Tampa Trib Article 3/1/03

Woman Reaches To Pull Up Others With New Shelter

The Tampa Tribune March 4, 2004

Author: DONNA RENFROE; drenfroe@tampatrib.com

LOCAL CHURCHES HELP SUPPORT HER MINISTRY

VALRICO - Even though it's still a work in progress, the house is beautiful to Becky Trent.

Construction started the first week in January on the shelter for women fighting addictions, depression or domestic abuse, Trent said.

A project of Trent's B Encouraged Ministries and supported mostly by churches in Brandon, the temporary shelter also will house women who are released from jail and trying to get back on their feet.

"We'll have very few people who have been incarcerated," she said. "It's for any woman in crisis."

The 2,200-square-foot house on a half-acre off East Bloomingdale Avenue initially will house six women. Trent said the ministry may allow more women in the future.

"That's what the county will allow," she said. "Any more than that and we have to have a variance."

Two weeks ago, volunteers had just completed the house and porch foundations and built the walls when burglars stole more than $2,000 worth of power tools.

"It was a bummer that it had to happen, but that didn't stop us," Trent said during a recent tour of the house. The tools will be replaced with money from the ministry's budget.

The $45,000 house will have four bedrooms, 21/2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a great room area and "lots of big windows," Trent said. She said the house does not have windows in the back to protect the women's privacy.

"This is just in case - so we can guard against certain situations for victims of domestic abuse," she said.

The full-time evangelist, who retired from Quest Diagnostics, is as enthusiastic about the house as she is about the rest of her work.

"Aren't the windows beautiful?" she said. "I can see mentoring going on over here."

In addition to mentoring, Trent said, volunteers will spend a lot of time teaching life skills and job training and providing encouragement to residents.

"We want to do something for someone before they get into trouble," she said.

Trent said she will decide who can live in the shelter by watching "for someone who is growing and who has a good attitude.

"It has to be someone looking forward and who has no desire to look back," she said.

So far Trent said she has two women who could make good candidates for the home. Both are waiting to be released from jail. She communicates with them over the Internet and by phone, she said.

Pastor Chuck Richard of Kings Avenue Baptist Church, one of the churches supporting the new shelter, said he knows Trent well and believes she cares deeply about her "investment into the lives of other women."

"She is giving women help and hope to rehab and rebuild their lives to get out of the hole they're in," he said.

An opening date has not been set, Trent said, because the ministry is planning to bank six months' worth of savings for operating expenses before opening.

The ministry's plan has been to operate debt-free, she said.

Operating expenses are determined by the ministry's board of directors, who are members of Kings Avenue Baptist Church and Bell Shoals Baptist, both in Brandon, and Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa. Financial support "comes from all over," she said.

Women will stay in the home on a short-term basis only, she said. "We don't want people to get too comfortable," she said.

Volunteers will help the women to become more self-sufficient and find employment.

"We're not building a flophouse," she said. "This is going to be God's place."

To find out more about the shelter, to volunteer or to donate materials, call Trent at (813) 546-6447.

Caption:
(C) Construction on the $45,000 women's shelter began in January, but an opening date hasn't been set yet.

Full-time evangelist runs Trent's B Encouraged Ministries to help women.PHOTO (2C)

Memo:
Reporter Donna Renfroe can be reached at (813) 657-4531.