BRANDON --

Agnes Rosa's been out of work for nearly a year. She mentioned it while lugging boxes of groceries from the Women's Resource Center office to her nearby car.

It was her first trip to the center, seeking food, some clothing, some counseling about her mounting bills.

"They helped us with clothing and food and with employment counseling," the mother of three said.

Her friend, Belkis Perez, has been out of work even longer. The Brandon woman found the resource center through a friend and is seeking employment counseling that could help her get back on her feet.

"We're serving 125 families a month," said resource center Executive Director Cheryl English. "It's not just single mothers any more."

The center started in 2003 as a refuge for women fighting addictions, trying to get past domestic violence or just seeking a way to support themselves and their children.

"In the beginning, we served 100 ladies," English said. "Now we serve two-parent families, the elderly, the homeless, single mom and dads."

Almost all need employment counseling, she said, and most are caring for families.

Feed the Bay, a multi-church effort to restock area food banks, has helped keep a supply of groceries at the ready that families can pick up once a month. But the shelves are getting bare.

A clothes closet is available to clients seeking school outfits for their kids or interview suits for themselves. The stock ebbs and flows.

And there are volunteers like Pat Glickman, who stand at the ready to guide those in need in the right direction for job help, legal needs or medical services.

"We do a lot of budgeting with people, to help them sort their needs from their wants," English said. The center begins educational classes this month on topics like resume writing and job interviews.

Last year, some 1,500 families sought help at the small office, manned by 17 volunteers.

"We help them find real jobs at real businesses, locally," English said, "not like a lot of what you see advertised. We make sure their resume sells and that they dress appropriately for interviews. We make sure they know what to say and what not to say."

The resource center supports its clients every way it can, English said. "But ultimately, it is your own responsibility on what you do with your life." Some get on the right track, then falter. The center's volunteers urge them to get back on track.

The center has mission partners, including several area churches, but depends mostly on private donations to keep the ball rolling.

The fourth annual Yvette Halliwell Golf Tournament is one of the major fundraisers for the center. It is coming up Oct. 28 at Riverhills Country Club in Valrico. The tournament is $125 per person or $500 for a foursome.

Last year, between the players and the drawings, the center raised $21,000 from the tournament and is hoping to raise at least that much this year, English said.

That will mean continued business for Glickman, who counsels clients for about an hour at a time.

"It isn't really counseling as much as it is building on what they already have going," Glickman said.

For some, that means getting their GED so they can get a good job. The Glazier Foundation made a donation that will go toward the GED sign-up cost of $70 per person, provide bus passes and other household needs.

English said transportation is a huge barrier for so many of the center's clients. Many lost their cars shortly after losing their jobs. Others never had one to lose.

"Education and transportation are both sticking points toward getting a job," she said. "We have a mom right now with two kids who is well qualified to get a job, but she has no transportation."

Others are willing to work from home, if they can just get signed up with the right employer.

Jazmyn Ansotigueof Tampa got a number for the center from a computer mentor in Tampa. She lost her part-time job in retail sales and now, with a baby due, she is looking for home-based work.

Whitney Brown, of Brandon, worked for the Florida Orchestra until the organization down-sized two years ago. She used her time wisely to get a master's degree in media design management, but has yet to find work.

Glickman gave her some direction.

"A lot of it is brainstorming," Glickman said. "We look at their background, then the resources available to them. A lot of what we do is make them aware of the community resources that are out there."

To learn more, go to www.wrctampa.org.

BRANDON — It was a cold January day, around lunchtime, when the old man knocked on the door of the Women's Resource Center of Tampa Bay. Tired and hungry, he was all alone. The past two years, he had been living in his blue Buick, sleeping upright in his car in a Walmart parking lot.

He was dressed in soiled and tattered clothing, flies and insects swarmed his body.

Dunbar told him to come back if he needed anything else.

Here at the Women's Resource Center, located on the grounds of Baylife Church on Kingsway Road, staff and volunteers help single mothers who struggle to care for themselves and their children.

Owner Cheryl English opened the center in 2003 after going through a low point in her life: becoming a divorced mother of two. The center has become the resource she wished existed when she needed help — a compassionate place that also offers hope.

The center provides shelter, food and clothing and assists women in finding jobs — all free of charge. Caseworkers stick with them until they can survive on their own. Sometimes, the journey can take years. Still, they turn no woman away.

If men seek help, the center refers them to other agencies like the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County or the Salvation Army.

But on this day, the mysterious man touched Dunbar's heart. She told English about the encounter, not expecting to ever see him again. But the next week, he returned. Again, he said little. Volunteers packed him more food. Warren stopped by weekly over several months, offering up details of his life with each visit.

Warren Karpp was 69 years old and a former DJ born in Michigan. He spent much of his adult life in Los Angeles and ended up in Florida when he got a radio gig. He is divorced and has no family. As he grew older, he became ill and found himself all alone. His Social Security check paid for a few nights in a motel room each month, but little else.

So he lived in his Buick that he bought for $600 from a Sarasota mechanic. He passed his time listening to talk radio and stopping at churches, looking for food.

English assigned a case manager to Karpp, much like she did with all of the single mothers who knocked on the center's door. They learned that Karpp had served some time in the military so they completed paperwork to get him medical help from the VA. He has received treatment for a life-threatening kidney condition and is now in a nursing facility in Plant City.

Volunteers at the center say he's upbeat and chatty and, far different from the shy, old man who walked into the center earlier this year.

"I thank God for organizations like the Women's Resource Center," Karpp said. "They are so nice and go out of their way to listen to me."

Agencies like the resource center aid the helpless everyday without much attention or fanfare. They rely on donations and government aid to offer their services. About 80 percent of the center's budget comes from donations and fundraising.

When it opened, the center helped about 150 single mothers and their children the first year. Today, the center does that much work in a single month.

Karpp knows he can never repay them for saving his life. But his friendship and the experience has offered English something great.

Each Wednesday at the Women's Resource Center of Tampa Bay is now "Men's Day." Men can show up to get counseling, food, clothing and their own case manager who will see to it that they get back on their feet.

St. Pete Times