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Community Unites For Thanksgiving

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 1, 2007

Updated: 11/29/2007 07:11 pm

BRANDON - It has been a tough year for Bill Vanderhoof of Gibsonton.

Vanderhoof, a self-described "old carny," spends six months of the year traveling across the country with a carnival.

"I'm a ride jock," said the thin, grizzled man with tattooed arms and a gray beard and ponytail.

The rest of the year, he comes home to Gibsonton to be near his 10-year-old daughter, Mary Jo, a student at Gibsonton Elementary School. He generally works temporary jobs in Gibsonton until the carnival season kicks back up.

However, this year there are no temporary jobs.

Mary Jo and her mother survive on food stamps because the day-labor jobs Vanderhoof used to depend on have dried up.

"It's the economy," he said. "It's really bad out there, real bad. I don't have wheels, and the bus system in this part of the county is totally inadequate, so I have to walk a half an hour to the day-labor agency and be there at 5 a.m. every day. Even then, there's no guarantee I'll get work."

At least Vanderhoof didn't have to disappoint Mary Jo on Thanksgiving Day. Cynthia Pinckney Ministries provided transportation and food for a meal at the Bill Carey Unit of the Boys & Girls Club, 213 Knights Ave., Brandon, where hundreds of homeless and needy residents mingled with an equal number of volunteers throughout the day - thanks to donations from the community.

"I wouldn't have been able to give her a Thanksgiving like this," said Vanderhoof, watching his daughter dig into her plate of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy. "It's a blessing to show her what the good Lord and friends have provided us.

"Times like this, we survive by faith and friends, right, honey?" he said as his daughter reached over to give him a hug. "She's been through this before. Mary Jo knows we'll get by."

At the next table, homeless residents Ron Brown, Lloyd Davis and Nan and Mark Schrack took advantage of the chance to sit down and eat a meal with friends at a table rather than outdoors at a makeshift soup kitchen or out of a paper bag behind McDonalds. They are among an estimated 2,000 people living in the woods, abandoned buildings and beneath overpasses in the Brandon area, according to the Hillsborough County Homeless Coalition.

"Cynthia Pinckney is the realest person I ever met," said Nan Schrack, a thin, blond woman often seen walking along State Road 60 holding hands with her husband of eight years.

Pinckney is the founder of the nonprofit organization that has hosted the Community Thanksgiving Dinner for the Homeless, Hungry, Needy and Displaced for four years. The Seffner woman also sets up monthly feeding sites and distributes clothing and toiletries.

Like Vanderhoof, Davis and Brown said the day-labor jobs they depend on have been few and far between. An admitted alcoholic, the 6-foot-5-inch Davis has resorted to panhandling for his beer and food money. He pulls out his cardboard sign reading, "Homeless, Hungry, God Bless."

"It works sometimes," he said. "But Nan's the queen of panhandling."

"I've got it down to a science," she agreed.

Brown, an ex-convict, said it's frustrating when he hears reports that the economy is on the rebound.

"It's real bad. The president doesn't even realize what's going on," he said. "There's more homeless out here than ever before."

Davis agreed, surveying the crowded Boys & Girls Club.

"I didn't even realize we had this many poor people in Brandon," he said.

Pinckney said an estimated 800 people, a record number, enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at the Boys & Girls Club.

"It was an awesome, awesome day," Pinckney said. "The community just coming together like this ... it's hard to describe the feeling. At the end of the day, a homeless man came up to me and shook my hand and put five dollars in it and told me he just needed to give something back. He said that I have blessed him and now he wanted to bless me."

In addition to the turkey dinner, those attending received haircuts, manicures, work boots, clothing and toiletries.

Anyone wishing to donate items or volunteer for Cynthia Pinckney Ministries can call Pinckney at (813) 571-1556. The ministry's Web site is www.cynthiapinckney ministries.org.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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