Jerry DeBellefeuille, 48, works in the kitchen of the Rising Sun Cafe in Brooksville. He says he owes his sobriety and the stability of his life to John and Lisa Callea of Love Your Neighbor.

Jerry DeBellefeuille arranged chicken fingers in a to-go box Tuesday afternoon and then turned to his other jobs, spreading brownie mix in a pan and pressing oatmeal-raisin dough into cookies the size of his hand.

Before he could clock out, he had to store the soups he'd made earlier, haul away an old stove that needed replacing, clean the kitchen counters, and sweep and mop the floor.

All of which, he said, he enjoys so much they don't feel like chores.

"I found out, if you love your job, you'll never work again,'' said DeBellefeuille, 48, a cook and dishwasher at the Rising Sun Cafe in downtown Brooksville.

Though I haven't seen any formal surveys, I sense a lot of people feel the way DeBellefeuille does this year.

We realize that in the past we spent too much time pursuing things we wanted, or thought we wanted — new houses and gargantuan pickup trucks for some of us, drugs for DeBellefeuille. And now, especially on Thanksgiving, we consider ourselves lucky to have what we need.

In a county where the unemployment has climbed to nearly 10 percent, steady, productive work is a blessing. So is sobriety. So is the love of family and friends.

That's especially true, DeBellefeuille said, considering he didn't have any of these things a year ago.

First, though, he took me further back, 19 years ago, when he worked on offshore oil rigs and fathered a baby girl.

The girl's mother, a registered nurse, had little interest in being a full-time mom. But DeBellefeuille said that the first time he saw his daughter, Tiffany, he knew he'd found something more important to him than cocaine or alcohol.

He raised her mostly by himself, even after moving to Spring Hill, in 2001, to be near his elderly parents.

But the problem with devoting yourself to a child, he found, is that there comes a time when the child become less devoted to you. As a teen, she started spending more time with her friends, DeBellefeuille said, which left him with more time to slip back into his old habits.

And when Tiffany returned to Texas two years ago to live with her mother and attend college, he said, he fell deep into addiction.

"I ended up homeless because that cocaine took hold of me,'' he said.

Now he knows the reason for his downward spiral: "I felt like I was losing my love. I felt that everyone I'd ever cared for was leaving me.''

But he didn't realize that last November, when he joined other homeless and low-income residents at the Veterans Day turkey dinner served by the Love Your Neighbor outreach group at American Legion Post 99 in downtown Brooksville.

John Callea, who owns Rising Sun and founded the charity outreach with his wife, Lisa, told DeBellefeuille about Brooksville's Jericho Road Ministries homeless shelter.

DeBellefeuille told him he didn't need it.

"I was broke, but I wasn't broken,'' he said.

He went on to get a well-paid job with a cable company, he said. But in April, as he knew he eventually would, he failed a random drug test.

He lost his job and faced the prospect of returning to live in the mosquito-infested woods. His daughter, disgusted by his drug use, "didn't want anything to do with me,'' he said.

His only hope, he said, was the memory of kind words he'd heard from Lisa Callea at the turkey dinner months earlier.

"She told me, 'There's something special about you.' I thought the whole world was against me, but, no, she had said something nice to me.''

He walked to Jericho Road, he said, where he devoted himself to Christianity and sobriety.

When he finished the first phase of the program, in August, the Calleas offered him a full-time job. A few weeks later, he graduated to full-time work as a cook and dishwasher.

One measure of the spreading poverty in Hernando County, John Callea said, is that the crowds at the weekly Love Your Neighbor dinners have more than doubled in the past year, to about 300 every Sunday. Even more than that, 450 diners, showed up on Veterans Day.

One measure of DeBellefeuille's recovery is that he needed a meal last Veterans Day. This year he was serving them.

He speaks regularly with his daughter on the telephone. He is thankful for that and for the people at Love Your Neighbor and Jericho Road, who he says saved his life.

