Church group just
learns by trying

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

A crack addiction nearly ruined Dina Caba’s life.
Caba lost her home and was forced to live in shelters or even in a car. She was fortunate that someone always took in her son, Seth Kelley.
Having no permanent place to call home is not fun, Caba said.
"It’s hell," she said.
Today. Caba is straightening herself out. A onetime client at the food cupboard at West Mayfair’s St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, she has now converted to the Lutheran faith and been baptized. She volunteers at the cupboard and is living temporarily with fellow church member Carol Kelly and her family. It’s her dream to find steady work and live on her own again.
Meanwhile, her 15-year-old son appears to be coping well. His unstable home life led him to experiment with weed. A naturally smart kid, his mom’s bad choices forced him to change schools more than once.
Through it all, the teenager said he got used to the upheaval.
"I bettered myself taking my own path," said Seth, who remains close to his mom.
Over the weekend, the once drug-addicted woman and her son added a human face to an initiative of the youth group at St. John.
On Friday night, Caba spoke to a group of young people about her experience. Seth went a step further, joining seven others in a sleepover outside the church to see what it’s like to live a homeless life.
Seth slept in a cardboard box in the courtyard of the church, at 3101 Tyson Ave. He and the others also acted as panhandlers on Saturday morning. They carried "Help us help others" signs and collected $103 from motorists. The money will benefit the food cupboard.
On a larger scale, the young people hope the community learns more about the subject.
"Maybe people will see what the homeless go through," he said.
At times, Seth has lived with the family of friend Matthew Stevens. Matthew, 15, also slept in a box on Friday night, when there was a chill in the air. The teen understands that he had it pretty easy, sleeping out for only one night in decent weather.
"It gets pretty cold out for them," he said of the homeless. "It must be a pretty hard experience."
Carol Kelly, the youth group director who has taken in Dina Caba, explained that the church food cupboard feeds more than 400 families a month.
The cupboard staff doesn’t judge anybody. They explained that people become homeless or needy for various reasons, including drugs, joblessness or bad breaks.
Mallory Thum and Monica Layne, both 12, would like to see more shelters open and want them to be welcoming. Some homeless refuse to live at shelters for fear of being beaten and robbed.
"I feel bad for them," said Mallory, whose dad Larry operates the food cupboard.
On Friday night, Kelly and youth advisers Marie Kinzler and Brian Cornell stayed awake to keep an eye on the kids as they slept. Originally, the young people wanted to sleep closer to the street, but the 15th Police District nixed that idea.
The kids were permitted to bring only one blanket and no sleeping bag. They were allowed to bring a change of clothes in a backpack.
They ate pieces of an ice cream cake, without forks, to celebrate the 13th birthday of Sam Shelkin, one of the youths who camped out. For sanitary reasons, they were able to go inside the church to use the bathroom.
Kelly said the popularity of the food cupboard and the presence of homeless people in area parks should dispel the myth that everybody in the Northeast is financially comfortable.
"We have a lot of working poor in this neighborhood," she said.
The Rev. Lee Miller agrees. He has been the pastor at St. John for three and a half years, and in that time visits to the food cupboard have increased greatly.
"These are not just crises of North Philadelphia and West Philadelphia," he said.
On Friday night, Miller led a homeless-related devotion based on the story of Ruth, a poor young widow whose story was chronicled in the Old Testament. Ruth accompanied her equally destitute mother-in-law Naomi as she traveled to her homeland of Bethlehem rather than trying to find another man to provide for her.
Miller also showed the movie Pursuit of Happyness, which starred Philadelphia native Will Smith in the true story of Chris Gardner, who struggles to make ends meet for his family. They hit rock bottom when they spend a night in the public rest room of a San Francisco transit station.
The pastor thinks the youth group, which planned the evening, had a good mix of fun and fellowship as they roughed it for 14 hours.
"I’m very proud of our young people," he said.
The young people enjoyed the experience.
Johnny Kelly, the youth group director’s 14-year-old son, has a stable family life and was looking to gain another perspective.
"I’m hoping to get a better understanding of how it feels to be homeless," he said.
Sam Shelkin, an active member of the youth group, was happy that the event benefited the food cupboard.
"We’re trying to raise enough money so people can get food to eat," he said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com