- November 28, 2024
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Tammy Sandrowicz used to love helping the homeless. When she lived in Tampa, she would gather up donations and turn old houses into shelters to get people off the streets. Never in a million years did she think she'd need that kind of kindness herself.
"I came back here and found myself homeless," she said. "But I don't let it get me down."
She's one of 28 people currently staying at Ormond Beach Alliance Church, where Pastor Doug Hautz has been taking in homeless people for six years. Though the homeless population isn't as large as it is in the neighboring city of Daytona Beach, Pastor Hautz and his residents say that they are here. And they need help.
"There’s a lot more homeless people in Ormond than people realize," Sandrowicz said. "And 90% of the people out here are suffering from some sort of addiction, and 75% of the girls out here are doing whatever they have to do in order to survive. The cops don’t help very much. They want to lock them up all the time and that's not right."
Though Pastor Hautz takes in all the people that he can — and usually then a few more — his church is only so big, and putting too many people together in a tight space can cause some problems. And with no other homeless shelters in Ormond Beach, both the people in need and the people who are serving agree that something needs to change.
"Homeless are not the problem. Anyone can become homeless. I never thought I’d be here, but I am, and I’m okay with it. You don’t have to stay out here forever."
Tammy Sandrowicz
Sandrowicz said she would like to see some of Ormond's abandoned buildings turned into shelters, help for homeless people to get their licenses, more local businesses to hire homeless people and more counseling options offered to people suffering from addiction. And she doesn't understand why other churches can't follow in the footsteps of Pastor Hautz and open their doors.
"The pastor here has taken it upon his own heart to help out," she said, "and he’s trying to get other churches to help out. But it’s hard because a lot of people don’t trust homeless people."
Pastor Hautz said he's taken a hit by sheltering the homeless because some people don't want to attend a church that keeps "seedy people" around. Hautz has spent a few nights in the shelter himself with the residents — he doesn't call them homeless because it makes them seem like a separate class — and let his young kids hang around the shelter.
"If we had all the churches in Volusia County open their doors," he said. "We might only have to take in three residents at a time."
In order to save costs and be able to put money towards its many homeless prevention and homeless intervention programs, Halifax Urban Ministries moved from it's original location at Emmanuel Church of The Living God to Providence Church. The organization will be saving money by moving to volunteers-only and by not having to pay rent at the new location. The 25 volunteers are either church members or connected to the church through bible studies.
This new location will only provide one service: Feed-A-Family, a homeless prevention program that feeds a family of four approximately seven meals per week. All homeless intervention programs will only be offered at the organization's Daytona Beach office. HUM Program Director Tianna Nichols said she didn't think the Ormond homeless would take too much of a hit from this loss of services.
"We find our homeless are very resourceful," she said. "We still have doors open in Daytona if they wish to travel there. Usually they find what they need."
HUM Executive Director Mark Geallis said CWC Ministries, a program from Emmanuel Church of The Living God will inherit their Bread and Sweets program to help feed the homeless that are used to getting food in that area. Even though eventually most of the homeless end up traveling to Daytona Beach because that's where most of the meals and social services are, Geallis said there is still a hidden population here in Ormond. Most living in Ormond-By-The-Sea or in the wooded areas along the Granada Boulevard. HUM's Ormond location would typically serve 20-30 homeless people a week.
Geallis was involved with the Daytona Beach homeless issue this past week, and met with representatives from the City of Daytona Beach, Voluisa County Council, social service agencies and fire and police departments Jan. 29 to discuss long-term solutions. A 250-bed homeless shelter called Safe Harbor — which could be changed to Voluisa One — seems to be the answer for Geallis, along with HUM's own shelter proposal.
"I do believe once the harbor is built it will feel that need," he said. "We hope to place a new shelter where Hearst Elementary used to be. It's in unincorporated Volusia County and it's equally distant from Holly Hill, Daytona and Ormond. It's in a little spot where all three of those communities come within two or three blocks of each other."
HUM is currently waiting on final votes from the school board and the county council, but they hope to break ground on the remodel in May and have the facility open by 2017.
