By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic
Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC
Hector Gonzalez, founder of Hope for Homeless, talks with homeless men during a recent sandwich distribution run in downtown Miami.
MIAMI � With a little inspiration from the Sisters of Charity, a Westchester man with a longtime commitment to the homeless found what may be an ideal food package for bringing sustenance to Miami�s chronic street people.
Fittingly, perhaps, for the parishioners of St. Agatha Parish, that food item is a modified Cuban sandwich, prepared each Wednesday night in quantities that have sometimes exceeded 400 sandwiches.
With donated bread, ham or turkey, the meals are made individually by a growing number of volunteers who call themselves Hope for the Homeless. The group formed last August at the parish due in no small part to Hector Gonzalez, who manages eye care retail shops around Miami.
Gonzalez�s passion for this ministry to street persons is visibly infectious. Last summer, he won a national Jefferson Award for Public Service for single-handedly making rounds near the old Miami Arena, delivering food and other items to the homeless in between his business appointments.
The genius aspect of using Cuban bread: It holds up well overnight and won�t easily turn soggy. Add to that a slice of American cheese, but absent the pickles and condiments.
�I learned the hard way that American bread gets soggy,� said Gonzalez, who is usually accompanied by his wife, Maria. The sandwiches are tucked inside bio-degradable brown paper bags along with a bottle of water and a Latin pastry � the sugar can help to offset a craving for alcohol.
YELLOW T-SHIRTS
Wearing their trademark bright yellow Hope for the Homeless T-shirts, the St. Agatha volunteers find that the street people near the Miami Rescue Mission, Camillus House and elsewhere already have formed bonds with the church group, whom the homeless refer to as the �Hope People.�
On a recent drizzly Thursday night, blankets and clothing donations were part of the Hope for Homeless distribution � what some call a kind of Walmart on wheels in which the street men and women asked for their pant sizes and received a donated Snuggie blanket with built-in sleeves for chilly nights.
Some of the volunteers gathered around a woman who was lying on the sidewalk to help her into her Snuggie. In another spot, the group shared a few Gospel songs with a homeless man named Ramon after getting him into a clean blanket for the night.
St. Agatha�s pastor, Father Rolando Garcia, gave the group his full support and blessing in keeping with the parish�s longstanding tradition of lending material and financial support to the needy in Haiti and elsewhere.
�I had approached Father Garcia that I was interested in creating a homeless ministry and at the same time there was a young man in the parish, Moises Pineda, interested in doing the same,� Gonzalez said. �The first time I brought about 11 people and this was a life changing experience for them. Now I take 15 or 20 in a caravan of cars.�
When he was in his early 20s, Gonzalez recalled taking a picture of a homeless man in New York City. As he sat next to him to change a roll of film, the two started a conversation that lasted 40 minutes.
�He was a university graduate and how he got there inspired me to help the homeless as a way to give thanks to the Lord for all he has given me,� Gonzalez said.
MEET RAMON
Moving around the downtown area, Gonzalez and his team sometimes stop their cars just long enough to jump out and deliver the brown-bag meal to an individual or two. They make a complete stop when they see a cluster of the homeless. Near an auto parts outlet, they found Ramon, a street person known for his gregarious nature and tendency to sing charismatic songs. The volunteers joined in.
Gonzalez�s wife, Maria, explained that Ramon is from Cuba and has been on the street for 20 years, in part because of a drinking problem. The group usually ends its rounds with a visit to Ramon, dressing him in a Snuggie, leaving him food and singing in Spanish. Sometimes they find donated items that they bring along especially for him.
�This is rewarding,� said Daisy Arceyut, who runs the parish�s FOCCUS pre-marriage program, adding that the volunteers don�t give out cash during their work. �I think it shows us we can do a lot for our Lord as a servant for him, as workers for Jesus.�
The homeless are sometimes driven from downtown areas during sporting events, and the City of Miami is trying to outlaw panhandling here, making life harder for street people � something Gonzalez said he will fight at City Hall on his own time. But thus far the police have not interrupted the Hope for Homeless team.
�They have never told us to leave,� said parishioner Maruchi Bello, adding that Gonzalez had been fined in the past for littering when he dispensed food in the wrong kind of packaging.
�SO MANY BLESSINGS�
�The first time I came I received so many blessings,� Bello added after singing with Ramon. �I get goose bumps from this and he teaches us that we should be so happy. We have so much and we are sometimes not joyful like he is. Just because we came and gave him something he was so happy. We see a lot of experiences like that.�
Near the Miami Rescue Mission, the volunteers were greeted by Leslie Ebanks, a prison ministry worker and member of the pastoral staff from Pure Heart Christian Center in Kendall. The homeless there had been telling him about the volunteers with yellow t-shirts.
Ebanks informed the group that he has been involved in homeless ministry for 20 years and was homeless in Miami once himself.
�It is hopeless (when you are on the streets here). This is not a nice place to be,� he said. �The homeless here were just telling me that these (Hope for Homeless) people continue to do this for us, and I had to come over and thank them. You guys are awesome: No agenda, you just came out here to love people.�
Father Garcia said Hope for Homeless has quickly become a beautiful component of St. Agatha Parish and he recommended they take St. Margaret of Scotland as their patroness. The Middle Ages saint was known for her charitable works and for personally serving orphans and the poor every day before she ate.
�We have always been a generous parish with the Sisters of Charity in Haiti, but we also needed to do something around us � to offer people in our community not a hand out but a helping hand especially during this economic crisis,� Father Garcia said.
The parish has been inspired by Archbishop Thomas Wenski�s call for south Florida Catholics to be witnesses of hope and to �start anew� in Christ.
The economic downturn has been visible in the region, according to Father Garcia. �We have people coming to our parish looking for a job. They started calling us the �hope people� and we want to be that in the midst of this crisis � there is always something we can give: our time, talent or treasure.�
Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC
Mario Lezma ministers to a homeless man.
