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HOMELESS
May 2009 Volume XI, Issue 3
Shawn Anderson and Crystal Vogelsang met in a homeless shelter. They married in a public park... She bought her wedding dress at Kmart. He had to borrow some dress socks... He’s a recovering drug addict. She’s HIV positive... But they say they’re happy now that they’re together, and nothing else matters.
Read their story, page 8 Devin Desjarlais
Florida Atlantic University
It is 9 o’clock on a Saturday night, and Sean Cononie has just finished ordaining a wedding. The couple shares a kiss and gets in a car to head to a Marriott hotel. But after their two-day honeymoon, they won’t go home to a house with a yard. The newlyweds will return to the homeless shelter where they live. Cononie isn’t a traditional minister. He runs the shelter the couple will return to. The Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) currently houses about 300 people in their four buildings in Hollywood. A year and a half ago, Cononie decided to expand COSAC’s services to include holding and paying for weddings for homeless and poor couples. “We do enough funerals here, so we needed to do something more.” Over the past 18 months, COSAC has organized five weddings, all free of charge to the couples. So far, four out of the five weddings were for couples that lived in the shelter. “We’ve been blessed with donations, so if I can help them out, I do,” says Cononie, founder/director of COSAC. “It costs us hardly anything.” But these wedding aren’t traditional. They are usually organized and held in one day. The shelter offers to pay for cake, flowers and clothing. The organization
Couples get
free lovin’ also offers two nights in a hotel and around $200 for spending. “We did a wedding for an outside couple who were disabled and poor,” says Rich Carlish, COSAC’s hotel manager. “We provided food for the 25 people attending and because it was donated, the whole thing was done at almost no cost. I enjoyed it.” According to Cononie, outsiders tend to think that COSAC’s residents are “alcoholics and druggies.” But most of the time, that isn’t the case. Either way, he ensures that the couple is making an informed decision before he gives his blessing. He usually meets with the couple at least three times, similar to a counselor, before deciding whether COSAC will organize a wedding for them.
“I want to make sure they aren’t making a bipolar decision,” he says. One thing Cononie requires the couple to do is obtain a marriage license. “If they say, ‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ then I say they aren’t ready.” Getting a marriage license for the couple isn’t always easy. Only three out of 15 people who come to COSAC have an ID. Getting them IDs is one of COSAC’s goals when new people come to the shelter. That is the final step before the wedding day. “There is something satisfying [about doing this] even though it is as low-budget as it gets,” says Richard Carlish. “It is satisfying taking what you have to work with and making it as beautiful as possible.”
Page 2
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Homeless Voice • Special Issue
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Lisa Cebrat
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In Memory of Billy Corwin
John C. Burt
Pakita Price
Ricky Cambell
Josh Searles†
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The Watsons
Todd Palgon
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Sally Lister
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Delores B Mordon
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Todd Palgon
Everglades Moon,
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Dorríe Terry
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Daniel Harrison
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In Loving Memory of Charles J. Youngman
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In Memory of C.T.R.
In Loving Memory of Martin E. Grey
Bill and Priscilla La Gasse
Thank you so much Sean & Lois for all your help.
Sabrina Thorton, Former Ms. Ft. Lauderdale
ñJoan Futscher & Kids
Beth Farans
McAvoy Family
Saks Jewelry Designer
Judy B. Pascarella
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Surfiní Seniors Inc
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Erica Fulton
Judith Temple
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Corinne James
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Florida Auto Insurance Inc.
Chris Sanchez
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Hugo DeCarpintini
Steve Dillan
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Dallan Michele King
Richard Friedman
Deborah F. Immormino Evan V Jones Bonita L Akinji G.R. and J.D. Falbey Kaveh Vassal Demetrius D Rodriguez Paola C Mollica Joseph Yagbes June Jones Maureen Barry Juan Galindo Tom Thumb Food Stores, Inc.
Tailored Advertising, Inc
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Casandra Thomas
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Anthony Rhodes
Albert J. Hamilton Ph D
Diane Friedman
Tara Hunter
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Southern Financial Title Services Inc.
Uylna Quadrino
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Crime Watch
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Juan Galindo
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Danbareli Holdings Inc.
Barbara Strong
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Constance Lessoff
American Express Charitable Fund
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Margie Jones & Friends
Real Breakthrough Solutions
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Ronald Prescia
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Hartford Property Connection, Inc.
C.R. Gallagher
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Maria Nieto Margaret Melendez Raymund Joseph
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Jonathan Burger
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In Loving Memory of Jose A. Estruch, Jr.
Sheila Holder
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The Monserrate Family†
Jamie F. Flores
Madeline Butera
Paula King
In Loving Memory of Thomas Gasbarro
Jennifer S. Nickel
Richard Gomez
Cathy and Kids
Anthony Ralph
The Davis Family
Jennifer Hicky
Isabelle J. Henry Raul Cardenas M.D. Wendy Bryan
Ronald Prescia
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Ms. Evelyn Salerno
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Al & Barbara Liebmann
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David Thawley
In Loving Memory of Isabel Grimany
Denis and Bertha Arenstein
Graham R. Mitchell
On Behalf of Matthew Lambert
Dr Mary Michaela Farren
Timothy Lukehard
Essential Oil Healthline
Mustafa Mehmet Gokoglu
In Memory of My Good Friend Pat Gibson
Thomas Rua
Amparo L. Korey
Fred T Verny†† JR††††
Susan Brady
Justin Rowan
Johnís Plumbing Service
In Memory of Scott Paul Cooper
Nicole Lee Nelson
Carol Murray
Mary Green
Thank You Winn Dixie
In Memory of Dan Holland
Phyllis R. Bebko
Morris Grazi
Ms. Marilyn Smith
Sheila Holder
George & Carmen Gulisano
Marvin Shatze
Albert J. Taragowski
Merav & Ezra Alexander
Dawn Monfries
Ronald Shafer
Ruth C Grey
In Memory of Maxima†
Samuel R Halpern PA
Vance Gunn
Mike Cross
Oakland Park†
Intercontinental Management Consulting Group, Inc.