He is thankful to be living in a rented house rather than in the woods, and to be earning money rather than begging for it.

"I'm thankful for everything,'' he said. "I'm thankful for the breath I breathe.''

Veterans and community unite for dinner   by LINNEA BROWN of Hernando Today BROOKSVILLE — Nov 11, 2007

Brooksville resident and Navy veteran Charles Olson, 87, hasn’t talked about World War II in more than 60 years.

He never had time. When he returned from the war, his wife announced she had fallen for another man, leaving Olson with $250 and full custody of their 2-year-old son, who he barely knew. So he did what any upstanding man would do. He moved back into his parents’ house in Michigan with his son and found work, never pausing to dwell on wartime memories.

 He later remarried, raised more children and spent 32 years driving an 18-wheeler. He spent the past five years caring for his second wife after she developed Alzheimer’s disease. She died in December. And Olson — who previously never had time to go to Veterans Day ceremonies or dinners — finally attended one such dinner on Sunday, hosted by the Brooksville-based nonprofit organization Love Your Neighbor.

“It’s really good,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this.” The event, held at the American Legion Post 99’s hall on Fort Dade Avenue, was meant to thank and recognize all local veterans for their service.

Olson sat with his neighbor, Brooksville resident Harvey Warly, 91, who served in the Army for two years during World War II. Both men said they have lost touch with most of the men they served with.

“We all called each other by our first names,” he said. “No one knew each other’s last names, so it’s difficult to look each other up.” With more than 40 local restaurants and organizations supplying food, the event drew more than 90 volunteers, who served a feast that included turkey, stuffing, biscuits and pumpkin pie.

“People have been here since 7 a.m.,” said John Callea, co-founder of Love Your Neighbor. He said the dinner was meant to show appreciation and gratitude for the veteran’s service, particularly because he said he believes Veterans Day sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of Thanks-giving and the looming holiday season.

“I think we sometimes forget the cost of our freedom,” he said. Brooksville volunteer and veteran John Fletcher agreed. Fletcher, who served in the Air Force in Operation Desert Storm in 1990, said his son, also in the Air Force, is set to be deployed to Iraq in January. “I feel that they really need to have stuff like this more often for veterans, and not just on Veterans Day,” he said. “You don’t see enough support in this country for (them).”

Love Your Neighbor offers hot meals, clothes and toiletries to the county’s poorest residents every Sunday at the American Legion Post. Since its inception 19 weeks ago, the Sunday dinners have been averaging approximately 50 volunteers and 180 diners a week. “After today, we will have served more than 2,400 meals,” he said. Many of those serving food at the Veterans Day event were past recipients of the group’s Sunday dinners, Callea added.

“The best thing about this is how the whole community has come together,” he said.

For information on the dinner or the weekly feedings, call John Callea at 428-9434 or Tim Worsley at 585-0196.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

This story can be found at: http://www.hernandotoday.com/MGBRXO5FW8F.html

Oct 21, 2007  HERNANDO TIMES

She sat by the window, waiting for friends on an April afternoon. They were late. But something told her to stay. A few hours later, Darcy Chase saw a haggard-looking man trudge up quaint Main Street. He looked like a bum, someone most people in downtown Brooksville would ignore.

But she knew: This is why she had stayed parked on a sofa inside the Rising Sun Cafe that afternoon.

Pete Bell paused in front of the shop, holding on to the strap of his backpack, his only possession. Chase could tell he was hungry. He turned away and moved on.

She ran outside and stopped him. "Are you hungry?" He said he hadn't eaten in three days. But he wanted no help.

"Leave me alone," he told her. "I'm going back to the woods to die."  Little did either Bell or Chase know that their encounter that day would lead to much more.

- - -

It's 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon.

Cars begin to pull into the yard at American Legion Post 99 on Fort Dade Avenue. From open trunks come trays covered in tin foil. Out come bags of day-old baked goods from Panera Bread.

