Video for Headline Surfer / 'Pastor Mike' Pastore, a street preacher who looks after Daytona Beach's chronic homeless population, tells municipal leaders at City Hall Wednesday night, he's pleased to see progress with Hope Place, the haven for homeless families and unaccompanied teens, that is expected to open its doors at the former Hurst Elementary School this summer. But Pastore says he feels great frustration with the lack of progress in way of a shelter for the homeless people he deals with - mostly individuals who are chronically homeless, drug- or alchol addicted, suffering from mental illness and prone to violence and failing heath from living on the streets. Pastore is followed in the video by a prominent citizen, entrepreneur Forough Hosseini whose advocasy led to a public-private partnership in making Hope Place a reality. DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- With little fanfare, the Daytona City Commission voted unanimously Wednesday night in chambers to provide Halifax Urban Ministries a grant in the amount of $150,000 to "develop and commence operation" of Hope Place, a homeless center serving unaccompanied youth and families with children.
The grant would be paid in two equal annual installments during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 fiscal years, which run from Oct. 1 to the following Sept. 31. At the end of the 2017-2018 fiscal year, and annually thereafter, the City Commission would have authority to extend the agreement and provide additional grant monies. The funding comes frrom the city's general fund.
"Hope Place is progressing well, but slower than I would like because of the great things it will do," Mark Geallis, the executive director of Haxifax Urban Ministries told Headline Surfer this morning. "Architect plans are nearly 90 percent complete so we will soon put in for the building permit with Volusia County."
Geallis said the most recent time frame has remodelling of the former Hurst Elementary School, where Hope Place will operate from, beginning in January. This in turn would lead to an opening for homeless families and unaccompanied teens next summer.
"Hope Place is progressing well, but slower than I would like because of the great things it will do," Mark Geallis, the executive director of Haxifax Urban Ministries told Headline Surfer this morning. "Architect plans are nearly 90 percent complete so we will soon put in for the building permit with Volusia County."
Geallis said the most recent time frame has remodelling of the former Hurst Elementary School, where Hope Place will operate from, beginning in January. This in turn would lead to an opening for homeless families and unaccompanied teens next summer.
Short Bio
Henry Frederick is publisher of Headline Surfer®, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet covering the Daytona Beach-Sanford-Orlando metro area via HeadlineSurfer.com since 2008. A longtime cops & courts reporter focused on breaking news & investigative reporting, Frederick is among the Sunshine State's most prolific daily news reporters, having amassed close to a hundred award-winning byline stories narly eveenly split in print and digital platforms. Frederick earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism with academic honors from Full Sail University in Winter Park in February 2019. He was a metro reporter with the Daytona Beach News-Journal for nearly a decade and then served as a city editor for the Taunton Daily Gazette in Taunton, Mass, while maintaining a residence in Central Florida. Prior to moving to Florida, Frederick was a metro reporter for the Rockland Journal-News in Wst Nyack, NY, for seven years. Headline Surfer was named the Sunshine State's top internet news site by the Florida Press Club in 2018.