Adam Staler
Tamara Southard
Elks Lodge # 2407
Connie & Ginger Murphy
Douglas Boucher
Allen Yancy
Raul Cardenas MD PA
J. Coffee
Calvary Chapel of Doral
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Jimmy Daniels
Al and Annie
In Memory of Stanley Smolen
Mr. and Mrs. Bocanegra
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Mel Blount
Hurricane Prevention Inc
In Memory of Martin Grey
Richard Rios
Joseph Soares
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God Bless Florence Menard
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OTD Messenger, Inc
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Ivonne Fernandez
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www.HomelessVoice.org
Page 3
Letter from the editor
More than just a night at a homeless shelter
HOMELESS
VOICE www.HomelessVoice.org
homeless bride and groom through their wedding to many of us. day (see page 8). We tagged along with staff This issue is an attempt to capture what we saw members on an outreach mission to give food, water that evening. If you are impacted even a fraction as and cigarettes to homeless living on the streets (page much as we are by what we found out, our all-nighter 12). We learned of the great lengths that shelter staff will have been well worth it. members go to ensure the residents’ health and safety — even when it means wrestling a man with - Rachael Joyner, editor in chief a box cutter (page 4). Most of all, though, we heard the stories of the people who live there. We listened. We laughed, even cried. These weren’t the nameless people holding signs asking for money on the side of streets and walking up to car windows. They were people not much different from the rest of us. They had jobs, families and hobbies. What had begun as a journalism experiment ended with a new outlook on what it In less than an hour, the special issue staff turned a small meeting room at the shelter into a working newsroom with 13 computers, 25 student journalists means to be homeless and two advisers. (Above) Editors Rachael Joyner and Michele Boyet — one that would orchestrated the all-night production. have never occurred
Staff Mayte Almeida Freelance Journalist
Maryann Batlle Florda gulf coast university
Matthew Boyle Flagler College
Joanna Chau Florida International University
Clayton Coffman Flagler College
PUBLISHER Sean Cononie
Flagler College
Founder/director COSAC Homeless shelter
George L. Daniels
Mark Targett
University of Alabama (Professor)
Editor in chief of the Homeless voice
Devin Desjarlais
co-director of cosac homeless shelter
Florida Atlantic University
Video from a homeless wedding and thoughts from the reporters who covered it...
Cal Colgan
Jeannie DeQuine
editor in chief Rachael Joyner
Freelance journalist
Erica Eding
Florida Atlantic University (Alumna)
Flagler College
Sivan Fraser
Executive editor Michele Boyet
Florida Atlantic University
Pam Geiser
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Gulf Coast University
Julie Hirshan
Assistant Editor Dori Zinn
An ambulance ride through the streets of Hollywood in search of homeless people sleeping outside...
Flagler College
Daiana Kucawca
Florida Atlantic University (Alumna)
Florida international university
Greg Linch
art director Lindsey Voltoline
university of miami
GianFranco Panizo
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University
Alex Pena
Copy Desk Chief Karla Bowsher
Florida Gulf Coast University
Gian Louis Thompson
Florida Atlantic University
Flagler college
Taylor Toothman
Co-photo Editors Stephanie Colaianni
A virtual tour of a new gallery featuring paintings by homeless artists...
Flagler College
Haley Walker
Florida Atlantic University
Flagler College
Carlos Calante
Caroline Young
Florida Gulf Coast University
Flagler College
advisers Michael Koretzky Florida Atlantic Lyn Millner University
photo By Carlos Calante
O
n the first Saturday night in April, while our college-age friends were preparing for a night on the town, we were preparing for a night in a homeless shelter. While they ate at trendy sushi restaurants and sports bars, we ate spaghetti and meatballs in a dingy cafeteria. While they drank in nightclubs, we offered bottled water to homeless men sleeping under Interstate 95 overpasses. We did this voluntarily — it wasn’t part of any community service assignment. Along with 25 other college journalists and recent grads from all over Florida, we offered to take over an issue of the second-largest homeless newspaper in the country, the Homeless Voice. The paper is published out of the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) shelter in Hollywood, Fla. To call this place unusual would be a gross understatement. It is a private shelter run by Sean Cononie, a man with a background in criminal justice and a gift for controlling chaos. His shelter is where the homeless who can’t cut it in other shelters end up. The ones who refuse to take a shower, take their meds, or take orders. Oddly enough, we felt completely comfortable with them. These weren’t scary people with mental problems, drug addictions or criminal histories. They were regular people — nice people — who were more than happy to let us into their lives. And we dove in deeply. In the 10 hours we spent there, we followed a
Florida Gulf Coast University
Cover photo by Stephanie Colaianni
These are just a few of the cool things you can see online at www.HomelessVoice.org.
Page 4
Homeless Voice • Special Issue
From birth to death — and everything in between
photo By Carlos Calante
The COSAC shelter is currently working on a two-way , real time video conference so during outreach the doctor can be at home talking with the homeless person on the street. This will allow a way for a client to see a doctor who may not want to go to the emergency room.
Shelter handles health Mental health problems concerns of all kinds bring unique security challenges to shelter staff erica eding
Flagler College
The woman’s water broke as she stepped into the second-floor hallway of the shelter. A staff member trained as a first responder helped her into the elevator and dialed 911. By the time the elevator doors opened, he had delivered the baby. This is one of many medical situations the staff at the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) shelter has had to face. And according to founder/director Sean Cononie, they don’t take the responsibility of their clients’ health lightly. “They don’t have a family. This is their family,” he says. Cononie does whatever he can to keep the residents healthy, even when it means wrestling a box cutter away from a severely depressed man trying to commit suicide. “He missed his jugular, thank God,” Cononie says. “But there was so much blood we thought he was going to die.” The staff is trained to deal with emergency situations. There are about 12 first responders who work at COSAC, and the shelter uses an ambulance as its medical office during outreach programs. Not all medical emergencies end well. Cononie’s office is sometimes turned into a hospice room. “We’ve had about 10 people die in my office,” he says. They may not have any family members with them, but no one at COSAC is alone during their final moments. “Everyone should die with someone by their side,” Cononie says. This belief in community spirit is what sets COSAC apart from other shelters, residents say. Doctors, nurses and psychiatrists are brought in to ensure every resident receives the medical attention he or she needs. Resident George Winfrey, who estimates that he has been to three shelters in the last five years, says, “This is the only shelter that I’ve been in that provides doctors [for] their clients.” Winfrey says he’s doing his part to make sure that everyone stays healthy. A professional chef with 20 years of experience, he is creating a special menu for diabetic residents. “Food is my passion,” Winfrey says. Winfrey is also making sure that the food is properly handled and doesn’t spoil, something that sets fellow resident William Tabarovsky at ease. Tabarovsky was so inspired by Winfrey’s dedication that he has taken on the shelter’s sanitation as his personal mission. “My role is the upkeep of the place,” Tabarovsky says. “I make sure that everything is clean to a T.” Cleaning bathrooms may not seem as important as delivering a baby, but Winfrey argues that everyone has their own role in maintaining the health of the residents at the shelter. “Solving the homeless problem is the same way,” Winfrey says. “It’s about everyone doing their part.”
