THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603040042
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
The Judeo-Christian Outreach Center, a resort-area nonprofit operation that has helped hundreds of homeless people, has launched its latest project in a decade of expansion and growth.
The outreach center recently broke ground for a new education building - a longtime dream for Director Richard Powell - at its complex just east of Birdneck Road on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
Shelter residents will be taught basic skills such as budgeting, how to interview for a job and how to use a computer.
The building will house a library and space for expansion of ``Kid's Club,'' which pairs volunteer teachers with elementary students in once-a-week tutoring sessions.
Shelter residents will do much of the construction, with money for materials coming from donations. An anonymous contribution of $10,000 will pay for the shell, and four $2,000 donations will pay for four of the five classrooms. The center plans a fund-raiser on Saturday to finance the fifth classroom as well as to raise money for their operating budget.
The one-story, frame and stucco building will go up directly behind the center's existing three buildings - men's and women's dormitories and a dining room - which are near the front of the 9.9-acre property.
Just to the east of the complex, in the Be-Lo Shopping Center, is the center's Thrift Shop, where shelter residents shop for free necessities and others pay low prices for donated clothing and furniture.
Thirty-five years ago, when Powell was working in a shipyard, he had been supporting a friend's effort to give up drinking. Powell said he will never forget the heartbreak he felt after his friend while in a drunken stupor, died after being set on fire by two teenagers.
The center began when five churches joined Powell to feed the poor and homeless in 1986. Two years later it expanded to include shelters for men, women and married couples. The Frank Bragg memorial dining room was built in 1990. The thrift shop began operations three years ago.
In March, Christian outreach marks its 10th anniversary.
Today, the outreach center depends on 70 area churches, synagogues and civic organizations. Its mission is to provide any area citizen a chance to get control of his or her life by providing shelter, food, clothing and direction to substance-abuse and mental-health counseling, job training and preparation for a General Education Development diploma.
In addition to the hundreds who volunteer their time and resources through member churches, five Regent University interns help counsel shelter residents.
Of the nearly 3,000 who've stayed at the shelter, 40 percent have moved on to self-sufficient living, Powell said.
``God doesn't give you anything to do that he doesn't prepare you for,'' says Powell, explaining how an early experience moved him toward helping others, especially those with drug and alcohol problems.
But not all of those who seek help at the center are substance abusers. Martin Cummings found himself needing help after moving to Virginia Beach from Florida. He expected to move in with a friend but that fell through, and, after one night, Cummings, 31, ran out of money. He took refuge in the city's Winter Shelter Program administered by Volunteers of America and area churches and, the next day, called the United Way. That's how he found out about the outreach center.
Cummings, who now works in construction, has been in the shelter about four months. He holds a bachelor's degree in English and hopes to remain in Virginia Beach.
Cummings shares a room with one other man in the men's dormitory, which houses up to 34.
In the adjacent women's dorm, with beds for 16, Renee Parker, 39, waited for her laundry to dry. She's been in the shelter about six weeks and is now working in an Oceanfront hotel. The single mother of two was homeless and on drugs when she arrived at the shelter after four days in the city's detoxification program.
``It's a start,'' says Parker, in her goal to straighten her life out and return to Philadelphia to care for her children, who live with relatives.
Women in the last stages of pregnancy sometimes take shelter at the center, and Powell helps those who want their babies put up for adoption find adoptive parents.
``If they don't want to give the baby up, they can stay until the birth,'' Powell says. However, there are no accommodations for mothers with new babies, though occasionally women with children stay there.
Another big item on Powell's wish list is a shelter for homeless teenagers. There are few places that shelter homeless children, and the center would need state certification. But Powell sees a real need.
Next to the two existing shelters is a large dining room where residents and other homeless and indigent people eat more than 32,000 meals each year.
The center's shelter is currently being used to capacity. Powell has proposed that the City Council award him the $800,000 it recently received from the federal government for capital projects to benefit the homeless. He'd like to construct a three-building complex nearby.
The largest of these planned structures would offer emergency shelter for up to 100 individuals, including families. Another would be home to substance abusers who would get on-site counseling and treatment and, after six months, move on to independent living. The third would be for day services and a new dining facility.
The center's $180,000 budget is running a deficit of about $8,000. Powell hopes to raise money for operational costs at a March 9 banquet.
``They're God's people,'' says Powell, watching a line form for the evening meal. ``You can't put a price on a person's life.'' MEMO: TO HELP
Tickets for the March 9 celebration dinner are $50 each, part of which
is tax deductible. They may be purchased by calling the JCOC at
491-2846.
Mail donations to: Judeo-Christian Outreach Center
1053 Virginia Beach Blvd.
P.O. Box 831,
Virginia Beach, Va 23451.
[For a related story, see page B1 for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: D. KEVIN ELLIOTT photos
The Virginian-Pilot
Wanda Robinson, 24, holds her son Simey'on, at the Judeo-Christian
Outreach Center on Virginia Beach Blvd. just east of Birdneck Road.
Robinson came to Virginia Beach about three months ago from
Louisville, Ky., looking for work. According to the shelter's
director, there are no accommodations at the center for mothers with
new babies, though occasionally women with children stay there.
Pat Davis lives in the women's dormitory - which has beds for 16
and is currently being used to capacity. The one-story,
frame-and-stucco building that will house the education center will
be built primarily by shelter residents and will go up directly
behind the center's existing three buildings.
by CNB