From Naples Daily News/St. Matthew’s House Times

Download a copy: http://buildingstmatts.wordpress.com/download-a-copy-of-the-smh-times/

Hold your breath. Your chest starts to constrict. You become
light-headed. Suddenly, you realize you’re having a heart attack. You
lose control, and the room starts to spin. Before you know it, your
whole body convulses. A shock. A defibrillator. Your chest eases, and
you sharply inhale. Everything is okay.

But then your heart fails you again. It’s beyond your control, and you
feel out of options. ZAP. The defibrillator syncs your heart back to
rhythm. You know this can’t go on forever. Your hope — and your heart
– has an expiration date. Something has to change. You need a fresh
start. You need a new heart.

In the battle of hunger, poverty, addiction and homelessness, St.
Matthew’s House is that new heart. The transplant. The second chance
for many of Bonita Springs’ less fortunate.

St. Matthew’s feeding ministry offers the emergency assistance, the
defibrillator for temporary food insecurity. In 2009, SMH’s food
pantry handed out 8,000 bags of groceries, while Immokalee Friendship
House provides over 25,000 hot, nutritious meals per year. They also
average more than 50,000 nights in emergency housing annually.

But just like your heart can’t beat every morning with the pulse of
emergency electricity, Bonita Springs’ homeless and hungry can’t
thrive on daily emergency handouts from soup kitchens and nightly
shelters. They need a transitional facility. They need St. Matthew’s
House. SMH provides rehabilitation facilities, transitional housing
and structured programs to begin life with a new heart and fresh
hopes.

To help turn their lives around, residents have computer access to
direct assistance programs through the Automated Community Connection
for Economic Self-Sufficiency. ACCESS provides applications for food
stamps, temporary cash assistance and Medicaid. Over 400 people per
year use these programs through St. Matthew’s.

The need to help residents of Bonita Springs is apparent. Last year in
Bonita and Estero, 412 people qualified for homeless health
assistance. According to the Lee County Homeless Coalition’s annual
“point in time” homeless survey, 1,054 individuals are homeless
compared to last year’s count of 1,041. But that number is estimated
to be closer to over 3,000. In addition, the Lee County School Board’s
estimated number of homeless students is 904. Last year, that number
was 710.

The Naples location of St. Matthew’s House has many residents from Lee
County and has been over capacity since June of 2005. The waiting list
is increasing, and the homeless population is increasing along with
it.

Bonita Springs City Councilwoman Martha Simons has expressed her
opposition for the proposed Bonita location of St. Matthew’s House in
a quote reported by Naples Daily News. In an email last June, she
said, “The proposal St. Matthew’s House is making is DANGEROUS for our
city. Why do I say this? Because every prison and jail will send their
new releases here and there will be no ability to monitor or control
sex offenders who have nowhere else to go.”

The people who benefit from St. Matthew’s and its various programs are
quite the opposite. St. Matthew’s and the Sheriff’s office run warrant checks
on residents every 24 hours, and sex offenders are not permitted. The
residents of St. Matthew’s House are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters,
and Southwest Florida residents who have nowhere else to turn. People
who deserve a second chance.

The goal of SMH isn’t to offer a quick fix. St. Matthew’s House is a
solution. St. Matthew’s doesn’t offer a handout — it offers a hand
up.