Daiana Kucawca
Florida international university
Security at a homeless shelter can be hard to enforce when about half of its clients have mental health problems. Homelessness among those suffering from mental health problems is not a new issue. During former President Ronald Reagan’s administration, decades-long support for mental health programs was reversed. Suddenly, funding for psychiatric hospitals decreased and more people with mental health problems found themselves on the streets. The Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) shelter takes in homeless people around the clock, regardless of their condition. The shelter currently holds around 150 clients, many of whom “suffer from mental health issues,” according to Sean Cononie, the shelter’s founder/director. “Some of these people can’t even take care of themselves,” says Patrick Cooper, who works overnight security for the shelter. “That’s what we’re here for.” According to Cooper, room 221 on the second floor of the shelter is designated for its clients with mental health problems. “We can’t be forceful or aggressive with these people,” says Cooper. “So we have therapists come in on certain days.” Cooper makes sure the clients are safe by running security checks every time a new client comes in. The tests include blood pressure screening, breathalyzer testing, urine drug screening and criminal background checks. “We screen these people as far as we can when they come in,” Cooper says, adding that only violent crimes rule out clients. A convicted sex offender currently on probation lives in the shelter. Though he
is not considered a hazard, Cooper says that when children from local churches visit the shelter, he is told to stay in his room. Because of these kinds of security hazards, all of the shelter’s staff wears walkie-talkies, referring to each other by code names such as “Juliet Alpha,” “Poppa Charlie” and “Mother Goose.” There are PAs in every room as well so that staff can respond quickly to emergencies. Other people think the shelter doesn’t have so much commotion. “It’s a smooth-running place, runs like a clock,” said Wayne Turnage, part of the security staff. Turnage wanted to work at a mental health clinic but was denied because of his criminal record. Despite the obstacle, he helps clients at the shelter deal with crises, especially the medicated residents. “We don’t force them to take anything,” Turnage said. “People with mental health issues take their medications on their own.” Some people are not so easy to deal with. Justin Artis, a security guard and Homeless Voice street vendor, says sometimes the homeless ignore him completely. Artis suspects he himself might suffer from mental health problems. Although he hasn’t been diagnosed yet, he thinks he has bipolar disorder. “Half of me says ‘take the medicine,’ but the other half says ‘why take the medicine?’” says Artis. For him, support comes in the form of Sean Cononie, whom he views as a paternal figure. Along with Cononie, Turnage believes support comes from all the COSAC staff, who help one other. “It’s patience; that’s the only way of getting along.”
www.HomelessVoice.org
Page 5
Prostitutes and trannies welcome
Shelter holds church for all — in the kitchen Flagler College
It doesn’t look much like a church, with its tiled walls and yellow-tinted florescent lighting. By day the room serves as a dinning hall, and at night it becomes a dormitory filled with about 40 sleeping homeless people. But on Sundays, this rectangular room on the first floor of the Coalition of Service and Charities (COSAC) homeless shelter is transformed into a house of God. Tables are folded and put away, and chairs are rotated into pewlike rows. “It’s a little weird, but you can have church anywhere,” says Nick Davis, who works as a security guard at the Hollywood shelter. An employee at the shelter for about a Fliers advertising church services for all (including month, Davis enjoys going to the services, prostitutes and transvestites) litter the walls of the shelter. which draw 20 to 25 people each week. “We really get into it,” he says. church aren’t your typical Sunday churchgoers. The services are like other churches’. There are songs, “If you are bad, we want you,” says Sean Cononie, and the Bible is preached. But there is one caveat. Much founder/director of COSAC and one of three ministers like the building, the parishioners at this make-shift who run services there.
Though it sounds like a cliché church joke, Cononie is serious. Signs posted on the shelter’s walls implore even transvestites and drug addicts to attend this nondenominational church. One of the church’s mottos is “Come as you are” — which is also one of Cononie’s favorite hymns. “It doesn’t matter what baggage you have. Come as you are,” says Cononie, who adds that all religions are welcome. One of Davis’ favorite preachers is simply named “Pastor D.” “She’s very energetic,” he says. “She’s very sincere in what she tells us.” Larry Campbell, who lives at the shelter, also goes to the Sunday service and has more than positive feelings about it. “[The service] is about sharing, caring and loving one another in the name of Jesus,” he says. “It’s a wonderful place to be and helps get your life back on track.” photo By stephanie colaianni
Clayton Coffman
Homeless but working
Residents work in and outside the shelter Gian Louis Thompson
Kitchen manager slices and dices for over 150 COSAC shelter residents daily Gianfranco Panizo
Florida Atlantic University
Flagler college
Vincent Macrina is proud to have one of the most coveted jobs at the Coalition of Service and Charity photo By Carlos Calante
Homeless not jobless. This is the credo that many of the residents of the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) homeless shelter live by — one that founder/ director Sean Cononie helps promote by hiring his residents as staff members. “There’s no one better to work here than someone who knows how [the homeless] feel,” Cononie says. There are many jobs available to residents of the COSAC shelter. Vincent Macrina, who lost his job as a mechanic in New Jersey five years ago, works as the kitchen manager of the shelter’s cafeteria. Patrick Cooper, who lost his job as a professional cook making $35,000 a year, is now head of COSAC’s security staff. A Tennessee native and homeless for 23 years, he works 14-hour shifts from 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. Several of COSAC’s residents also work outside the shelter as collectors or street vendors in Hollywood. Rachael Robles, from Bradenton, Fla., works as a vendor to raise donations for the shelter. “I make $45 to $50 a day,” she says. Mark Targett, co-director of COSAC and the editor of the Homeless Voice, believes that the vending effort is a successful venture. One resident of COSAC holds clearance signs up on the street for stores going out of business. At the same time, he holds six years of college under his belt along with two degrees, a captain’s license and a pilot’s license. COSAC’s clients often try to find work that benefits the community. Rick Masa volunteers for the South Florida Water Management District four or five times a year. “I take tires out of [the water], rake weeds out and take cups, wrappers and bottles out. I clean it up,” he says. Of course, like any hard-working stiffs after a long work week, COSAC’s working residents like to take time for leisure. Gary Harrison, a street vendor, enjoys going out on the town. “On days off, I like to go to the nightclubs. You know, watch a show,” Harrison says.
(COSAC) shelter. He makes sure the about 150 people who pass through the shelter’s doors each day are fed. Macrina, 50, has lived at COSAC for the past four years and has been the shelter’s kitchen manager for five months. He took over the position after the former kitchen manager had to move to New York to take care of his sick mother. “I cooked all my life for my kids,” says Macrina, who was born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. “I’ve always had a [knack] for cooking. Like when I was little, watching my mom cook and helping her out I always wanted to go to culinary arts school, but I just never got around to going.” Although the bald-headed, hazeleyed kitchen manager is doing something he enjoys, he says that the job comes with a few negatives. “There are days when I am back here, and I really do need help, and I have no help. It just gets to be a real long, hectic day.” Though the hours are long, Macrina finds his work rewarding. He serves about 40 to 50 people for lunch and anywhere from 100 to 150 for dinner. With so many people savoring his food daily, Macrina has made numerous friends at the shelter. “I try to keep my inner-circle down to a minimum of about five to six people,” Macrina says. “But I have a lot of acquaintances here.”
