scrap metal that she sells for $4 or $5 a day.

Like many others in the woods, Boltz isn’t always able to renew her food-stamp benefits easily because she doesn’t have a phone or mail box. A drop-in center would help with that, she said.

But when money is so scarce, Boltz said the main thing she needs help with is the basics.

“We need a place to wash our clothes,” Boltz said. “I use a bucket and water.”

David Damron can be reached at ddamron@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5311.

Tuesday Inspiration …

The goal of effective communication should be for the listener to say, “Me, too!” versus, “So what?”
~Jim Rohn

Something to think about …

Just one person taking action can inspire others to do the same.
~Leslie C. Aguilar