Community chips in for new air conditioner

David Berry, executive pastor of The Mission, stands in the food pantry which has a temperature of 90 degrees, Friday, July 13, 2012 in Winter Haven, Florida.

Rick Runion / Ledger Media Group

Published: Sunday, July 15, 2012 at 8:33 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, July 15, 2012 at 8:33 a.m.

WINTER HAVEN - Things got pretty hot at The Mission last week when the air conditioner went kaput. So hot that the soup kitchen had to close for two days while administrators at the Winter Haven agency that gives aid to the homeless and needy scrambled for money.

As usual, they appealed to the church community to help replace the 25-year-old cooling system. And the community responded.

Approximately $4,000 was raised. A new five-ton air conditioner now hums behind the nearly 100-year-old, two-story building on East Central Avenue. Lunch and dinner, free to anyone in need, will resume Monday through Thursday, year in, year out.

But the emergency is yet another reminder that The Mission can no longer limp by on a wing and a prayer. That it has done so for almost 40 years is testament to the tenacity of its founder, Tom Beauregard, who started in 1973 with a foster home for boys.

Now in ill health, Beauregard, 70, has installed David Berry, 37, as executive pastor of the program that now serves primarily as a soup kitchen and community food and clothing pantry. Other services include laundry, showers, computer access and lockers for the homeless and their few possessions.

There are few if any other programs serving homeless men in greater Winter Haven. The Salvation Army gives overnight shelter to women and young children, but emergency overnight shelter for men is nonexistent, agency officials say.

Berry and his board of directors hope some day to provide beds and create a long-term transitional program for men. The goal in the short term is to build back a board of directors that has shrunk to five members from a high of 11.

The faith-based agency is hungry for like-minded business professionals with the savvy to woo the church community for greater support and to mount a serious capital campaign to raise needed funds.

"I believe if we had some Christian business people on our board it would help," said David Chadsey, one of the newer members of The Mission's board. "If our board were a little stronger and deeper, I think we could establish a financial plan that's a little more forward thinking."

For instance, the agency shouldn't have to go into panic mode every time an emergency arises, Chadsey said. "That's something that should be in our budget."

For many years The Mission was a small-scale operation, but the recent downturn in the economy has driven hundreds of people, especially families, to its doors.

The agency now serves 1,500 households on a monthly basis with only four paid employees and dozens of volunteers. The kitchen serves 200 lunches and 100 dinners daily, Monday through Thursday. The doors are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

It takes $300,000 a year to make ends meet, Chadsey said, "But our income for 2011 was only $250,000."

Most of that money comes from private donations while a handful of church partners provide about $2,400 a month, or about 10 percent of the yearly budget, Berry said.

He and Chadsey hope to get more churches on board.

"For a lot of years this mission was like a mom and pop," Berry said. "The days of serving 60 people are gone."

Berry's laundry list of pressing needs includes air-conditioning for the two-car garage that now serves as a food pantry. The heat diminishes the shelf life of bags of bread, boxes of pasta, cereal and other dry goods.

To minimize energy bills, executives hope to find a way to insulate the building and add energy-efficient windows. And the list of needs goes on.

"We have ideas but we don't have anybody to oversee fundraising or capital campaigns," Berry said.

"We work with local churches and we do devotions and share the gospel (with families in need). The cool part is we're not in competition with the local church," he said. "We're an extension. We fill the physical needs and together we work hand in hand in building people."

Source: http://www.newschief.com/article/20120715/news/207155017

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