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Project Hope Opens A Soup Kitchen

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

MANGO - It felt as if many years had passed since a group of Brandon churches and faith organizations began talking about opening a soup kitchen for the homeless in the area, said Vince Ferraro, president of the Greater Brandon Ecumenical Ministries.

In reality, it was only two years ago that the Rev. Cynthia Pinckney, founder of Cynthia Pinckney Ministries of Seffner, hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless at the Brandon Recreation Center and, with the help of volunteers, fed more than 200 men, women and children.

That event raised awareness about the high number of homeless people in Brandon and ignited efforts to open a soup kitchen, Ferraro told about 250 people assembled for its grand opening Aug. 25.

"We realized there was a problem and, with all the churches, a synagogue and faith organizations here in Brandon, there was no reason we couldn't sit down and talk about this and get something done," he said.

Project HOPE, an acronym for Helping Other People Excel, was born shortly after to fill the short-term needs of the homeless, such as hot meals, medical care and social services. Supporters of the initiative also began looking for ways to meet the homeless population's long-term needs by building transitional housing in the Brandon area.

Now, Ferraro said, Project HOPE has accomplished its first mission, opening I Am Hope Cafe at First Baptist Church of Mango, 11619 E. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., near the intersection of County Road 579.

Starting Monday, I Am Hope Cafe will serve hot meals from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, and from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturdays.

Project HOPE's partner, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church on County Road 579, has been feeding the homeless at the church for more than a year. Volunteers at the church will continue preparing and serving meals for the homeless on days I Am Hope Cafe is closed, Wednesday and Thursdays. The meals will be offered from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Finding a location for a soup kitchen took more time than anticipated, Ferraro said. The five Project HOPE member organizations, who incorporated under the name Greater Brandon Ecumenical Ministries, originally wanted to open it in central Brandon, close to State Road 60.

Board member Don Heald of Concerned Action InChrist, a faith-based counseling service, has been feeding the homeless Saturdays in an empty lot next to the Church of the Nazarene on Kingsway Road for a couple of years and the homeless were used to congregating in that area.

However, no sites were available in central Brandon to serve meals more frequently, so Project HOPE members began searching farther out. Ferraro said Project HOPE's intention always had been to open three soup kitchens, one each in Seffner, Brandon and Riverview.

The offer of free space by the Revs. Billy and Vesta Dickerson of First Baptist Church of Mango was too good of an offer to refuse, he said.

"That's the way this entire project has been from the beginning," he said. "We keep witnessing little miracles. Things happen that shouldn't have happened. Doors have opened that should have been closed."

Billy Dickerson, who was handed the honor of cutting the ribbon for the new soup kitchen, said he was happy his church had the space available. Although he and his congregation have long recognized a need for a soup kitchen in the community, he said it would have been difficult for his small church to operate one on its own.

Ferraro said members of Project HOPE will continue feeding the homeless Saturdays at the Church of the Nazarene while pursuing a permanent location for a soup kitchen in that area.

In the meantime, project supporters say they're ready and anxious to begin serving up meals, which will be donated by Metropolitan Ministries of Tampa and served hot at the Mango church.

The five Project HOPE members serve as directors of the soup kitchen. They are Bay Life Church, Concerned Action InChrist, the Emergency Care Help Organization, First Presbyterian Church of Brandon and the River of Life United Methodist Cluster - made up of seven United Methodist churches.

Members of those organizations will make monthly donations to offset costs. Each group also will provide 10 to 15 volunteers one day a week to serve meals.

Some in the community have expressed an interest in volunteering but don't belong to any of the affiliated organizations. They have been organized into a group of auxiliary volunteers headed by Dale Kahn of Congregation Beth Shalom.

Ferraro said one of the "little miracles" the board witnessed was seeing the community rally to help renovate the donated space at First Baptist Church.

Volunteers had less than two months to turn three Sunday school classrooms into one 12- by 75-square-foot room with a kitchen and service station on one end and dining room on the other.

Residents and businesses donated everything from a new ceiling and plumbing supplies to a refrigerator, freezer, tables and chairs, Ferraro said.

"If we had to pay, the renovations would have exceeded $50,000," he said. "We put less than $1,000 into the project."

"Especially this last week, it was one miracle after another," said the Rev. Tim Black of First Presbyterian Church, which has chosen Monday nights to feed the homeless. "People really stepped up to the plate."

"It's been miraculous," agreed the Rev. Kim Uchimura of St. Andrew's United Methodist Church. The United Methodist churches will feed the homeless breakfast on Saturday mornings.

"I can't get over it. To see what this place looked like six weeks ago and all the work that needed to be done, and now see it. It's definitely a God thing," she said.

Although guests helped themselves at a buffet table filled with foods donated by local restaurants at the grand opening, hungry residents who visit the I Am Hope Cafe won't have to wait in a buffet line. They will be served at their tables by volunteers.

"They will sit down and eat as if they were in a restaurant," Ferraro said. "We want them to be treated with dignity and respect."

Karl Celestine of Metropolitan Ministries said he was impressed by what Project HOPE accomplished and the community's support, as evidenced by the crowd at the grand opening.

"It's awesome to see," he said, noting that I Am Hope Cafe is the 22nd soup kitchen in the Tampa Bay area supported by the nonprofit Metropolitan Ministries antihunger organization. "The presentation is wonderful. We at Metropolitan Ministries are really big on dignity, and I see an awful lot of dignity here. Most of the soup kitchens we see start small and grow. From what I see, I Am Hope Cafe is going to need a bigger space soon."

When it came to critiquing the new cafe, the assessment project supporters most wanted to hear was from a tall, thin, gray-haired man with a well-worn baseball cap and a battered backpack.

"It's wonderful," said Jim Southerly, who is homeless. "God bless these people. It's tough being homeless, especially now with the economy. There's no work out there. Without people like these, I'd probably be dead."

Ferraro said the cafe also will offer clothing to the needy with help from ECHO, which provides food and clothing to residents facing emergency needs. In addition, the nonprofit Tampa Family Health Care Center mobile medical unit has agreed to visit soup kitchen once a week, and Brandon Regional Hospital will accept cafe clients with medical emergencies at no cost.

For information, go to www.IamHopeCafe.org.

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

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