Volunteers hope to make Christmas brighter for area homeless

GULFPORT -- Carrissa Corvette said she wanted to make a difference last Christmas by feeding a couple of needy families in the Gulfport area. She said she and her friend, fellow college student Lauren Poncet, decided to do something bigger this year by holding a cookout for the homeless.

Corvette, Poncet and Verina Robiller were joined by other volunteers Saturday in their effort to help feed and clothe the homeless.

The cookout was on the grounds of Feed My Sheep, a Gulfport soup kitchen. Poncet said they chose the location because of the needy are familiar with it.

"Carrissa and I started putting this together and created a Facebook event for it about three weeks ago," Poncet said. "It's proof that if you have an idea, you can make it happen."

Robiller is a sixth-grade teacher at Crossroads Elementary. When she received word of the project, she went to her students for help.

"We needed a community-service project, so my students went out of their way to collect a lot of the clothing that was donated, and some of them showed up to do volunteer work," she said. "We have no corporate sponsors. This is a community project between friends, students and volunteers."

With most of the homeless not having access to the Internet, Poncet said they used a grass-roots method to let people know about Saturday's cookout.

"We made flyers and we hung them in areas where we knew the homeless go," she said. "We also told people on the street, as well. If we saw people begging, we made sure to let them know about it.

True meaning of Christmas

More than 100 people attended the cookout in its first hour. Each was served a hot meal, given a bag of ready-to-eat food and toiletries and then encouraged to go through tables of clothes to get whatever they needed.

"We have socks, hats, blankets, mittens, canned goods -- whatever it is they need, hopefully we have something for them," Poncet said.

Tony Robertson said he read about the cookout on Facebook and decided to bring his family out to help.

"I have two kids and one on the way," he said. "I want them to know what Christmas is all about -- that it's about giving, and helping others. My little one and I got up early and we went and picked up some blankets and some other donations."

Robiller said any items not distributed will be used for other families.

"If we have anything left, we are going to talk to area shelters and see what they need and if we can help," she said.

Growing problem

Corvette said although she has not conducted a study on the Coast's homeless residents, she believes more people are finding themselves without a place to live.

"The homeless problem here is huge," she said. "It's getting bigger, but fortunately, so is the number of people willing to help."

A few hours before the cookout at Feed My Sheep, another program for the homeless had begun at Gulfport's Westside Park. Shepherd of the Gulf members were distributing Christmas bags for the homeless.

The bags contained food, clothing and small Christmas gifts.

Lynda Favre, Shepherd of the Gulf director, said she, too, believes there are more homeless people in the area.

"We had the largest number of campers we've ever had on Saturday," she said. "It was a good year for donations, but the demand was large, as I think the number of homeless is increasing. I'm seeing a lot of new faces and a lot of young faces."

Trying for a place of her own

Antoinette Hughes said the past few months have been extremely hard for her. She said she moved to the Coast from the Jackson area after the death of one of her daughters. A plan to live with relatives in Gulfport did not pan out and Hughes said she has been homeless for about seven months.

She attended both events Saturday.

"It was nice to get a little teddy bear as a Christmas gift," she said. "I got a scarf and some gloves and some food. This will get me by for a few days. Now I need to get a new pair of shoes."

Hughes said she stays in the Salvation Army cold shelter when it is open and tries to find a place to sleep in Gulfport when it isn't.

"I was in the shelter (Friday) night because it was cold," she said. "But when the shelter is not open, I don't have anywhere else to go. I'm just trying to find a place of my own."

She said in spite of her circumstances, she is grateful for the community's giving spirit.

"The people on the Coast have been very helpful and kind, especially during the Christmas season."

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 9:32 PM with the headline "Volunteers hope to make Christmas brighter for area homeless ."