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Proposed Pasco Teen Center Wears New Coat Of Hope

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By JEFF SCULLIN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 31, 2008

DADE CITY - Church volunteers from Savannah, Ga., were in town last week, painting an old pool hall that community leaders in Tommytown hope to turn into a teen center.

What's unusual is that Farmworkers Self-Help doesn't yet own the Lock Street building where teens someday may go after school for a healthy meal, help with homework and a safe haven from neighborhood streets beset with blight and crime.

Margarita Romo, the group's executive director, doesn't think a lack of money should derail a good idea.

"We're going to believe that it's ours, and we're not backing off," she said. "As long as God's moving, why should I back off?"

William Roen, the pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Savannah, three other adults and nine youths from the church showed up last week to paint the building, inside and out. They even brought the paint.

Roen is no stranger to Tommytown, a predominantly Hispanic community where many residents are migrant workers and the average annual household income is about $7,500.

Last year, a group from his Savannah church painted the Farmworkers Self-Help office and the house next door.

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