Vincent Macrina, COSAC shelter kitchen manager
Page 6
Homeless Voice • Special Issue
COSAC homeless shelter founder/ director Sean Cononie has devoted his life to helping the homeless since he opened the shelter 13 years ago.
hours with
Sean Cononie The COSAC founder/director is always on the move
words by Cal Colgan flager college
photos by Carlos calante & Matthew Boyle Florida Gulf Coast University, Flagler College
The stained-yellow circular clock nailed to the wall next to the “No Smoking” sign says 8:15 p.m. It’s really 8 p.m. Sean Cononie swings the door open to the cluttered back room. “How’s it going, Randy?” he asks the jittery resident twitching at the chair behind the desk. “He’s fine. We’re just having a cigarette,” the grey-haired man standing next to Randy says. At the very mention of the idea, Cononie rummages through his deep baggy blue-jean pocket and pulls out a crumpled pack. Behind him are three cartons of 305s. Cononie smokes five packs of cigarettes a day. With a job like his, it’s not hard to see why. The 44-year-old is the director of the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) homeless shelter. Originally a communications company, the Corporation of Sean Anthony Cononie was sold and Cononie changed his purpose and opend COSAC in 1997. “We take all the homeless people that they won’t take anywhere else,” says Cononie. “You name it, they’re here.” Although several current and former residents of the two-story building right off the busy streets of U.S.
1 serve as staff members, the place operates like an efficient hospital. Maybe that’s because Cononie runs it like a chief of medicine. After the first drag of what will be at least two more packs, Cononie hands Randy 10 singles for dinner. “Do me a favor,” Cononie says, getting serious for the first time tonight. “Don’t spend it on crack, or I’m gonna be upset.” Cononie grabs the nearest walkie-talkie and barks pilot-like orders at his staff, who quickly chirp automated responses of “10-4.” Two of the residents are getting married tonight, and Cononie is making sure the chaos is controlled. As he climbs into the cushioned driver’s seat of a black car, beads of sweat run down Cononie’s back onto his yellow collared shirt. On the way to the wedding, a caravan of cars follows a police escort across the street as Cononie yells into his walkie-talkie to his right-hand man, COSAC assistant director William Robb. “Billy, stay on my butt!” Tailgating Cononie’s ride with his black SUV, Robb shouts back at Cononie: “That’s not very attractive, but we got everybody?” As the trail of vehicles pulls into the parking lot of Young Circle, Cononie chuckles at the flashing cameras and the large group of reporters gathered at the edge of the park.
“Wow, they must be thinkin’ Princess Di’s getting married,” he says. Cononie hops out of the driver’s seat and trudges up the paved sidewalk hill to the fountain at the top. Although he badly injured his leg twice back in his law enforcement days, it’s hard to keep up with his determined stride. “It’s usually hectic,” he says, pausing as he adjusts his sagging jeans and lights up what must be his fourth cigarette already. “And my pants are fallin’ down. I hope I don’t get a citation.” A two-man band plays the wedding march, as press, staff and shelter residents gather around the grinning bride and groom as Cononie recites his improvised wedding sermon. “These are the rings,” he says as he hands the bands of matrimony to the couple. “I don’t know who goes first, but we’re gonna do it my way.” A jack-of-all-trades in the best sense, Cononie has already used his skills as an event coordinator, pharmacy tech and ordained minister — all in the span of less than two hours. As the couple embraces in a passionate kiss, the bride looks into the video camera at one of the audience members and gestures toward Cononie. “He has a heart of gold,” says Crystal Vogelsang. “He will give the shirt off his back.”
www.HomelessVoice.org
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COSAC founder/director Sean Cononie is a jack of all trades. He runs the Hollywood homeless shelter and officiates weddings as an ordained minister — like the marriage of Crystal Vogelsang (right) and Shawn Anderson on April 4.
“I sleep here, I eat here and I shower here,” Cononie admits with a laugh. Cononie is so consumed with the shelter and its 150 residents that he barely ever makes it home to his house, which is actually six minutes away.
Although COSAC hosts about five weddings a year, Cononie says tender moments like this are very rare. “We have more funerals than weddings, unfortunately. We’ve had about 50 funerals in the last eight years.” The ceremony ends and Cononie is once again on the move, nearly charging down the hill back to the car, cigarette in hand. Acknowledging some of the myths about his “life of luxury,” Cononie laughs. Although he has a house about a six-minute drive away from COSAC, Cononie has been sleeping at the shelter for the last eight years. Just recently, a shower was installed in Cononie’s living quarters. Before that, it wasn’t so pleasant. “I was showering at the YMCA,” he says, finishing his cigarette before he hops back into the car. The police escort waves his flashlight at the swarm of cars too impatient to wait for the caravan of wedding-goers. “See how nobody pulls over for the blue lights?” Cononie sighs. “Isn’t it amazing?” Back in the director’s office, Cononie mentions his respect for law enforcement — an unusual characteristic for homeless advocacy workers. Unlike in other cities, police and COSAC workers in Hollywood work together to help the homeless.
Cononie recalls his own attempt at law enforcement before his leg injury. “I would’ve been decent at it because I think outside the box. You don’t always have to arrest people.” As he finishes his 10th cigarette in three hours, Cononie makes himself a wrap sandwich at the steel counter of the small kitchen in the corner of his office. Working on two hours of sleep, he says he has been involved in the fight against poverty for more than 20 years. “I was feeding people out of the trunk of my car when I was in high school,” he says. Emerging from one of the back rooms, Homeless Voice editor Mark Targett enters the kitchen and stands beside Cononie. Targett, 29, may be a father of three, self-taught computer whiz and editor of the second-largest homeless advocacy newspaper in the country, but he was not always as successful. Targett, who is a recovering addict not only helped COSAC, but COSAC helped him about six years ago. Cononie recounts the heart-breaking tales of overdose, arrest and Targett’s eventual victory over his addiction. Through it all, the two have remained as close as father and son. “If [Targett] was my own skin and blood,” Cononie says, “I couldn’t love him any more.”
Cononie, his trusty walkie-talkie and cigarette in hand, relies on staff members like his assistant William Robb (right) to ensure the daily functions of the COSAC homeless shelter run smoothly.
An unconventio
Page 8 • Homeless Voice • Special Issue
Crystal Vogelsang and Shawn Anderson weren’t lo Haley Walker, Taylor Toothman AND Caroline Young Flagler College
Six steps to the altar...
