Ministry plans to improve soup kitchen

Tending to the homeless and needy in the heart of East Naples is tricky business.

St. Matthew's House, a homeless shelter at 2001 Airport-Pulling Road S., would like to remodel its soup kitchen a few blocks away.

The soup kitchen has operated for 18 years in a former firehouse at 2691 Airport-Pulling Road S., which was rented by St. Matthew's House for 17 years before the shelter bought the property last September from out-of-town owners.

Now, plans are being drafted to spruce up the building and make it more functional as a soup kitchen and as a temporary shelter for up to 18 men, the same use as in the past.

St. Matthew's House has a conditional-use permit for the soup kitchen and in all likelihood can make the upgrades without having to apply for a new permit, which would require approval from the Collier County Commission.

The shelter is facing a goodwill challenge from Commissioner Donna Fiala, who represents East Naples and who led the charge against the shelter being built more than a decade ago at Airport-Pulling Road and Glades Boulevard.

Photo by TRISTAN SPINSKI, Daily News

Diners bow their heads in prayer before sitting down for a meal Thursday evening on the back patio of the St. Matthew's House soup kitchen in East Naples. Plans to expand the soup kitchen south of the shelter on Airport-Pulling Road may draw a challenge from critics who want the shelter to clean up the trash they claim shelter residents are responsible for.

Fiala and some residents of the Glades Country Club want the shelter to clean up the trash and abandoned clothing that has tarnished the area. Letters have been exchanged in recent months and there have been meetings to try to find a solution.

During a recent meeting with shelter officials, Fiala suggested the shelter distribute bags to the homeless to fill with trash before getting served a meal at the soup kitchen. If that's not feasible, she wants monthly or bimonthly meetings with everyone affected, from residents to business owners and from the Collier County Sheriff's Office and county government.

"What I was asking for is cooperation to help us with this problem," Fiala said. "It will never be solved and it never will be eliminated. Because of the soup kitchen being there, (the homeless) flock there."

The Rev. Vann Ellison, executive director of the shelter, said those who come to the soup kitchen for meals cannot be held totally responsible for littering.

"We will work at trying to get those people more responsible but I'm not going to exchange a bag of trash for a plate of food," Ellison said. "We have a feeding ministry."

The Rev. Craig Nelson of East Naples United Methodist Church, next door to the shelter, said the church custodian regularly cleans up trash on the church property presumed to be from shelter residents.

Photo by TRISTAN SPINSKI, Daily News

Bill Newell, a construction worker and resident of St. Matthew’s House, washes baking trays after dinner on Thursday evening. Everyone living at the East Naples shelter is assigned a daily chore based on what bed they are assigned.

"Is it an issue? Yes. Reality? Yes," Nelson said.

Nevertheless, the church will support the soup kitchen's remodeling, he said.

"If that building were to look better, it is a benefit to the church," Nelson said. "If bathrooms are available to the homeless, that is a benefit to East Naples United Methodist Church. We would support (the remodeling) on various levels."

Ellison presented documents to Fiala about the remodeling plans.

"We are not expanding it," he said.

St. Matthew's House paid $265,000 for the building last year and remodeling will cost another $450,000. The plans call for updating plumbing and electrical wiring, better appliances and improving the 18-bed area for men. The plan also includes adding public access bathrooms but not showers for public access. The bathrooms would be monitored but not open all night, he said.

"A (public access) shower seems to be one of those things to cause concern," Ellison said.

The plans do not call for adding more tables, even though the number of meals served is increasing. In the winter months, the soup kitchen serves 80 to 90 meals. Annually, 130,000 meals are served.

At first blush, Fiala said, the remodeling plan seems OK.

"My concern is while they want to remodel, I want the area's appearance to improve," she said, adding that bathrooms accessible to the public might help. She believes the shelter does not need a new permit to remodel.

Asked if she would try to fight the remodeling, Fiala said; "Well, let's see what they do to help us. We all have to work together at this problem. A lot of good things can happen."

Constance Chaffee, a Glades resident for 18 years, contacted Fiala this past spring about trash behind the Home Depot store property that backs up to some Glades' residences and at the gazebo on the store's property. The littering seems to be coming from homeless people going to the soup kitchen and not from residents of the shelter, she said. Ellison has been willing to help address the problem, she said.

Chaffee said Home Depot managers told her the store has workers pick up littering twice a week and yet it remains a constant problem. She has filled up several bags of trash.

She was unaware the shelter's plans to remodel the soup kitchen but doesn't intend to take a position on it.

"I really wouldn't," Chaffee said. "I just hope more instruction is given to people who go to St. Matthew's House (for meetings) and people at the soup kitchen not to go over to Home Depot. I think it's communication. Put up more 'no littering' signs and 'no vagrancy' signs."

Charles Hitchcock, president of the Glades association, said since Chaffee made Home Depot and the county aware of the problem, there has been a positive response from the store and from the county's code enforcement department.

He doesn't anticipate the association taking a stance on the soup kitchen remodeling.

"I don't think it has any direct bearing on our community being down the street," he said.