For the last three months, this quiet procession of local business owners and volunteers has arrived like clockwork at the modest veterans' hall. They are with Love Your Neighbor Inc., a recently born nonprofit group.

Every sabbath, there is a Sunday dinner for whoever is hungry. Guests are mainly Hernando's homeless and families who make sparse groceries last through the week with the help of this meal. No matter what, from 4 to 6 p.m. there's always a place for food and fellowship.

Inside the patriotic red, white and blue room on this particular Sunday a volunteer begins to line up donated clothing on a few rows of tables. There are stacks of blue jeans and shorts for men, women and children. There are T-shirts, sweaters and an assortment of shoes. On another table are toiletries. Rolls of toilet paper and baby wipes are there for the taking, along with soap and shampoo.

A cooler filled with bottled water is placed outside on the front stoop. As it nears 4 o'clock, those who begin to line up for dinner drink the chilled water while they wait for the door to open. But before that, volunteer Eric Kessel, Bible in hand, reflects.

Remember the story where Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread? The parable shows that the world has a way of sorting itself out, even in the midst of disorganization and chaos, Kessel says. It can mean a bit more.

"The disciples saw the fish and bread multiply, but they still came seeking food," says Kessel, who owns Kesseltech Inc., a computer company in downtown Brooksville.

"We're not here just to be good people. A lot of people coming here today will be here because they're hungry in their belly. But they don't realize that they're hungry for more."

- - -

Inside the coffee shop that April day, Chase, a customer, bought Bell a cup of soup. Her new friend slurped it up. She paid for a week's worth of lunches for him.

After that, Lisa Callea, co-owner of the Rising Sun, paid for more meals. Day after day, Bell showed up for lunch. With each bowl of broth, he told them a little bit more about how he ended up in the woods.

Not long before, Bell was living in Texas. A trained chef, he had an apartment above the restaurant where he worked. But when a fire destroyed the building, he was left with nothing. Before that, his marriage had fallen apart, and he struggled with alcoholism.

With nothing else left, he decided to find his brother, who he heard had been living somewhere around Brooksville. So Bell, who is in his 50s, walked from Texas to Florida.

Months later, the reunion he hoped for hadn't happened. But he did find a group of people who wanted to help. Callea and her husband, John, set Bell up in an apartment that they helped him pay for. Then he got a job at the Hungry Thyme cafe.

Bell talked about his struggles with alcohol. And as they got to know him better, the Calleas noticed other homeless people in Brooksville. Here and there, they saw faces emerge from the woods.

Where did these people come from? Why hadn't they seen them before? What could they do to help?  "It became clear that we had to do something," John Callea said, looking around the crowded Legion hall on a recent Sunday.  "We began to ask ourselves how we could help these people get back on their feet again."

- - -

Carl Wayne stands outside Post 99, waiting for the door to open. He shows up with others who live in tents and abandoned sheds in the woods near Cortez Boulevard in and around Brooksville. The dinner is the one constant in their lives.

The 45-year-old Wayne grew up in the area. His wife, along with two kids, left him several years ago because he's an alcoholic. That's when he started living in the woods.

He's had a few beers this particular afternoon - four to be exact. He knows that the Calleas and others at the dinner only ask that people who come to break bread show up sober. But today wasn't a good day.

His eyes are glassy and his words roll slowly out of his mouth. The scent of alcohol emanates from him. His words reek honesty.

Wayne gets up every day at 6 a.m. and heads over to one of the town labor pools looking for work. The money he gets from whatever job he's assigned is enough to buy the basics: some food, some beer and maybe some cigarettes.

He knows of at least nine homeless camps in the Brooksville area, all of them in the woods. Their size fluctuates, but usually there are at least five people who consistently live at each one.

A count last year by the Mid Florida Homeless Coalition reported that there are about 250 homeless people in Hernando on any given day. But those numbers are hard to pin down because it's not always possible to find the homeless.

