Editor’s note: This is the second story in a series following the transition of Friends in the Park from Veterans’ Memorial Monument Park to the Winter Visitor Center.
When Dawn Rogers walks into the Winter Visitor Center on the campus of Plant City’s Planteen Recreation Center she has one thing on her mind: feeding her kids.
On Saturday, Sept. 5, Rogers is eating for two at a dinner program provided by the Friends in the Park. The local organization distributes daily meals to about 50 homeless and low-income residents — just a handful of the 17.7% of Plant City residents who were below the poverty line between 2009 and 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Rogers’ baby boy is due Friday, Sept. 25. Her belly is prominent under her green tank top. It hits the edge of the table as she passes fried chicken to her kids, Tobias, 10, and John, 2. She jokes that they eat like teenagers.
For people like Rogers, who are part of a one-paycheck household, the daily dinners provided by Friends in the Park are a necessity.
“It’s just a blessing, knowing that I have food on the table every night,” Rogers says.
Rogers first attended the dinner program when it was held at Veterans’ Memorial Monument Park, off of Wheeler Street. The program moved to the Winter Visitor Center, one mile from the park, in July.
Patrons have noticed some changes since the move.
Rogers is grateful for the spaciousness of the Winter Visitor Center. She and her kids sit at one of six folding tables set up inside. Before, it wasn’t always possible to get a table to themselves.
Besides cramped seating, patrons at the park also had to deal with harsh weather conditions, from the blazing Florida heat to spontaneous summer storms.
Patrons aren’t the only ones seeing changes. Guests at Veterans’ Memorial Monument Park and volunteers have also noticed a difference.
MAKING THE SWITCH
The relocation of the Friends in the Park dinners from Veterans’ Memorial Monument Park to the Winter Visitor Center was proposed by City Manager Mike Herr in May. Some residents who lived by Veterans’ Monument Memorial Park were unhappy with the outreach program because they felt the homeless patrons loitered in the park for longer than necessary after the dinner program was over. Some even stopped taking their kids to a playground that was once located at the park before it was removed for safety reasons.
With the new transition, Doresa Young still has concerns with feeding the homeless in the midst of children. Planteen Recreation Center, where the Winter Visitor Center is located, has a number of community programs for all age groups, including children.
“My granddaughter is no longer a part of the summer program at Planteen Recreation Center because of the homeless concentration there now,” Wise says.
Although the Winter Visitor Center is located on the Planteen campus, the activities and the dinners are held in two separate buildings. As the dinner patrons arrive for the meals, they stick to the covered pavilion on the far side of the Winter Visitor Center. Many bring their own children, who play in the grass outside.
As of now, Herr is pleased with the transition.
“So far, I have every reason to believe this transition has worked well for people in the city who need help the most,” he says. “The Friends in the Park continue to meet a valuable need in our community.”
Herr also says he was thankful for Unity in the Community’s donation of $5,000 to the city for operating costs to support Friends in the Park at the Winter Visitor Center. In the future, he hopes that services can grow and partnerships can be formed across the city and county.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
The summer switch was beneficial to both volunteers and those in need in regards to weather. Besides Florida’s heat and humidity, storms were common. From July 24 through the end of the month, the city saw 17 inches of rain.
Mac Craig, who volunteered as a member of First Baptist Church of Plant City with his family on Labor Day, likes the change. He has previously volunteered at the park.
“This came at the right time,” Craig says. “It is a blessing, especially with all the rain every day.”
The thermostat in the one-story, brick building is set to 60 degrees. In the back of the center, a small kitchen provides amenities volunteers didn’t have at the park: counter space, a refrigerator and a small microwave.
The greatest convenience is one that many who come to the dinners don’t otherwise have: shelter.
Patrick Baxter and Allison Hayes rely on the feedings for their only meal of the day. Both are homeless and unemployed.
“The park is very hot, and there’s not enough seating,” Hayes says. “It’s hard when you’re hot all day long. This is better because it’s inside. [We’re] thankful for it.”
Hayes also says that because the dinners have moved indoors there have been less fights.
The bathrooms are nicer too. The doors don’t always lock, but they are air-conditioned. The ones at the park often felt hotter than the outside temperature, former park patrons say.
When volunteers open the doors for dinner at 5 p.m., many of the dinner patrons work to set up the tables and folding chairs.
Biff Magnus is among them. He has been coming to the Friends in the Park dinners on and off for over a year. Magnus, who lives at Wilson Court with his friend, Janice Hilliard, also approves of the new transition. The rules are stricter, he says, but he doesn’t mind — this is often his only meal of the day.
