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PRESENTATION RE SOLVING PROBLEMS OF DESTITUTES <br />Bea 56 pw-487 <br />Alison DeGenero came before the Board, not to ask for <br />tax dollars, but to express his concern for his fellow man <br />who doesn't have a meal or a place to sleep and needs a job. <br />He noted that his Neighbors Helping Neighbors program has <br />been addressing this, and he has been getting calls from <br />Crisis Line for several years in regard to finding help for <br />people who have no place to go. He has always tried to find <br />a place to help them out, but there really is no facility in <br />this county. Mr. DeGenero announced that he now has learned <br />of a wonderful place in Melbourne called Christ is the <br />Answer (CITA), which will take these people in without any <br />charge. Mr. DeGenero then introduced John Ellison, who runs <br />the CITA rescue mission. <br />Mr. Ellison informed the Board that CITA has an average <br />of about 70 people in their mission at all times; they <br />sometimes run around 80 or even higher and will always find <br />room for one more. They take in abused women and children, <br />pregnant girls, alcoholics, drug addicts, destitute people, <br />etc. He stated that they began in 1969 with no money; since <br />then they have never incurred any financial obligation, and <br />today it is costing them about $1,000 a day to run the <br />shelter. Mr. Ellison explained that they have an upholstery <br />shop, a refrigeration shop, an electronic repair shop, where <br />the people they provide with shelter can work, and they <br />repair things people can no longer use. <br />Mr. DeGenero emphasized that all he is looking for <br />today is liaison assistance. He is just asking that the <br />Commission let the Sheriff's Department transport these <br />needy people to the County line where they can be met and <br />transported to the rescue mission. Mr. DeGenero then played <br />a tape of a local citizen urging the Board to comply with <br />his request. He noted that CITA is a large building on the <br />west side of U.S.1 at the entrance to Melbourne. It is an <br />42 <br />