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10A SUN NEWSPAPERS OCTOBER 22, 2011 • WEEKEND EDITION

interviewed did not want to give her last name, said the deputies told her that as long as the group was cleaning up, they would not be bothered.

Wendy Rose, public infor-mation officer for the sheriff’s office, said there had been a discussion with some of the people Tuesday evening, and they agreed to the 12-hour time frame to vacate the property.

“They were asked if 12 hours was OK, and they said yes,” she said. “It was not strictly enforced. There were no incidents whatever. If they needed more time by this morning, they were allowed to take it.”

Rose explained that the sheriff’s office does not issue

trespass orders but rather enforces them.

About a dozen homeless people have lived on the property for several years. Six are disabled, according to one of the residents. Julio Barreto said he’s been there five years.

“We’re a family and I don’t want to leave,” he said.

Sally, who has lived at Pirates Cove for two years, said it’s bad enough that they’re homeless: “Now they are throwing us out on the street.”

She said they’re homeless because they lost their jobs.

“My husband worked for a cabinet company and it closed two years ago,” she said. “I didn’t work and we couldn’t pay our bills. So we lost our house.”

David C., a chef who has owned his own business in the past, said they are all looking for work, but many have felony

records and have a hard time finding a job.

Frank said they have not been considered trespassers before, and now, all of a sud-den, they are.

“We believe in clean living here with no drugs or vio-lence allowed,” Frank said. “Sure, some of us drink a few beers, but we take care of ourselves.”

They dug an 8-foot hole for sewage and filled it with lye and kept it clean, he said. And some area churches brought dumpsters so they could dump their garbage.

“We even helped the cops catch a couple of robbers who ran through here,” Frank said. “We are just people trying to live the best we can. And we don’t want to have to hurry to get out because we don’t want to leave a mess, either,” he said.

Sally and the others said

they are grateful to the friends they’ve made in the commu-nity who have helped them throughout the years with food and supplies. She named sev-eral churches and community groups.

Upon receiving the evic-tion notice, Jerry, another resident, called Ken Wagner, technical coordinator at First Christian Church. Wagner gathered some men from the church and they made a plan.

“We decided we could put them up in a motel for two days and store some of their belongings at the church,” he said.

Wagner, Associate Pastor Charles Rowley and many members of FCC have be-friended the group.

“They have compassion and care about us, so they help us,” Sally said.

Wagner and Rowley first

came across the people at Pirates Cove about a year ago, after a fire took out some of their tents.

“We went to Jim O’Hara’s Cafe looking specifically for who was hurting in the com-munity,” Wagner said. “We stumbled across Pirates Cove and came in and saw the burned trees and decided to help.”

Wagner and Rowley pro-duced a video to show church members, and those homeless people were welcomed at the church, especially for Sunday night dinners. David C., Sally and others have prepared din-ners several times for church members as a way to say thank you.

“These people need a place to live and jobs,” Wagner said. “I tell them God has a way. They are going to make it.”

Email: [email protected]

Responding to ques-tions submitted by email, foundation CEO Teri Hansen called the people behind the Save Our Foundation campaign “a faction of the Venice community” and said, “We believe their opin-ions are misinformed and detrimental to the good work of all of our community’s nonprofit organizations. The board and staff of Gulf Coast Community Foundation remain committed to working with our donors

to transform our region through bold and proac-tive philanthropy.”

A follow-up question asking how the group is misinformed went unan-swered Friday.

The focus on the “region” instead of the hospital’s service area is what rankles the group, which also believes that current foundation board members are not involved enough locally to know the needs in the service area. Many of them live or work outside that area; the foundation did not answer Friday when asked via email where each board mem-ber lives and works, other

than to say,“Members of our board of directors live and work in Venice and the surrounding com-munities — the region we serve — and have diverse professional experi-ences that qualify them to lead this multifaceted organization.”

Those qualifications aren’t in dispute, Vedder said.

“They may be fine people, many of them perfect for a board,” he said, “but none of them knows the programs and history. No one is involved in the problems in the community.”

The group would also like the word “Venice”

put back in the founda-tion’s name, though Ved-der acknowledged “it’s a pride thing” for people who were so closely con-nected to Venice Hospital and the creation of what was originally The Venice Foundation.

According to informa-tion provided by the foundation, the decision to change the name this year, was based on the recommendation of a task force and was ap-proved unanimously.

“The board of directors respectfully acknowl-edges certain frustra-tions regarding the name change,” a response to an email question states.

“They remain 100 per-cent committed to the name change as it best reflects who we are and what we do.”

When the name was changed from The Venice Foundation to Gulf Coast Community Founda-tion, then Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice, in 2003, the stated reason for the change was to enhance the prospects of obtain-ing donors outside the Venice area. According to the foundation, from 1995 to 2002, $6.7 million in contributions was received from donors, while from 2002 to today $72.9 million has been

contributed, and grants from donor-advised funds exceed grants from The Venice Endowment.

A request for any data showing a causal con-nection between the name change and the increase in contribu-tions was not responded to Friday, nor was a request for documents showing grants made by and expenses charged to the endowment. Audited financial statements are available on the foundation’s website, GulfCoastCF.org, don’t identify the funds that grants are made from.

Email: [email protected]

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