A year and a half ago I was looking to cover some aspect of the homeless in Tampa. This was long before the debate about panhandling reached a fever pitch, but if you live in any modern city in America, you can always do stories about the homeless. Though we've always had those living on the outskirts, "the homeless" truly became an issue in the late 1980's in cities across the country, and with the country essentially in a four year recession now, it has become even more pronounced.
On Saturday mornings I run down Tampa street in downtown Tampa, and one morning last year confronted a group of folks who I saw every Saturday morning serving food to the homeless, mostly breakfast cereal. I said I was interested in doing a story on them, but they were hesitant. They said they didn't really want any publicity, but frankly I believe they were uncertain about me – coming at them all sweaty in running clothes. If I remember correctly they said they lived in Lutz, and they were not familiar with Creative Loafing.
I bring that story up now because it appears that group will no longer be serving on Saturday morning, as the Tampa Tribune's Christian Wade reports today.
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2011.