SANFORD | Committed to outreach, Msgr. John Bluett kept searching for the ideal opportunity to create affordable housing in Seminole County. He found it in Sanford. With the help of friend and contractor Russ Suddeth of J. Raymond Construction, and Catholic Charities of Central Florida the team opened Pathways to New Hope November 20.
The complex boasts 15 dorm-style rooms, including ADA accessible units on the first floor. Every component is brand new –from the drywall to floors, windows, showers, light fixtures and plumbing. The goal is for residents to step into freshly painted “new car smelling environment,” according to Suddeth.
Calling Seminole State College and Heart of Florida United Way “pivotal players”, Catholic Charities of Central Florida president Gary Tester explained the partnership makes vocational training and certification on the premises and nearby possible. Noting Catholic Charities manages 600 affordable housing units throughout the Diocese of Orlando, he said this one is unique.
Seminole State College will provide four levels of culinary certification through use of the facility’s kitchen which was donated by Heart of Florida United Way. Training will also be opened to those in the surrounding Goldsboro neighborhood in Sanford. On hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony and blessing was Dr. John Gyllin from Seminole State.
Dr. Gyllin said, “We are a partnership institution and look for those connection points around our community, through Seminole Commits, to find other ways we can reach out into the community and lift people up with our education and resources.” Calling Pathways to New Hope “a pioneering hybrid residential and job training campus designed to provide housing with a purpose,” Dr. Gyllin said the college is thrilled to participate. “This collaboration aims to empower residents.”
The program will begin in 2025 with the purpose of enhancing employability.
Joshua Weidenhamer, program director for Pathways to New Hope said the housing program will also provide case management, career counseling, housing counseling, and life coaching. “The main focus of the program is to mitigate homelessness,” he said. “It’s more for folks that are one paycheck away from being on the street who are living in hotels and are paying over $2,000 a month to get by with no opportunity to save or breathe and see where their future might be headed. Here they can get a leg up and move on to better lives.”
Weidenhamer explained a life coach will be working with residents regularly to make sure they’re “on target emotionally and spiritually to reach those goals.” Rent is set at $1,200 month. He hopes to welcome the first residents by Christmas.
The City of Sanford hopes the residential units will be a model they can reproduce. District 1 commissioner for Seminole County, Bob Dallari who helped move the project through the county said, “It’s a model that gives people a hand up, not a handout. It’s a safety net so while people learn a trade to support themselves, they can be safe, learn, and continue on their journey not to get lost in the cracks of the society.”
Msgr. Bluett, who found the property three years ago and called Suddeth to help transform it, states their mantra throughout the difficult restoration project was, “Honoring the One who gives us everything to help those who are struggling is as good as it gets,” a phrase coined by a donor. The two said they don’t see the program as long-term, but as a means of getting folks back on their feet. “We’re going to get them stabilized, surrounding them with the vocation piece of it,” said Suddeth.
Msgr. Bluett noted, “Some say it’s only 15 people, but after five years you’re almost at 100 people that you have given new hope to. You’ve given them a new opportunity in life and not just maybe for them, but maybe for a wife and kids.”
“I think of what Jesus said, ‘Come to me all you who are weary and I will refresh you.’ I think that’s what we’re doing. We’re responding to His call to be His people,” said Msgr. Bluett.
Bishop Noonan helped bless the building and thanked the countless volunteers and donors who made the project possible. Quoting Scripture, bishop added, “All I can say is, ‘Where two or three are gathered, there am I in their midst.’ My heart is filled with gratitude for the good work, generosity, and especially for the vision.”
GLENDA MEEKINS
of the Florida Catholic staff