Love has home in their hearts

"To be faithful in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live." Important words in any wedding ceremony.

Somehow, though, the words resonate differently when coming from the weathered lips of a homeless couple brought to the altar not only by love, but also by ill health and the need for shelter.

Nan Schrack and Mark Neville have been together for 14 years, the last five of them on the streets. They lost their mobile home in Seffner when the landlord failed to pay his taxes.

Neville's job as an air conditioning mechanic dried up, and as the economy faltered, even the day labor jobs he grew to depend on disappeared.

It had been hard.

It got harder when they landed on the street with a tent and few possessions five years ago.

Schrack, 53, has a brain aneurysm and emphysema. Her health is not good. Sleeping under the stars just isn't working anymore.

Neville, 58, who says they've put off marrying for too many years, wants a place where he can care for her and keep her safe from the elements.

"I asked Jim (McNeil) at the church, 'what does someone do who wants to get married but doesn't have any money?'" Neville said, just before his haircut Wednesday morning.

From there, McNeil, a church volunteer at First Presbyterian Church of Brandon who often treks up and down State Road 60 with meals and clothes for the homeless, set out to arrange a wedding.

At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, before a small gathering of their homeless friends, the couple wed outside First Presbyterian.

Before too long, hopefully, the couple will also have a place to live, with running water and a roof, said Tracey Crocker, an Americorps*Vista volunteer with the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County.

By marrying, the couple can apply for programs that can help them get housing together, Crocker said. "A lot of the programs won't allow you to file for one place unless you are legally married," she explained.