They sit in mismatched plastic lawn chairs, circled around a table covered with small branches and ants. They talk loudly. They have to, otherwise it’s impossible to hear one another over the constant hum of the power lines overhead. They don’t talk about drug addictions, they don’t talk about alcohol abuse, although they are familiar with both. Instead, they talk about church, about God, about His plans for them.
For two years the New Birth Abundant Life Ministry has been a small haven for homeless men fighting years of drug and alcohol addictions. The St. Petersburg, Fla., ministry will close its doors within two months. The residents will either pack up and head to Georgia with Pastor William Garrison, or they will find another place to live. Dozens of transitional shelters have closed in recent months because state funding is no longer available, said Karen Butler, executive director of ASAP Homeless Services. Losing the 36 beds provided at Abundant Life exacerbates the need for homeless shelters in Pinellas County, she said.
Pastor Garrison and his wife, Mattie, are finalizing plans for the ministry’s move to Georgia. The Garrisons have been renting the building on 38th Avenue South for two years. A fire safety inspector found several safety hazards in the building, Garrison said. The building needs a sprinkler system, fire alarms, exit signs, electrical panel covers, fire extinguisher inspections and removal of exposed wires, according to the inspection report. Garrison said for 18 months the landlord hasn’t made changes, so he is packing up and moving out.
Garrison spent years overcoming his own addictions to drugs and has since been helping men get clean and grow close to God. He planned all along to open a house in Valdosta, Ga., to take men struggling with addictions out of the city and move them into the country. He wanted to keep the St. Petersburg ministry open and take long-term residents to Georgia, until they were stable enough to be back in the city.
The Garrisons own a second house in St. Petersburg that they rent to men who previously lived in the ministry. They will keep that house open. Once the men have shown they are responsible, are staying clean and can maintain a job, moving into the house will be an option for them, if they want to return to St. Petersburg.
A few of the 12 men currently living in the ministry on 38th Avenue South will go with Garrison to Georgia. The remaining men have to decide what they will do once the ministry closes. For each of them men, arriving at the shelter was a complicated and painful process. Here are three of their stories.
In late November, Ricky Bell, 45, was ready to give up. After years of addiction to crack cocaine and nights filled with haunting dreams about his dead family members, he was ready to end it all.
Before he could, his cousin’s wife intervened. She ran into her friend, Pastor Garrison, on a shopping trip. He agreed to bring Bell to the ministry to help him get clean and grow closer to God.
This wasn’t the first time Bell had tried to conquer his addictions. He had already been through three treatment centers before he arrived at the ministry. As a counselor, Garrison seemed different. He had battled his own drug addictions in the past. He could reach Bell in a way that others couldn’t.
“At most ministries the pastor can’t sit and talk with you,” Bell said. “They can’t talk to you because they haven’t been where I’ve been. How can someone tell you about getting off drugs if they haven’t done it themselves?”
Bell has managed his depression and cocaine addiction with the help of the ministry and counseling three times each week from the Suncoast Mental Health Counseling Association.
Bell was working as a cook at an IHOP restaurant before he had knee replacement surgery in late April. He has been receiving disability while he is unable to work. Meanwhile, he has been the pastor’s aide, which mainly includes running errands for Pastor Garrison and helping with the daily operation of the ministry.
Bell was going to help oversee the ministry once Garrison opened the house in Georgia. Now Bell said he will move into the Garrison’s other Pinellas County home. Bell was born and raised in St. Petersburg and doesn’t want to leave his family and friends.
Bell wanted to use the St. Petersburg house to reach men in the community who need help, and then take them to Georgia to get away from the temptations of the city.
“I hate to see it leave,” Bell said. “But when the Lord says it’s time to go, it’s time to go.”
Fifteen months ago, as Vancito Naar walked down the dark streets of St. Petersburg, a New Birth Abundant Life Ministry van pulled alongside the New York native and offered him a place to stay. Naar, 62, had just been evicted from his apartment and had nowhere else to go, so he hopped in the van. He has lived at the ministry ever since.
Naar, a Vietnam War veteran, moved to St. Petersburg 25 years ago and worked as a housekeeper at the Bay Pines Veterans Affairs facility. Naar said his experience in Vietnam led him to abuse drugs and alcohol. He was on probation for possession of paraphernalia when he arrived at Abundant Life. But at the ministry Naar said he found security and a purpose.
Now Naar receives disability benefits from the VA. His money and food stamps go directly to the ministry each month to pay the $150 per week rent, he said. When the Garrison’s leave in two months, Naar said he will make the trip to Georgia with them.
“They couldn’t get rid of me if they tried.”
Harvey Allen wanted to go back to jail. Allen, 60, had spent 10 days in jail for hitting his girlfriend. They lived together, so once he got out and the fighting started again, Allen had nowhere to go. He planned how he would get himself back in. He would pull out a pipe and pretend to be smoking crack the next time he saw a police officer.
Allen’s brother intervened and found him a place to stay. Allen stayed at various homeless shelters in town before he ended up at the ministry. The first two weeks Allen was there, he was angry. He didn’t talk to anyone. He didn’t want to participate in devotional times. But after listening to Garrison talk about his own past addictions, Allen changed his attitude and decided he wanted to get better.
Allen had problems with drinking and drug abuse for most of his life. In the 11 months he’s been at the ministry, he said he’s stayed clean and has made God a priority in his life.
“I’ve always put the Lord on the back burner,” Allen said. “Now I put him in the front and do what he wants me to do. I stay happy.”
Allen plans to go to Georgia, but said if the Lord has other plans for him, he will go wherever God leads him.
