5Th Annual Race Home a Success!
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serving our community since 1997 Part of the International Network of Street Papers If you received this issue of the Homeless Voice FLORIDAS LARGEST STREET NEWSPAPER in your mailbox please go to pg 4 COSAC Foundation | PO Box 292-577 Davie, FL 33329 | 954-924-3571 5th Annual Race Home a Success! Thank you for coming out and making our 5th Annual Race Home a success! April 19th 300 runners lined up for our 5k along Hollywood Beach at Charnow Park. Our volunteers cheered everyone in as Curbstone played upbeat tunes for the spectators to move along to. Coat donations were made as a tribute to Gary Shimminger, who was a supporter of ours. * * * While our new home is now in Central FL, we still serve the homeless community throughout all of Florida through various outreach programs. The continued support during this transition has been warmly received, and we are happy to report that our move was successful. We hope to continue to serve South Florida and now Central Florida as well for many years to come. Thank you! Homeless Man Discovers Forgotten Bank Account ABC News partment trying to help homeless people find the ID they need A homeless man who has been living in a cardboard in order to get things like work and housing,” McDonald said. box in downtown Tampa, Florida, for over three years It’s unclear how Helinski became homeless, but Helinski did may soon have a modest-sized apartment and a pen- say he was born in Poland as a U.S. citizen because his mother sion check coming in every month, police said. was a U.S. citizen just visiting, McDonald said. With the help of a cop and homeless shelter case Helinski added he believed he had a Social Security number manager, John Helinski, 62, discovered a forgotten and benefits but thought it was cancelled, McDonald said. bank account that has been collecting Social Security “First, I drove him personally to the local tax collector’s of- disability benefits for years, he told ABC News today. fice, where he was able to get a temporary State of Florida ID Helinski is looking forward to having a place of his card,” McDonald explained. own to call "home" and thankful for the help he has Using the temp ID McDonald was able to help Helinski order received, he added. his birth record from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of monthly pension payments to have enough to pay for Tampa Police Department Of- Consular Affairs, he said. rent for a modest apartment and food without having ficer Daniel McDonald and He- “With his consular birth certificate and to work. linski’s case manager, Charles temporary ID, we went to the Social Se- Helinski's case manager Inman added he and Mc- Inman of Drug Abuse and Com- We’re uniformed cops with curity office, and I just walked up to them Donald are extremely happy for their client. prehensive Coordinating Office police cars, but we want and said, ‘This man used to have benefits, "This situation looked really difficult, and I wasn’t Inc. (DACCO), have spent the homeless people to trust us can you help us?’” McDonald said. sure how it was going to end up," Inman told ABC past few weeks trying to help It turned out Helinski had always been News today. "If it failed, it meant we’d put a 62-year- Helinski locate his personal receiving benefits, and he just wasn’t old man on the street, and Officer McDonald and I identification documents to get aware because he lost his debit card and were not OK with that." him into housing, Officer McDonald said. had no access to his bank account, McDonald said. McDonald is one of few police officers whose work “John came to the DACCO Community Housing McDonald then drove Helinski to his old bank, where they revolves around helping homeless people in their as- Solutions Center last December when it first opened,” found his account, "which had still been collecting pension signed areas. McDonald said. money over time,” he said. “And since he now had his tempo- “We’re uniformed cops with police cars, but we want Inman, he added, asked him to help with Helinski’s rary ID card, he could get access to the account.” homeless people to trust us,” he said. “Our job is not case because all Helinski’s personal identifying docu- Helinski is still at the DACCO Community Housing Solu- to arrest someone. It’s to help them. Homeless people ments and ID were stolen and lost while he was out tions Center, but McDonald said Helinski would likely be able are still accountable to the law, but they’re now start- on the streets. to get permanent housing soon. ing to see we can be trusted, and this new model and “As a homeless liaison officer, the bread and butter Though Helinski did not want to disclose the amount in his field