Crystal Vogelsang said she never expected to get married. But when she entered the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) homeless shelter six months ago, she found love at first sight. Vogelsang, 45, met Shawn Anderson, 37, in September 2008 on the first day she arrived at the Hollywood shelter. “He is intimate, sensitive, caring and loving,” Vogelsang said. “He is a real man.” Although relationships at the shelter are discouraged, Vogelsang and Anderson said they found a soul mate in each other. Unlike in her previous relationships, Vogelsang said Anderson loves her for her. Her eyes lowered as she changed from expressing the joy of the day to reflecting on the reality of her past. She bluntly told of being raped and diagnosed as HIV positive. “I wanted to die,” she said. “I give my life to Shawn because he gave me mine. Even if you have a disease, there is someone out there for you.” Vogelsang said she often broke the rules by kissing Anderson in the elevator. “We weren’t supposed to fraternize, but we couldn’t help it,” she said. Anderson proposed a month after they met, and since then they
5.
have been abstinent. According to Vogelsang, Anderson wanted to honor their religious values. “We are not going to have sex until we are married, so tonight is going to be very exciting,” she said hours before her April 4 wedding. For their honeymoon, they spent two nights in a local hotel. The couple enjoys the movie “Robin Hood: The Prince of Thieves,” the outdoors, fishing and camping. Vogelsang smiled as she said Bryan Adams’ “I’ll Do Anything for You” is their song. “In the back of my mind, I always knew that he was the one,” she said of Anderson. “This is my first and last marriage.” The bride got ready in a bathroom of the shelter in a silk turquoise dress and white pumps. “For all the ladies who are getting married in this economy, look around at Target, Kmart, and Payless,” she said. Her hair was curled tightly, and sparkles from her makeup shimmered across her chest. Christine Jordan, a shelter receptionist and the maid of honor, put a silver heart necklace around Vogelsang’s neck. Jordan said she has watched Vogelsang and Anderson’s relationship grow. “I am happy for her because this is what she wants,” she said. “For people to find love in a situation like this is a good thing.” Just outside her door, sleeping residents bunk in the hallways on mats. Blankets cover their faces. Half-eaten trays of dinner sit next to them. Vogelsang was homeless for 15 days before she came to the shelter. When asked what scared her the most about living on the streets, she said it was the uncertainty. “Not knowing where I was going to sleep, eat and live,” she added. “Being out there where you can get murdered, it was just scary.” Vogelsang was married at Young Circle in downtown Hollywood.
2.
1.
When she arrived, she said she was not nervous, bu playfully hid behind friends in fear of the groom seeing ceremony. “How much longer do I have to wait?” she asked. “I Mrs. Anderson.” Michael Vogelsang visited from Fort Lauderdale to away. The siblings both smiled as they walked to Anderson. A group of teenagers playing music at the p a wedding march. “This is a very special moment for Crystal,” he said her.” Friends from the shelter, family and onlookers ga around the couple as they exchanged vows. Yvette Tu a shelter therapist, said she was happy to celebrate. “It’s important for anyone to be happy, whether they or mansion,” Dekles said. “Everyone should have happi During the ceremony, Vogelsang and Anderson g other’s eyes with obvious excitement and certainty. “In the back of my head, I always knew that he was th “Shawn makes me whole.” Sean Cononie, founder/director of the shelter, expre officiated their marriage. “There is no I anymore. It is we,” he said. “You two ar in another way.” After the ceremony, Vogelsang said sh excited. She beamed as she posed for pictures husband. “I feel like a bride,” she said. “Let’s eat some the honeymoon.”
3
onal love story
Page 9
ooking for love but found it in a homeless shelter
but excited. She g her before the
I just want to be
o give his sister ogether toward park improvised
d. “It’s all about
gathered closely ucholski-Dekles,
y live in a shelter iness.” gazed into each
he one,” she said.
essed hope as he
re poor, but rich
he was still with her new cake and do
Maryann Batlle Flagler College
It was two hours before his wedding and Shawn Anderson, 37, was wearing the wrong socks: white football socks. Ronald Simmons, 49, noticed them. He and Anderson are good friends at the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) shelter in Hollywood. The two friends were in the shelter’s openair garage on a muggy April afternoon as cars whipped past on Federal Highway. They were surrounded by donated items — Christmas decorations, a rag doll, baby carriages, dog and cat food. Simmons wanted his friend to look good at the ceremony. “If you are gon’ do it, do it right. I’m gonna put him in some black dress socks and some Kenneth Cole [cologne]. I want him to smell like somebody,” Simmons said. Anderson changed his socks, slid on his shoes and waited. His focus was on the bride’s attire more than his own.
“I am very excited to see her dress,” he said. “I hope we match.” Anderson and his bride, 45-year-old Crystal Vogelsang, had agreed not to see each other until the moment the wedding began. Until he first spoke to Vogelsang, Anderson believed he would always be a bachelor. After the encounter, he felt his future shift. “I [got] all jittery,” he recalled. “My blood pressure went down, and I almost passed out.” They met at the shelter five months ago. He’s normally shy around women, but he wasn’t shy around her. Anderson believes he’s met the person he was meant for. “I got a feeling, like I found my soul mate,” he said. It’s been a while since Anderson felt connected to someone. His brothers are in Texas, and they couldn’t be at the wedding. Recently, he lost his mother, whom he was close to. “I was a mama’s boy,” he said. Before he met Vogelsang, Anderson was solitary in the crowded shelter. With her, he feels like he has a family again and that he’s on the right path. At 17, he was put on probation for 10 years after he was accused of breaking into a school.
4.
At 19, Anderson tried cocaine, which began a 13-year addiction that left him broke. Anderson spent his 20s without a stable home or income. He worked as a nursing assistant in a nursing home and as a repairman in an oil field. But the addiction finally wore him down, so he left Texas. “I needed to get out,” Anderson said. He was 32 when he stopped using cocaine and worked odd jobs to save money to come to Florida and become a licensed practical nurse. It took two years. He got on a Greyhound bus and traveled for two days, arriving in Hallandale Beach. Unable to get the financial aid he needed for nursing school, Anderson found himself with no job and no home. He was forced to live on the streets. Two years ago, he learned about the COSAC shelter at a local church. He lived at the shelter for seven months before meeting Vogelsang. Sitting in the parking garage of the homeless shelter just a few hours before his wedding, Anderson was nervous, but he said it was “the good kind” of nervous. Finally, after 20 years of probation, addiction and homelessness, Anderson said, “I’m very happy.”
On Saturday, April 4, Crystal Vogelsang started getting ready for her wedding at 5 p.m. After her hair and makeup were finished, Vogelsang stopped to show off her dress, which she got from Kmart. Two hours before his wedding, Shawn Anderson finished getting dressed as he replaced his white football socks with a pair of black dress socks — a gift from one of his friends at the shelter. Vogelsang’s maid of honor, COSAC shelter receptionist Christine Jordan, arrived early to help her get ready. A silver heart necklace added the final touch to her outfit.
photos by stephanie colaianni
3.
