Coast Guard Santa fills the boat for children of homeless veterans

If you went to the WalMart on Colonial Drive in Orlando yesterday, you may have seen a very strange thing. A huge boat parked in front of the building in between the entrances.

Tom Hoisington of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, Sean Gibbs, the Veterans Services Coordinator, of Homeless Services Network members of The Bunker Corporal Larry Eugene Smedley, National Vietnam War Museum, Orange County Sheriff officers and WalMart teamed up to fill the boat with toys for children of homeless veterans.

I arrived around 2:00 and there were already a lot of toys. By the time I left at 4:00 the boat was just about full. The customers kept coming out with new toys and most of them were young adults.

The fact that Tom and Sean are Iraq veterans and Sean sits in a wheelchair, made it all the more sweeter!

Homeless children get $5.6 million pledge from Orlando First Baptist

Homeless children get $5.6 million pledge from Orlando First Baptist
March 14, 2011|By Jeff Kunerth and Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel

CBS News/60 Minutes
Brent Trotter, president and CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless, was in church Saturday evening when a guest preacher began to challenge members of the congregation to open their hearts and wallets to homeless children.

"Finally," Trotter thought, "the church is recognizing that it has a role in solving this problem. I was excited just to hear him address the issue."

That wasn't the half of it. When the preacher took up a special collection for the homeless, the Saturday service alone pitched in $560,000.

And by the time First Baptist of Orlando added its Sunday services into the mix, it had netted an astounding $5.6 million.

Trotter — whose nonprofit agency has been promised a share of the funding — called it "legendary." Others used terms such as "historic" and "phenomenal."
read more here
Homeless children get $5.6 million pledge from Orlando First Baptist

A better plan needed for 4-year-old panhandler

This sure isn't your average homeless family story. No one can explain why some people don't want help but this story also points out there are a lot of people trying to help and that's a good thing

A better plan needed for 4-year-old panhandler
C.W. Nevius

Saturday, July 18, 2009


Little Gavin Mills, the 4-year-old panhandler who evoked so much sympathy and concern from San Franciscans, has been taken from his parents by Child Protective Services.

It is an incredibly difficult decision to take a child away from his mother and father, but in this case it is the right choice.

"Gavin deserves a chance in life," said Mary Long, who began a crusade to improve Gavin's and his mother Toni's life after seeing them at the Embarcadero BART Station. "He wasn't getting one being used as a panhandler tool by his chronically homeless mom."

City officials say the family was repeatedly offered beds, services and child care. But their offers, they say, were rebuffed, and people like Long kept seeing Gavin panhandling.


read more hereA better plan needed for 4-year-old panhandler

New homeless: families in bind

New homeless: families in bind
By Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 2, 2008


ST. PETERSBURG — Ethan Hite sits on the twin bed he shares with his 2-year-old brother and cuts coupons for PlayStation games.

"Can I have these two games for Christmas?" the 7-year-old calls to his mother. "This one is $10 and this one is $7."

Mary Hite, her husband and their three children live in an efficiency apartment in a homeless shelter. Neither parent has a full-time job.

But Mary Hite doesn't tell her oldest any of that. She tucks the coupons into her pocket and embraces him.

The Hites are among the Tampa Bay area's fastest-growing homeless population: parents and children.

Area shelter directors, homeless advocates, government officials and child welfare agencies say the rising unemployment rate, the sluggish housing market and the spiraling economy have forced an unprecedented number of families out of their homes.

And these officials aren't sure what to do about it. Limited social service funding, a dearth of affordable housing and a homeless assistance system designed for single men — the largest homeless demographic — make catering to families difficult.

"It has emerged as the next crisis in terms of housing," Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch said.

Numbers are hard to come by, but the overwhelming anecdotal evidence has pushed advocates for the homeless into action.
go here for more
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article922647.ece