Along with people in the woods, the homeless include people facing eviction from their homes or those who may be in transition and without a permanent place to live. The Hernando County Health and Human Services Department averages about 18 calls a day from residents who find themselves in such predicaments.

While Love Your Neighbor and other groups help provide relief, Wayne says there are not nearly enough support services in the county. If someone doesn't like the rules that must be followed at shelters such as Jericho Road Ministries, where do they go?

And while people at Love Your Neighbor have been nothing but nice, he says most people in the county choose to ignore the growing homeless population.

"When you're driving by the woods, you're driving by people," he says. "But you don't see the faces looking at you."

- - -

Inside in the kitchen, volunteers begin to fill plates. The scent of today's menu - penne pasta with a thick tomato sauce and salad, courtesy of Papa Joe's Restaurant - wafts through the air. The dessert trays, full of cookies and cake and whatever else has been donated, are ready to go.

Big feet and small feet begin to shuffle across the hardwood floors. The diners are seated, and then served.

"What would you prefer to drink?" "May I get you some more?" "Butter?"

John Callea stands in the corner and watches the people file in. After 15 weeks, more than 1,300 meals have been served by Love Your Neighbor at the Sunday dinners. Most weeks, between 60 and 150 people show up during the two-hour dinner.

At first, when he and a handful of others created Love Your Neighbor, they figured they would have to exist on their own monetary donations. They couldn't have been more wrong.

First, the Legion let them use the hall for free. Then, one by one, businesses throughout the community stepped forward to provide the food and help for the growing crowds each week.

Lisa Callea donated a few meals through the Rising Sun. Then Chick-fil-A provided sandwiches. Then Papa Joe's came in with pasta. Then Panera came with the bread. Then donations began to extend beyond food.

Once, they needed size 13 shoes. Someone came by with a van full of shoes, including several size 13s. The deliverer even took off his own size 13s and left them at the Legion hall.

If desserts are on the list, women from a local church will show up with loads of Twinkies. Somehow, it always works out.

And while it does have some money to use if necessary, Love Your Neighbor hasn't ever had to spend a dime. Alongside other organizations in the county, such as Daystar and the Salvation Army, the Calleas want to figure out how they can expand services. Their hope is to make their community the best it can be, with everyone's help.

"I'm still amazed at how many people want to help," Lisa Callea says. "This is about anyone who has needs, and it goes beyond feeding them meals."

While involved in its creation, Chase has been busy with her life in Citrus County and feels her part with Love Your Neighbor has been fulfilled. She looks at what exists now as a result of people listening to their hearts.

That's what she did when she waited at the coffee shop. That's what she did when she saw Bell walk by outside. And that's what the volunteers are doing now with the Sunday dinners.

"More often than not, God gives us the opportunity to help others, but we miss them," she said. "I've missed many, but thank God I didn't miss this one. It's awesome to see so many people with the heart to serve others. We just needed a way to focus all that."

Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com, or (352) 848-1432.

Jesus said love your neighbor. You know, it was one of his things that he said he commands us to do. And so we just felt like it was really a need to show in today's society." Lisa Callea, of Love Your Neighbor, which feeds the homeless.

FAST FACTS -- How you can help:

- For information about the Sunday dinners for the homeless or Love Your Neighbor Inc., contact John Callea at (352) 428-5947 or send e-mail to him at FirstThes514@hotmail.com.

- Also, National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week begins Nov. 11. In Hernando, the Mid Florida Homeless Coalition will hold a stuffed sock drive that week. Inside a pair of new white socks, donors are asked to put shampoo, soap, razors, toothbrushes, crackers, drink boxes and other similar items.

-Drop-off locations will be at the following addresses in Brooksville: Jericho Road Ministries at 1090 Mondon Hill Road, Jericho Road Thrift Stores at 15319 Cortez Blvd. and 16479 Wiscon Road, and the Mid Florida Community Services building at 8320 Kennedy Blvd. For information, call (352) 796-1425.