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Vogelsang and Anderson agreed not to see each other on their wedding day until they met at the altar. Anderson anxiously arrived a few minutess before the ceremony at Young Circle in downtown Hollywood, the park where the couple were wed. Surrounded by friends, family, COSAC shelter residents, and a handful of reporters and photographers, Vogelsang and Anderson exchanged vows and rings. The newlyweds stole many kisses during their wedding pictures after the ceremony. “I got a feeling I found my soul mate,” Anderson said with a smile.
Go to www.HomelessVoice.org to see a video of the wedding and behind-the-scenes interviews with the bride and groom.
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Homeless Voice • Special Issue
A new kind of homelessness old college student, stay in a shelter because they can’t afford a place to live. These two defy what most people consider a stereotypical homeless person. – Dori Zinn
College student by day, resident by night... DORI ZINN
Florida Atlantic University (Alumna)
Patrick Levine goes to school at Broward College during the day, works part-time at Publix in the afternoon and sleeps at a homeless shelter at night. Levine doesn’t struggle with drugs or alcohol. He doesn’t have a gambling problem or a mental disability. He is just a 24-year-old college student who ended up at the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) homeless shelter because of rough economic times. Working only 18 hours a week as a bagger at Publix, Levine can’t afford to live on his own, something he discovered just a few weeks after he moved out of his family’s house. “I’ve been on my own since December of 2008,” says the nursing student. “Because I couldn’t get enough hours at work, I couldn’t pay rent.” Only a couple weeks after leaving his family, Levine
ended up living in his car. Then, in January, Levine moved into the COSAC shelter, where he had been volunteering for years. “I love living here; it’s the bomb,” he says. “I thought they would be more violent and out of control and dysfunctional, but all of them are pretty functional.” Growing up, Levine says that he was raised to have a negative outlook on the homeless. Now, he says, he doesn’t have the same vision, especially since he is one of them. “I try not to judge people,” he says. “My previous thoughts were because of how I was raised. My views changed when I started reading the Bible.” While Levine is happy with staying at the shelter, he plans on eventually moving out when he becomes financially stable. In the meantime, he says he doesn’t rely on money to get him by: “I rely on God more, not finances.”
Former AIG investment banker has just moved in... Sivan Fraser
Florida Atlantic University
William Tabavorsky is living proof that homelessness can happen to anyone. A college-educated 30-year-old and former employee of AIG Investments in New York, Tabavorsky has been living at the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) shelter in Hollywood for a few weeks. “Did I ever picture myself being in this type of situation? Never,” says Tabavorsky, who, like many, held the misconception that all homeless people are facing addictions, have a mental disability or are handicapped. His current situation has convinced him otherwise: “With the economy like this, it’s not that uncommon to be in this situation.” Tabarovsky admits that his “reckless lifestyle” is what led him to the COSAC shelter. Tabarovsky first ran into problems when he was fired from his position in marketing and investments at AIG and began receiving unemployment checks from the state of New York. Armed with an associate degree and his experience in investments, he moved to Florida with hopes of finding a better means of supporting himself. But after a stroke of “scams and bad luck” during which
roommates who stole from him and opportunities constantly fell through, he found himself homeless, which was hard for him to admit. “In the beginning, I was really angry at the world. I thought that my family and my friends would be there for me,” he says. Tabarovsky previously struggled with a cocaine addiction, part of a “reckless lifestyle” that he was once able to support, he says. Once he lost the income to pay for his costly supply of drugs, Tabarovsky realized that he was truly addicted. Without his “reckless party-like-a-rock-star” lifestyle, he was able to realize how truly fortunate he is. “I am lucky that, yes, I am alive. This was a wake-up call for me,” Tabarovsky says of his last few weeks at the COSAC shelter. “I look at these people as an example of what I do not want my life to be. I am going to stay here for as long as I can. This place made me clean mentally. When I get out of here, I am not going to drink. I am not going to do drugs. I feel blessed to experience this because I don’t want this to happen again.” He says that COSAC has given him the structure he needed to learn to live a life without the external pleasures that can sometimes consume us.
photo By mayte Almeida
photo By Carlos Calante
Economic woes bring a different crowd to shelter
They don’t have medical conditions, mental problems or hold signs on the side of interstate exit ramps. But these two men sleep in homeless shelters. William Tabavorsky, a former marketing employee for AIG Investments, and Patrick Levine, a 24-year-
Tabarovsky explains that he is working on his own 12-step program not for a specific addiction, but as part of his lifestyle. With this structure, Tabarovsky gained what he believes to be two of the best people he’s ever met. His goal is to make sure that they have every necessary opportunity to succeed. “If this shelter was not here, I would be sleeping on the beach,” he says. “I want to start over. I am thinking about helping people who are in my situation who need tools.”
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photos By Carlos Calante
www.HomelessVoice.org
Homeless residents get artsy New art gallery helps raise money and relieve stress
George L. Daniels University of Alabama (Professor)
Just a few days ago, the sounds of an auctioneer accompanied the site of art at the newest art gallery in Hollywood, a venture that helps some of the area’s homeless residents while providing them a chance to use their imagination. April 18 has been circled on Sean Cononie’s calendar for a while. It was the day for the official opening of Sean Anthony’s Art Gallery, which houses nearly 100 paintings, many of which were created by clients of the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) homeless shelter in Hollywood. “I needed something to help me not smoke five packs of cigarettes a day,” says Cononie, founder/director of the shelter, who started painting to help himself deal with the stressful schedule associated with managing 300 homeless people and his staff. He noticed it made not only a difference in his own health but in the health of his clients, many of whom he says talk to themselves and hear voices. According to Cononie, the April 18 auction was about a lot more than showcasing great artwork. It showed a community embracing the cause of the homeless through giving of themselves in a way that makes a big difference in the lives of his clients. “They’re not just donating art; they’re bringing paintbrushes. They’re donating time,” Cononie says. “Therapy is what it is.”
An opportunity to do therapy Giving the general public the chance to view and bid on the paintings is just one dimension of this venture, which serves to extend COSAC’s efforts to assist those with mental illness. “Medication alone doesn’t always help,” says Yvette Tucholski-Dekeles, a licensed mental health counselor with COSAC. “The fact that this resource is here is a plus.” Budget cuts have reduced the number of peer centers and studios where homeless artists can do paintings, which are more than just visual renderings. “Art lowers the voices in their head[s],” Tucholski-Dekeles says. Tucholski-Dekeles — who assists those with problems such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and substance abuse — says several of her clients already see the difference that creating these paintings can have on their health.
