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Highlands Today

Homeless In Highlands

KATHY WATERS/Highlands Today

From left: Tyler, 3, Paul, 33, Bobby, 2, and Kara, 5, are finally in a home thanks the program, Agency for Community Treatments Services, Inc. (ACTS).

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: February 7, 2008

SEBRING — In the living room, there's a couch, but no chairs, no coffee table, not even a painting on the wall. Visitors sit at the kitchen table. In the bedrooms, there are two bunk bed mattresses, but no bed frame. And nothing else.

Paul isn't a minimalist, he was homeless last week. Until two weeks ago, Paul, who didn't want to give his last name, was living in a domestic violence shelter with his children, and was one of 15 Highlands County residents given a place to live by the Agency for Community Treatment Services Inc.

"We need a homeless shelter in Highlands County, bad," said Terri McClelland, the local ACTS housing case manager, who helps the homeless.

What ACTS Does

ACTS, headquartered in Tampa, uses grants to provide 23 human services, including:

• Delinquency intervention: Counselors refer juveniles to educational and vocational services, for substance abuse treatment and school drop-out prevention.
  
• Group homes: At a nine-bed home in Fort Lauderdale, 12 to 18-year-old girls learn life skills and have recreational and cultural opportunities.
  
• Mental illness: A 15-bed, long-term program for 12 to 18-year-old girls with emotional and behavioral problems.
  
• Shelter beds: A short-term facility for therapeutic intervention, individual behavior plans and transitional planning.
  
• Family safety: assesses parents who have substance abuse problems, and offers treatment.
  

There, But For The Grace Of God

It's said that all paycheck-to-paycheck workers could be a few months away from homelessness. Paul found out.

After spending 14 years in the Army as a personnel sergeant, Paul, 33, was ready for life on the outside. But he wasn't ready for family problems, which caused a separation with his wife. In Avon Park, he worked as a painter for his father, but the housing economy slowed so much, his father closed the business.

Paul said he's been unable to find another job because he couldn't afford daycare for his children, who are 5, 3 and 2.

His parents and the GI Bill helped him enroll in a culinary arts program, but he missed too many classes and had to drop out.

He got daycare help from Workforce Development, but he was told that unless he had a job or he was enrolled in classes, they couldn't pay for daycare.

He moved out of a mobile home he was renting in December and went to a domestic violence shelter, until McClelland and ACTS stepped in and found a house for him.

"This rental assistance program helps them become more self-sufficient," McClelland said.

Now, Paul is looking for a job again. What's he good at?

"I'll do anything," he offered, but bookkeeping and office skills are what he's good at. He also has a passion – his word – for cooking. He's positively Bubba Gump about mushrooms.

"I love mushrooms. Stuffed, sautéed, fried ..."

Old Car Drives College Mom To New Life

Shekita Wingate, 25, has a good job at Dairy Queen, but she wants a career that would help take care of her two children.

She decided to be a massage therapist, and started attending classes at Everest University in Lakeland.

Wingate, of Avon Park, rode with her sister, but she's finishing the pharmacy tech program in February, and Wingate's 10-month program continues until May.

"I wouldn't have been able to go," Wingate said.

But then, good fortune.

"It was a blessing," Wingate said.

It was a 1997 Grand Marquis. ACTS case manager Terri McClelland, who helped arrange the donation, described the car as full of dents. Ironically, Wingate used these words. "Mint condition."

"It's good on the inside," she defended her statement. "The air works. The radio works. That's all I need."

Wingate just put the car on the road Wednesday. First, she needed insurance, tags and a driver's license.

"I've been catching rides here and there," Wingate said. "Now I have a car to take me, and after I get a job, I have a car to take me to work. It's a blessing. People don't have to do what they do for you."

McClelland is hoping others will donate cars to her clients, who are often destitute. For more information, call Terri McClelland, 449-0770.

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