of policing is gaining popularity very quickly, I of my work often involves hopping department to de- bank account, McDonald said he was receiving enough in think.” Our Purpose: To Help the Homeless Learn How to Help Themselves 2 ~Monthly Angels~ Amparo Penuela Erin Gardner Judith Temple Nadine Coulson Tatiana Da Cunha Vol. 17 Issue 3 2015 17 Issue Vol. Amy Isherwood Frank Barreras Junyan Song Patrice & George Temple Aron Anna Hadley Gavin on the Beach Karen Povlock Shurland Hakodesh Angel Porras Greentree Financial Kat Pwen Kadino Corp Paula Cole Teresa Black Angela Martinez Group Laurence Goldsmith Paul & Rosalie Pierce Timothy Osborn Arturo & Amelia Hoang Kimmell Lilian A De Paz Praxi Solutions Victor Lanza Rodriguez Isa-Aura Rosenthal Valenzuela Ralph Hill Walton Brown Barbara Robinson Jared Carrell Linda Macfarlane Randy Conklin Bill & Laura Fash John Dinielli Lizabeth Miguel Richard Berk The Homeless Voice Homeless The Charles & Tracy Rice John & Linda Evans Loise Goldberg RM Beaulieu Chelsea Navucet John Rahael Maria Colmenares Roanne Cobuzio Daniel Guevara Jorge Herrera Mark Duske Rufino Garcia David Reiff Jorge Sanchez Mark Targett Samantha Boehm Deco Illusions Inc Joseph Maiuro Matt Lambert Sean Campbell Ellen Heron Joyce Maynard Michael Prokop Sean Cononie Thank you for your support Angels! Your support keeps our doors open! Dear Homeless Voice Readers: We are the small non-profit that runs the #1 emergency and response shelter in South Florida. We serve, house, and care for 500 homeless every day, and have costs like any other business: water, power, rent, programs, staff and legal help. The Homeless Voice is extremely effective. It is a place where anyone in need will get help. It is a safe place for people to go when they have nowhere else to turn. We take no government funds. We run on donations averaging about 33 cents. If everyone reading this paper gave the price of a cup of coffee, our fundraising would be done. If helping people is important to you as it is important for us, take one minute to go online to www.hvoice.org and become a monthly angel. $15 per month is what we need from You. Please help us forget fundraising and get back to Serving the Homeless. Thank you. Please visit: www.hvoice.org/member Donate Online: HomelessVoice.org/Donate Donations are tax deductable & help South Florida’s Homeless 3 The Homeless Voice Homeless The About the COSAC Foundation The COSAC Foundation was originally established in May 3 2015 17 Issue Vol. 1997 to partner with other If you received social service agencies, in the this issue of the Homeless Voice area, that provided help to the in your mailbox homeless population. COSAC please go to pg 4 also independently feeds the We have an homeless or anyone in need of Emergency! food. The COSAC Foundation opened it’s first homeless shelter in 1999 and named it COSAC Quarters (the shelter money was raised by spare change). We have grown into a multifaceted agency that feeds, shelters, and arranges for each homeless person to receive the necessary access to social and noncompulsory religious services to enable a return to a self-reliant lifestyle. And for the small percentage of people incapable of living independent lives, we provide a caring and supportive environment for their long-term residency. Our vision is to end discrimination against the homeless population and to develop such an effective network of services that we greatly reduce the time a person or family emerges out of homelessness back into self-reliance. Homeless Voice Newspaper Staff Publisher- Sean Cononie Editor in Chief- Mark Targett Executive Editor- Sara Targett www.HomelessVoice.org/contact Home Improvement Gift Cards Always Needed $ Send us a gift! P.O. Box 292-577 Davie, FL 33329 Get Noticed! Place your Ad! Starting at $75 954-410-6275 HomelessVoice.org/ Advertising Reasonable Rates, Huge Circulation! 4 We continue to lose street corners where we collect all of your generous donations. The cities are banning us and we need your support now more than ever. We are currently Vol. 17 Issue 3 2015 17 Issue Vol. only able to collect in one city!Please donate today at homelessvoice.org/donate The Homeless Voice Homeless The Looking for organized, energetic volunteers For more details and to sign up visit: hvoice.org/volunteer Cage or courtyard? Homeless flock to the area near St. Vincent de Paul Waveney Ann Moore The homeless call it “the cage.” The Huffington Post said it resembles “a giant chicken coop for humans.” But to St. Vincent de Paul and the city, the fenced space that stretches from the charity to under the in- terstate is “the Courtyard.” It’s where homeless men and women sit and sleep on benches or on the ground, secure their bikes, smoke and wander in and out at will.