With so many people unemployed and barely hanging on financially, families are turning to charities in crushing numbers. Organizers of the recent Children's Christmas Party of Jacksonville described a surge in the number of "parents who have never done this before" adding, "it's heartbreaking." Clay County expected so much mayhem during its annual toy giveaway that the Sheriff's Office issued a bulletin last week prohibiting overnight camping along S.R. 16 for those trying to lock a spot in line. And an editorial in last week's St. Augustine Record was titled, "Toys need is greater than ever this year."
But in St. Johns County, one homeless organization is actually turning down donations. The Emergency Services Homeless Coalition says it has more than enough presents for the children in its care and has asked at least one local support agency to find another home for the toys it purchased on the coalition's behalf.
Each year, The Homeless Coalition, the county's lead agency for tracking homelessness and providing transitional housing, collects or accepts help from local organizations for its homeless families. This year, the Coalition needed presents for the 40-some children who live in its cluster of 18 transitional homes. In October, one of those groups, People United to Stop Homelessness (PUSH) picked up a list with the age and gender of each needy child. And for the second year in a row, PUSH purchased a gift for each kid and planned a holiday party to hand them out. But two weeks before the Dec. 14 party, the Coalition called PUSH and said the toys weren't needed, the kids would not be attending the party.
Mary Lawrence, co-founder of PUSH, believes the cancellation is an effort to punish her group because it has been critical of the Homeless Coalition. "I feel that it's retribution, and the kids are the ones that got hurt," Lawrence told Folio Weekly.
PUSH's toys were given to the Our Center in Hastings, but Lawrence says, "There was a lot of switching of genders and ages" in trying to assign appropriate presents.
On Dec. 4, a furious Lawrence fired off a press release to local media and mailed holiday cards to the homeless families originally slated to receive the toys, in which she explained that the Coalition, "would not let us come with our gifts."
Homeless Coalition outreach coordinator and board member Jean Hardin calls Lawrence's claim "hooey." She insists there was no retribution, just a surfeit of presents. "Our children get more Santa Claus than the average kid," she said. "We don't need the toys."
Typically, Hardin says, the Coalition seeks donations from Toys for Tots and the Sertoma organization. This year, they informed those groups they had enough stuff. Asked if any other groups were told to redistribute the toys elsewhere, as PUSH was, Hardin became angry. "Frankly, it's none of your business," she said. She suggested Folio Weekly write on a more worthwhile topic, like how the Coalition still desperately needs detergents, socks, household products and food. Then she just vented. "I want people to quit printing crap," she said. "That's just crap to me. That is not newsworthy. To me, this is nothing but a bunch of hooey, just a bunch of hooey."
Regardless of the reasons behind the holiday gift-giving cancellation, there is clearly a growing rift between PUSH and the Coalition. In large part, that's due-to PUSH's very public disparaging of the Coalition's bi-annual homeless count, required by the federal government for it to qualify for homeless funds. After challenging the accuracy of the Coalition's data — Lawrence even goes so far as to call it "faked" — PUSH conducted its own homeless survey in mid-November. That effort covered more ground and included visits to area homeless camps, but, surprisingly, counted half as many homeless as the Homeless Coalition did in January.
PUSH used its findings to argue that the Coalition's numbers were worthless — a position that isn't exactly disputed by UNF's Northeast Florida Center for Community Initiatives or the United Way of St. Johns County. After PUSH complained about the accuracy of the homeless count, both agencies reviewed the Coalition's statistics and found them wanting. Past counts, though well-intentioned, have been unsystematic and statistically flawed, according to the reviewing agencies.
"The data on the homeless in St. Johns County is not on par with where it needs to be," says United Way of St. Johns County associate executive David Hoak. UNF professor Jeff Will, whose Center for Community Initiatives trains surveyors for homeless counts and develops survey methodology, says the Coalition's survey wasn't broad enough to be accurate. When asked why PUSH would come up with half as many homeless when that group had done a more comprehensive count, Hoak is unable to explain. "I don't know," he says. But Hoak emphasizes that the focus should be on improving the survey, and that the Homeless Coalition and PUSH need to work together. "I am uncomfortable that there is discord between groups of folks who are all trying to do the same thing —• lend a helping hand to homeless folks," he says.
Hoak blames PUSH's in-your-face activism style for some of the discord. "PUSH has been critical of the mayor and the County Commission, critical of a lot of people who have put forth a lot of energy to get elected to public office and to take public service jobs. They seem bent on making sure those people are uncomfortable." Instead of shaking people into action, Hoak says, "I think it steps on toes and alienates people."
--by Susan Eastman, Folio Weekly, originally printed on 12/22/09
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