Magnus, who is originally from Oregon, is currently unemployed. He has experience working for convenience stores and at a pipe plant, but his focus now is driving Hilliard to her cancer treatments. Monday through Friday he drives her to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, where she is receiving treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia.
Because Hilliard is on medical leave from her job at Wal-Mart, they don’t receive any supplemental assistance. Hilliard is also raising her niece, Ashley, and nephew, John.
“It’s hard,” Magnus says. “We help each other out.”
Still, Magnus tries to stay upbeat. He is familiar with almost all of the volunteers and hopes to be able to start looking for work in a month, since Hilliard is now in remission.
Magnus feels the pressure. Though he is quick to crack a joke in his backwards baseball cap, he has been out of work for over a year and is the only potential source of income for himself and Hilliard’s family.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” he says. “The future’s not so bright for a guy like me.”
It’s this type of need that makes the strict rules of the center easy to abide by. The program has a zero tolerance policy. Anyone who shows up intoxicated or under the influence of drugs is prohibited from entering the property. At most, they are given a wrapped plate at the door of the center and told that they must eat it elsewhere.
“We lost a lot of people [from the park],” Magnus says. “The rules are a little bit more strict.”
Unlike the park, where people frequently loitered after meals, patrons aren’t allowed to stick around the center after they’ve finished eating.
“It’s short,” Magnus says. “Once it’s over, it’s time to go.”
Some may miss the meals if they don’t arrive on time. Food is served promptly at 5 p.m., and most patrons are packed or gone before 6 p.m.
Guests at Veterans’ Memorial Monument Park have also noticed a decrease in homeless activity at the park. On Labor Day, Elizabeth Flores helps her sister set up for a quinceañera photo shoot at the park. In the past, she has seen the homeless loitering in the park and sleeping on benches. But since July, she hasn’t see any.
“It shows how much has changed in Plant City,” Flores says.
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE
Elizabeth Zambrano and her husband, Eleazar Zambrano, serve dinner on Thursday evenings. They have been volunteering with the Friends in the Park program for two years. Though the new amenities are nice, there are some things they miss from the park.
“It’s more comfortable for them sitting, but we miss the atmosphere,” Elizabeth Zambrano says.
Although the space was tight, it brought everyone together.
Barbara Grainger, a volunteer with Restoring Hope Global, agrees that both have their benefits.
“A lot of people never made the transition,” Grainger said. “There’s a lot of new people.”
Those who do come to the center are likely to come again. Grainger sees many of the same people every time she volunteers, such as Magnus.
He takes his place at the end of the serving line to make sure everyone else gets a full plate. The disabled are first, followed by women and children, and then men. Once those in line have taken their seats, he approaches the table of covered pans.
The hungry sit around the folding tables and make conversation. Despite their different backgrounds — some homeless, some pregnant, some with extra mouths to feed — they gather together. It is a time of fellowship.
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.
BY THE NUMBERS
3,607,878: the number of Florida residents enrolled in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (food stamps) in April.
3,630,463: the number of Florida residents enrolled in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (food stamps) in May.
16.4: the percentage of Florida residents who lived below the poverty line between 2009 and 2013
17.7: the percentage of Plant City residents living below the poverty line between 2009 and 2013.
SOURCES: Food Research & Action Center; United States Census Bureau
WHY THE PLAYGROUND VANISHED
After the playground in Veterans’ Memorial Monument Park was removed last year, residents in surrounding neighborhoods thought it was a response to their complaints about the homeless loitering after the dinner program.
But Jack Holland, the director of the city’s Recreation & Parks Department, says that the playground equipment was removed for safety reasons in July 2014.
“As one of our high-use playgrounds, wear and tear along with weather deterioration required many pieces of the apparatus to need replacement,” Holland says. “The cost to overhaul the playground was well over half the cost to replace it, thus, it was not economically feasible to do repairs.”
There are currently no plans to rebuild the playground that was once at the park because of budget constraints.
City Manager Mike Herr says that it could be a possible future project if increased revenues happen.
WHY ALTERNATIVES WON’T WORK
Many of the volunteers, such as Elizabeth and Eleazar Zambrano, volunteer with the program through their church. Residents who have expressed concern with the new location wonder why the needy can’t be fed at churches, especially ones with full kitchens.
But the suggestion is easier said than done. The volunteers are different each day and are from different churches throughout Plant City.
The Zambranos volunteer through Iglesia Bautista Hispania, a church that is located five miles away from the Winter Visitor Center on Jap Tucker Road. Volunteers from Plant City’s First Baptist Church, such as Mac Craig, are based out of the church, located one mile east of the Winter Visitor Center.
With various volunteers throughout the week, hosting the dinners at different locations across town may cause transportation issues for the program’s patrons. And a single church has not volunteered to host the program every night.