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Chasco Middle School students make homemade blankets and clothing for the homeless

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BY KLINT LOWRY

THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: December 26, 2009

PORT RICHEY - There were warm feelings to go around during a recent presentation at Chasco Middle School.

On Dec. 17, eighth-graders from Sue Evanoski's family and consumer sciences classes welcomed the Rev. Morson Livingston, founder of the St. Jude's Homeless Veterans Center.

The former Army chaplain was at the school to receive the fruits of the students' classroom labors - stacks of handmade blankets, hats, sweaters and scarves to be distributed to area homeless people.

Every year, Evanoski incorporates a community involvement component into her classes, to add a dimension of purpose and social awareness to the lesson. This year, they dubbed their effort Project Cover Up.

From the start, the project had a built-in sense of community teamwork. With a tight school budget, Evanoski went to the Pasco Educational Foundation, which secured funding for a grant through the Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union's Suncoast for Kids Foundation.

Chip Wichmanoski, executive director of the Pasco Educational Foundation, and Janet Brownell, a branch manager with the Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union, were on hand for the presentation, as was Pasco School Superintendent Heather Fiorentino. Wichmanoski and Fiorentino made brief comments commending the students for their work. They could feel, however, as could everyone else in the room, that this presentation spoke for itself, and what was needed to be said would be best said by Livingston and the students.

"On behalf of the veterans, I want to express a sincere thank you," Livingston opened. He began his speech saying that they might be wondering what "this Taliban-looking guy" was doing collecting goods for veterans.

Born in Kerala, in southwestern India, Livingston grew up in the Catholic Church, and was ordained as a priest in 1985. He worked within the Federal Bureau of Prisons system before becoming a chaplain. He spent a year in Bosnia during the U.S. peacekeeping mission in the war-torn Balkan nation.

Since coming to Pasco County in 2005, he has devoted himself to helping homeless veterans, founding the St. Jude's Veterans Center and working with various area organizations and agencies to provide goods and services to help Pasco's 4,000-plus homeless population.

The students may not know what it is like to live without a ceiling over their heads or a floor beneath them, he said, but these days it is not hard to imagine hardship, and just how valuable this contribution is.

The blankets and other items were neatly stacked on a table in the classroom, near a window where they glowed in warm sunlight. The following day, Livingston took them to the Salvation Army Center of Hope on Washington Street, for an afternoon giveaway. In less than two hours, almost all the provisions were gone, its recipients getting back before nightfall to places only they and people like Livingston know.

Benefactor never met beneficiary. The students never got to accept thanks or see who their handiwork was going to. They didn't really need that, though, as student My Nguyen expressed in a short prepared statement during the presentation.

"We feel content because we did something," Nguyen said. "Inside, we feel happy."

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