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Cold Weather Shelter Established In Brandon

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

dlwhite@tampatrib.com

Published: March 4, 2009

BRANDON - When temperatures dip, Brandon's homeless residents now have a warm, safe place to spend chilly nights.

At the urging of Greater Brandon Area Ecumenical Ministries, Hillsborough County's departments of Health and Social Services and Parks, Recreation and Conservation have agreed to open the Brandon Recreation Center at 510 E. Sadie St., Brandon, as a cold-weather shelter.

Vince Ferraro, president of the nonprofit ecumenical ministries and member of the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County, said the shelter will be activated when temperatures dip to 32 degrees.
Ecumenical ministries operates the I Am Hope Cafe soup kitchen at First Baptist Church of Mango, 11619 E. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., which feeds about 65 people four evenings a week.

Ferraro said volunteers who serve the homeless there have seen people come in wearing layers of clothing to keep warm on cold nights as they seek shelter in the woods and beneath highway overpasses.

"This shelter is well overdue. The homeless say it's horrible out there on cold nights," Ferraro said. "It's like a constant brain freeze. They can't get warm."

There are three other cold-weather shelters for the homeless in Hillsborough County. The Salvation Army and Metropolitan Ministries operate shelters in downtown Tampa, and the Hillsborough parks department has a shelter at the Bethune Recreation Center in Wimauma.

The total number of beds for the homeless is about 1,500. The Wimauma shelter accommodates only 18.

The Brandon Recreation Center will accommodate 80. Ferraro said the main auditorium will be men only, and a room will be set aside for women and children. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has agreed to provide security on cold nights.

Ferraro said ecumenical ministries and local restaurants will provide food for the homeless when the shelter opens. The organization also is rallying volunteers to take homeless people from feeding sites to the shelter and take three-hour shifts there. The shelter will open at nightfall and close at 6:30 a.m.

Lucious Davis, area director for the Department of Health and Social Services, said he hopes to open similar shelters in Town 'N Country, Plant City and the University of South Florida area.

"We'll use Brandon as a prototype and see how things go," he said.

I Am Hope Cafe serves hot meals to the hungry and homeless from 6 to 7 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays and 9 to 10 a.m. Saturdays.

The soup kitchen's partner, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church on County Road 579, serves meals 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Hillsborough's nonprofit homeless coalition recently held its biennial homeless census to get a handle on how many homeless people live in the county. The coalition deployed counting teams to more than 300 day-labor pools, encampments, parks, shelters, soup kitchens, outreach programs and known homeless hangouts Thursday and Friday.

Their goal was to count homeless people and find out where they came from, why they became homeless, how long they've been homeless and what services they need to get back on their feet.

The data will be used to help the community plan and implement solutions, said Rayme L. Nuckles, the coalition's chief executive officer.

During the latest census, in January 2007, the coalition counted 9,500 homeless but Nuckles believes the figure was low because it was rainy day and many homeless were seeking shelter. The number during the 2005 census was 11,000.

For information on the Brandon cold-weather shelter, or to volunteer, e-mail volunteer @IAmHOPECafe.org.

COLD WEATHER SHELTER

WHERE: Brandon Recreation Center, 510 E. Sadie St., Brandon

HOURS: Nightfall to 6:30 a.m.

ACCOMMODATIONS: 80. One room for men, another for women and children

HOW TO HELP: For information or to volunteer, e-mail volunteer@IAmHOPE

Cafe.org.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524.

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