Chance to improve and use one’s imagination For COSAC resident Anita Cooper, 41, having two of her paintings available for auction wasn’t just about the benefits she and the shelter receive, but the consumer of the art as well. “It gets someone to use their imagination. Everybody sees something different,” she says. “It gives you a chance to escape your bills and relax.” While Cooper enjoyed the auction because of its benefit to the consumer of her art, another client at the shelter, Gary Gagné, Anita Cooper has a personal objective in mind. The 55-year-old recently suffered a stroke, and being able to create three paintings and have them available for auction has given him a new interest in improving his skills as an artist. Gagné has two more sketches that he wants to paint in a way that reflects more detail. “I think I did pretty well. It’s coming along, but it Gary Gagné could be better.”
Artwork for Sean Anthony’s Art Gallery can be viewed online at www.mypaintingsrus.com and by calling (954) 924-3571 to make an appointment.
For a virtual tour of the art gallery, visit www.HomelessVoice.org.
Homeless Voice • Special Issue
photos By Mayte Almeida
Page 12
A passerby helps Hollywood police officer Antonio Pontigo and Sean Cononie’s assistant William Robbs locate homeless people sleeping on the street.
Hitting the Streets COSAC’s outreach program provides food, medical care to homeless sleeping outside Joanna Chau Florida International University
On cold nights in Hollywood, Nick Davis rides in an ambulance and searches the streets for homeless people who might need help. Davis is not a psychologist, a medic or a nurse. He doesn’t have any professional training or a college degree. But Davis brings something to the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) shelter’s outreach program that no one else can: Three months ago, he was homeless. He knows what it feels like to live on the streets with an empty stomach, not knowing where his next meal or shelter will be. “I know that one meal or one shower helps,” says Davis, who is part of a rescue team from the COSAC shelter that goes around every month looking for people who need food, water, shelter, a blanket or just a hot cup of coffee. For two years, the COSAC shelter, a privately funded homeless shelter in Hollywood, has been sending an ambulance staffed with a licensed nurse, a clinical psychologist, a police escort and someone who has experience with homelessness. “Sometimes I dress an old wound or take their blood. Other times I just offer cigarettes and water,” says George Dekeles, a licensed nurse who goes on outreach rides often with the shelter. On a recent Saturday, Dekeles and the rest of the team approached a homeless man lying in the grass off a highway exit. From under a blanket, he told them he didn’t need
help but eagerly accepted a box of cigarettes and two meal kits. “We can help them when they can’t help themselves,” says Yvette Tucholski-Dekeles, a licensed mental health counselor and one of the team members. The outreach program began with founder/ director Sean Cononie driving around in his car on cold nights and looking for people who needed a warm place to stay. The need was so great that they started using a van and, eventually, an ambulance. The team goes out to places that many homeless people frequent, such as under bridges and overpasses and in back alleys. Sometimes whole groups can be found under the highway, and many “regulars” frequent the same spot. “Steve can always be found on Pembroke Road and Interstate 95,” Tucholski-Dekeles says. “Once we found him sleeping in his own feces.” The ambulance goes out once a month when it’s warm and every night when it’s cold. It is stocked with meal kits and water. Some people are taken to the COSAC shelter or the hospital. Others prefer to stay where they are but accept whatever the team has to offer. “Some of these people are on the brink of life or death,” says Hollywood police officer Antonio Pontigo, who often escorts the team. “The outreach program gives them a chance.” Ride along with the outreach street team in an exclusive video on www.HomelessVoice.org.
Nick Davis, who was homeless himself three months ago, helps the outreach team coax homeless people off the streets by sharing the story of how he was helped by COSAC.
Choosing homelessness www.HomelessVoice.org
Page 13
‘Dignity’ plays a role in decision to stay on the streets Sivan Fraser
Florida Atlantic University
On the corner of Interstate 95 and Hollywood Boulevard there is a small, grassy area polluted with empty beer cans and bottles. Tattered clothes are hidden in the bushes, along with a sign: “+Vet+Please\Help.” This is George Marshall’s home. After getting divorced, the 51-year-old rode his bicycle from Key West to Hollywood and took up residence off the highway. He admits that he’s an alcoholic and has been homeless for three years because of it, but when the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) shelter’s outreach program offered to take him off the streets, he decided to stay at the intersection. He wanted to maintain his “dignity,” he said. “I am really tired. I try to stay out of trouble.” Marshall is part of a small group of homeless in Hollywood who, despite their problems, do not want to get off the streets. For them, says Sean Cononie, founder/director of COSAC, the decision is about preserving their “dignity” because it’s the only thing that helps them survive on the streets. “I understand people have pride,” Cononie says. “If I was homeless [and could survive], I probably would not go to a shelter. I would live on the streets,” he says. Still, the COSAC shelter’s outreach team returns to the streets every few weeks in hopes that this group of chronically homeless people will realize that they can
keep their dignity and get help. “They may not come in today, but they may come in three months from now,” Cononie says. Though COSAC’s outreach program has been in effect since the inception of the shelter in 1997, it has always dealt with the same small sect of homeless individuals who do not want to come off the streets. “When you’re doing outreach, you’re always dealing with the hardest people because they don’t want to come [with you to the shelter],” Cononie says. “It’s not a large number [that want to be on the street], so we’re hitting the same people over and over.” The goal of the outreach program is to get the homeless off of the streets and into a shelter with the proper mental and health care, a clean and safe place to stay, and food. But on most trips, they end up just handing out food, water and cigarettes — things that they hope may one day coax them into coming to the shelter. Most of the chronically homeless struggle with addiction, have mental disabilities or are disabled. Though their circumstances vary, this small group of homeless has one thing in common: They are protecting a precious part of their persona that helps them survive on the streets. “Do you want to get off the streets tonight?” Yvette Tucholski-Dekeles, a licensed mental health counselor and outreach team member, asked Marshall on a recent Saturday night.
“Even if you’re not ready to stop drinking, you can come to the shelter,” said Tucholski-Dekeles to the homeless Marshall. “We’re here to help you.” Tucholski-Dekeles said COSAC understands the nature of addictions and how people often relapse. She assured Marshall that he would not be kicked out if he continued drinking. Additionally, she assured him that a specialty doctor is only a phone call away. Sometimes it helps to bring homeless people who have come to the COSAC shelter along on outreach because it sets an example that may trigger a homeless person to say, “Okay, maybe I do want to get off the street,” Cononie says. Police Officer Antonio Pontigo, neighborhood team leader for the Hollywood Police Department, partners with homeless shelters like COSAC to recruit the homeless off of the streets. For the past four years, he has investigated homeless encampments with the outreach team to not only get them off the city streets, but also to maintain their cleanliness and legality. “They like to be on their own. They stick to themselves. They do not care about society’s rules,” Pontigo says. “Their mentality is ‘you’re bothering them — they’re not bothering you.’” Despite their resistance, Cononie believes it’s better to keep trying than to give up. “You may not be able to make them drink the water, but you sure as hell can make them thirsty.”
