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Last-minute donations keep Hudson homeless shelter open

Nearly $8,000 in rent was due today

Tribune photo by ANDY JONES

A variety of furniture for sale is dislayed at the Holy Ground Homeless Shelter in Hudson. The public has come up with enough donations to keep the homeless shelter open after the shelter was given a notice of evction recently. The furniture and other goods are also donated items and their sale helps with costs at the shelter.

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By GEOFF FOX | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 9, 2009

HUDSON - Lisa Barabas-Henry was speechless, shedding tears of relief.

A week ago, it looked like the Holy Ground Homeless shelter, which she has operated for almost 20 years, would close because she couldn't pay the rent.

Thanks to donations from area residents and businesses, though, Barabas-Henry has enough to pay three months rent and enough donated furniture to practically fill a showroom.

"I'd jump and down if I could," said Barabas-Henry, who was out of the hospital a couple of days when an eviction sign appeared on the property's front door. The sign said the shelter would have to close by today if it didn't come up with $7,900 for May and June's rent.

"I'm crying right now because this is great," she said. "I'm speechless. This is a community where everyone is suffering with the economy, but people found out about us and reached out from afar."

The property at 8835 Denton Ave. is owned by Domenico Enterprises of Pasco. The shelter, which houses almost 70 people – including 16 children between 2 and 14 – owed $7,900 in rent with seemingly no way to pay it.

"I now have enough for the $7,900, plus another month's [rent], plus utilities," she said. "This is unbelievable; it's so hard to comprehend.

"Businesses, residents, just the average person" donated, she said. "One person on unemployment came in to give $5. How do you take their $5?"

Ted Davis of Odessa, who owns K&J Consulting Services in Tampa, was inspired to give the shelter a check for $6,000 this morning. K&J is a global computer network infrastructure company.

"We're blessed, and I just wanted to give back," he said. "The main thing [that motivated me] was all the things [Barabas-Henry] has done for so many families. You close that place and 60 people are homeless; it really got to me. It was so moving, even going there today. I just didn't want to see that place closed."

The shelter serves between 33,000 and 40,000 meals a year and also gives away turkeys at Thanksgiving and toys at Christmas.

Barabas-Henry said last week that she had always paid the rent, although sometimes it was late. She received news that the shelter would be closed just days after being released from the hospital. She has a heart condition and still had pneumonia in one lung Friday.

"I never thought I would get a notice," she said last week. "I've always initiated calls to the owners to let them know where we stand financially.

"Without this place, this community will be devastated."

Last week, a resident at the shelter called a local newspaper about the situation, and before long all manner of media were interviewing Barabas-Henry. The attention attracted people who brought in money donations, as well as furniture, food and other items, much of which lined Denton Avenue today.

"We'll find a way to use everything," Barabas-Henry said. "We're self-sufficient. I'll take good care of it. I know how to put it to the best use."

Jean Timmons, Barabas-Henry's mother and the shelter's office manager, said her daughter would like to do fundraisers, but it's difficult because running the shelter and its kitchen monopolizes her time.

"We've done silent auctions in the past, but Lisa has to go out, get the donations herself and talk to people," she said.

The mood around Holy Ground has "changed 100 percent" since last week, Timmons said.

"People were worried, and that's a lot of people," she said. "Where were they going to go? We have a hospice patient here with three months [to live]. Where was he going to go?

"You can't just put him on the street."

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 731-1239.

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