By Jerry Smith
Associated Press
DOVER, Del. (AP) – Tracey Pridgen gets emotional when she talks about caring for Dover’s needy.
For a year now, Pridgen has “been called” to feed the homeless in Dover and help them get some of the services they need to get off the streets for good.
“I wake up every day and feel the need to help these people,” she said. “I want them to know their dream of a better life shouldn’t die just because they have fallen on hard times.”
Pridgen started the Nehemiah Project Forever Increasing Dreams to make sure as many homeless people as possible in Dover can get a hot meal, shelter, a word of advice or can just talk to someone who will listen.
Every other week, she and other members of the nonprofit serve meals paid for out of Pridgen’s own pocket. She estimates that anywhere from 100 to 200 people partake of the meal, sometimes at a cost as high as $400.
While paying for the meals herself keeps things “interesting” financially for the certified nursing assistant who just started working full-time again, it doesn’t matter. She just wants to help.
“Nehemiah Project started in New York City with no name. It was a mission to feed the homeless,” she said. “Once I moved back to Dover, God gave me back my mission to feed the homeless and to do outreach. It’s my duty and my passion.”
Vanessa Johnson Brinkley is the vice president of the organization and says the name Nehemiah Project comes from a verse in the Bible that talks about building a wall and joining together. When describing the Dover organization, that verse comes to mind.
“We’re building a wall of hope,” she said. “Each time we feed someone in need or provide them with services they need, we’re adding a brick to the wall. We’re going to continue adding to it each and every day.”
Pridgen and Brinkley say the goal of Dover’s Nehemiah Project – which just became a 501c3 nonprofit a couple months ago – is to someday find a home to serve as a transitional homeless shelter and to provide outreach programs that will teach life skills.
Brinkley said the group will write grant proposals and raise funds out in the community to help make the organization’s dream of having a permanent home a reality. With a business plan in place, she believes that will happen in 2017.
“We want Nehemiah Project to expand so more people can donate, not just monetarily, but with the skills they can offer. We’re not in competition with any of the other groups trying to help the homeless. We just want to make a difference in Dover.”
Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen already considers the organization a success in its short time in the community. He said early on that he suggested to Pridgen and others that they should talk to folks at Delaware State University on how to become a nonprofit and that is now a reality.
“It’s been a struggle, but they continue to do good in the community,” Christiansen said. “Before you walk, you have to crawl,” the mayor said. “They have been taking the right steps to get there. This is another shining example of people doing good in Dover.”
Compassion begets compassion
Donnell Fears volunteers for the Nehemiah Project and has seen the good the nonprofit has done. He wants to build on that momentum with an effort of his own. Coming from the streets himself, he believes his experiences can help others in Dover.
“Much of the homelessness we see in Dover comes from the drug epidemic here,” said Fears, who works at Janaid’s the Salon For Men on Loockerman Street and is an advocate for the black community. “I have seen more than my share of crime, criminal activity and drugs, which in most cases is a one-way ticket to prison or becoming homeless.”
Fears, who was born and raised in the Capitol Green housing project and at one time made his living selling drugs in Simon Circle and the West Dover area, believes there is a lack of concern on the part of some in the community. He said that if something doesn’t have a direct effect on someone’s family or situation, people tend to not care as much.
The lifelong Dover resident wants to commit to change in the city and is starting a sports and community outreach program through Fears Promotions.
“It shouldn’t take an overdose to occur or crime rates to soar before we step up and recognize there is a problem,” Fears said. “I want to offer a positive attraction to everyone within the Dover community.”
The outreach program will offer educational opportunities, athletics such as football, basketball and Fears’ favorite, boxing.
He said that when he was growing up in a broken home, he found the love and attention he needed on the streets. He wants to change that in Dover.
“Like anything else, we’re going to have to come together collectively as a whole to make an impact,” Fears said. “That means input from parents and other groups within the city and ideas and donations to make this a reality. You have to extend your hand or otherwise, the epidemic will continue.”