photos By Mayte Almeida George Marshall (top), 51, lives on a small grassy area on the corner of Interstate 95 and Hollywood Boulevard. After getting divorced, he rode his bicycle (above) from Key West to Hollywood and took up residence off the highway. He accepts food, water and cigarettes from COSAC’s outreach street team, but declines their invitations to come stay at the shelter. For him, it’s a matter of keeping his “dignity.”
photo By Rachael joyner
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Homeless Voice • Special Issue
Homeless advocate:
Florida
needs
help
National Coalition for the Homeless looking for solutions Dori Zinn Florida atlantic university (Alumna)
For Michael Stoops, ending homelessness isn’t just his job, it’s his way of life. “My grandfather was an alcoholic and became homeless when I was seven,” says Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH). “Because of his drinking, he ended up freezing to death.” While dying of hypothermia isn’t a problem for the homeless in Florida, Stoops says the state’s treatment of the homeless isn’t as fair as the weather. “Florida is notorious for passing laws that selectively target the homeless,” Stoops says. “Orlando passed an ordinance a couple of years ago forbidding the feeding of the homeless in the downtown area.” Eventually, the ordinance was overturned and ruled unconstitutional, but that didn’t diminish Florida’s reputation for crimes against the homeless. “For 2005, 2006 and 2007, the NCH annual report has Florida as the
Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless
No. 1 most violent state in the country for crimes against the homeless, both lethal and non-lethal,” says Stoops, who believes that Florida may be a top state again in the 2008 report. But Stoops sees some good signs. Some Florida legislators are trying to add “homeless” to the state hate crime laws, which would hike the punishment for perpetrators who commit violent crimes against the homeless. Nationally, Stoops sees progress. “With [President] Obama’s stimulus package, we have received $1.7 billion for homeless prevention, which helps people stay in their homes,” he says. “We also received $1.5 billion for emergency food and shelter.” Although the stimulus package is creating more funding to help end homelessness, Stoops believes that the crisis of homelessness will get worse before it gets better. “One out of every 50 children is or will be homeless in their lifetime,” Stoops says. “People think that if the shelter wasn’t here, homeless people wouldn’t be here, and that’s not true.”
www.HomelessVoice.org
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Letter from the publisher... Sometimes when people come to the shelter to take a tour, they indicate to me that I am the one who “does it all.” Let me tell you, it is not just me. I may have slept here at the shelter for the last six to seven years, but right along side of me has been Lois Cross, who came here to volunteer in January 2000. Sean Cononie Back then she planned to Coalition of Service and Charity founder/director volunteer one or two days a week but “fell in love with the people,” as she puts it, and about a year or so later she gave up her house and moved right in here at the shelter. She had retired early from AT&T and had that freedom. The days had become more frequent and longer and soon there was no sense to even going home, so when she saw how much I needed her, she moved in and asked me what side of the floor I wanted. We actually took turns sleeping next to the copier, and she used to joke about sometimes sleeping on the floor with all the money around her head, meaning the bags of coins from the sale of the Homeless Voice. But the copier had its own mental health issue because it seemed to shout out loud noises in the middle of the night. Lois Cross … she is everything a person can be. She does every possible thing for me, from making sure I have clean underwear to making sure we pay the bills. If it is 3 a.m. and there is a code blue, it is Lois at my side helping me work on the person. We are very much in tune with each other. One afternoon a client went down in a full cardiac arrest. I tried to get an airway on “Raymond” with an Ambo Bag but couldn’t. I tried and tried. It was the first time this has ever happened to me. I have given CPR at
least 10 times here at the shelter. So I did what we did in and trucks with GPS. He is able to communicate with the the old days: mouth-to-mouth. emergency operations center in that local community. In between breaths, I was about to scream for someone This is important because when you travel and don’t to get me peroxide because his know where you are going and it is pitch black fluids were coming back up into because there is no electricity in that community my mouth. As I started to scream, and the EOC needs to change our drop-off point a hand handed me a big bottle of … it is all Mark. During Katrina he pulled up peroxide. That hand was Lois’ hand. satellite images and directed us in via our satellite She saw me using no barricade for phone system. mouth-to-mouth and knew I would I have known Mark since I met him when want something to gargle between he was 16; he was a customer of my wireless breaths and went back to the first communication company. His father, a police aid station and got me the bottle I officer, had passed away, and we soon had a needed. father/son relationship. Mark has had his share She for sure is not an assistant of problems growing up like any normal kid director: She is a co-director, and she lois cross does, and he has succeeded. There was a time has no problem directing me as well co-director of cosac that COSAC was there for Mark, and now it is during her 90-hour week. Mark who is here for COSAC. Next we have Mr. Mark Targett, He is now married to a beautiful lady named our senior vice president, coSara, who works under Mark to put together the director, technology manager, paper you read each and every month. Mark and computer programmer, data manager his lovely wife work really hard, each working 70 and, lastly, the guy behind the hours a week helping us. Homeless Voice media productions. Working here as many hours as we do, there He does all our Web sites as well as is really no room for a social life. Sometimes, our video production. Mark came up when things get stressed, I hear these three little with the system that allows me to be soft and beautiful voices coming over my video in a few places at one time by giving screen and then in a matter of seconds I see three me a laptop that I can use to video little heads pop up. Sometimes Mark knows that conference with shelter staff or even Mark Targett I need that therapy and sometimes they just call speak in real time to a client who is co-director of cosac & me on their own. These are the heads of Mark at another location and may be Homeless voice editor and Sara’s children, whom I love so much. After depressed. The system allows me to all, they are my little grand kids too, and I love see their faces and talk to them live. It allows me to see if them so much. they are hearing voices when I talk to them by their head So to you, Lois, and to you, Mark and Sara, and to the and eye movements. rest of the gang at the shelter, I want you to know that When there is a disaster and we are going to bring water without you I would have died a long time ago from to a community, it is Mark who keeps track of our vans stress. I love you all.
On Saturday, April 4, 2009, 25 college journalists and recent grads ate dinner in the COSAC homeless shelter in Hollywood, Fla. Then they spent the night (and early next morning) reporting, writing and shooting this issue of the Homeless Voice. We called the event WILL WORK FOR FOOD. See page 3.
What happens when college journalists take over a homeless newspaper? photo By Carlos Calante
HOMELESS
VOICE
special issue:
Student journalists take over Homeless Voice
May 2009 Volume XI, Issue 3 “The voice of the homeless”
www.HomelessVoice.org
INSIDE THIS SPECIAL ISSUE... n 3 hectic hours with COSAC founder/ director Sean Cononie. page 6
They fell in love at a homeless shelter and now they’re married. Read their story.
n Homeless paintings go on the auction block in Hollywood. page 11 n How do you help the homeless who can’t help themselves? page 12