What's in a name?

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Happy Birthday to beautiful St Augustine, an historic city of about 13,000 and temporary home to hundreds of semi hidden, hungry, dirty and tired homeless people.

St Augustine lays claim to being “America’s Oldest City” and to be sure, countless signs and yellow pages listings attest to: “Ancient City”, “Old City”, “First Coast”, and variations thereof. St Augustine is also home to over ninety churches, many charitable organizations and several government agencies devoted to social welfare. Hundreds of private citizens also volunteer time, treasure and talent to helping the homeless

.St Johns County recorded 1,238 homeless people in January 2007, 251 of them children under the age of 18. About 80% of the counted homeless work but will never amass the amount of money needed for security deposit and first month’s rent to call a place home. Some panhandle, most do not. To our shame, many are veterans. Some, but not all, have addiction and mental health issues. Some have been released from prison. Many have medical and dental needs.

So, the question needs to be asked:

Why aren’t we coming together to help and care for our homeless?

Don’t rely on local government. Mayor Boles stated in a city commission meeting two months ago that he would hold a workshop on the homeless issue. There has not been another mention of it. None of the county commissioners and only one city commissioner even deigned to respond to an invitation to memorialize Billy Healey, the homeless young veteran who took his life in May by lying on a railroad track. With the exception of George Gardner, who is working on viable solutions on his own, no city or county commissioner has responded to requests from PUSH, People United to Stop Homelessness, for information on their positions on the homeless. They have preferred instead to defer responsibility to the Salvation Army, who was supposed to conduct a survey in May and who finally met with local agencies in August. In a total surprise to everyone, the survey takers informed the homeless coalition that the Salvation Army has no intention of building a shelter in St Johns County. Meanwhile, negotiations with St Francis House, the only emergency shelter in the county with a grand total of 28 beds, proceed in secret without any known citizen input whatsoever.

Research from HUD’s Report on Chronic Homelessness and the National Alliance for the Homeless indicates that other cities are making tremendous progress on a front that, here in St Augustine and St Johns County has been totally ignored and shoved off on non profits, churches and compassionate individuals. There are clear cut examples of collaborations among business, government, churches, non profits and citizens that work. Columbus, Seattle, Birmingham, San Diego and others have workable models that in some cases have decreased homelessness by 40%. Their situations were far more critical than here.

In almost all of the models a familiar dynamic takes place. Something happens, like the panhandling ordinance. People are moved to act. In successful models, a number of things occur. Usually a citizen’s group is formed, combining business, religious, government, non profits. Ideas blossom, connections are made, projects are initiated and then a wide range of individuals are committed to solutions. Older buildings are identified, purchased, renovated and funded for low income housing. Businesses collaborate on materials and labor similar to Habitat for Humanity. Florida has numerous grant opportunities for these renovation projects. In fact renovation of existing structures is preferred. Individual churches and civic organizations often volunteer to adopt residents in these buildings, making sure appointments are kept, food is in the house, bills are being paid, work training/job search activities are ongoing, children are cared for and linkages to government services are followed up. In such a scenario here, St Johns County’s Emergency Services Homeless Coalition is the logical choice as the coordinating agent since they are our state appointed funding agency.

In other words, compassionate people could do much more than commiserate and donate clothes, canned goods and money. There would be structured opportunity to impact another’s life directly. Imagine the understanding and acceptance that would happen as opposed to fear and ignorance as people worked with people. Instead of pushing legislation to run the homeless out of town, businesses would act proactively drawing on extensive connections through the Chamber of Commerce and maybe even St Augustine for Jesus/The Marketplace, whose website proclaims: “We exist as a group of Intercessors who have committed to being available to God for the salvation of the lost and the immediate needs of others.” (www.Upray2.com). With the notable exception of Mr. Patel, a local hotel owner, there has been no noticeable activity on the part of business except for complaining and passing of ordinances.

While we organize and plan to celebrate the city of St Augustine’s birthday, take time to consider the words of our city’s namesake:

“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”

Mary Lawrence

Co Founder, PUSH: People United to Stop Homelessness

824 Oak Arbor Circle

St Augustine FL 32084

904.823.9585

mlawrenc@comcast.net

PUSH meets monthly at the Galimore Center in St Augustine. We are an advocacy group for the homeless and work for collaboration of dignified and humane solutions from all stakeholders: government, religious, civic, business and private individuals. Notices of meetings are published in the St Augustine Record and all are welcome to attend. Email ciastaugustine@yahoo.com or mlawrenc@comcast.net for more information.

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