LAKELAND — The table in the dining room was set with six seats, and a tiny American flag stuck out of a plant centerpiece surrounded by coils of red, white and blue stars.
Before long, the table will be occupied by men who have proved their patriotism.
New Life Outreach Ministry held a ceremony Thursday on its small campus in North Lakeland to celebrate the completion of a house for veterans without permanent homes. Larry Mitchell, founder and director of the nonprofit, stood before the Col. Freddie C. Austin Veterans Building, clutching a pair of oversized, green-handled scissors to snip tape provided by the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce.
A copper-hued statute of a soldier in uniform, posed on a base labeled “Honor and Bravery,” with an American flag planted behind it, stood on the front porch.
A gathering of enthusiastic guests toured the inside of the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 1149 Parkhurst Ave, which will provide shelter for six veterans without their own homes. The house is not quite ready for occupation, as beds lacked mattresses, and Mitchell’s organization distributed flyers that included a wish list, including such items as mattresses, a couch and a washer and dryer.
Mitchell founded New Life Outreach Ministry in the 1990s to provide transitional and permanent housing for men with mental and physical disabilities or substance abuse and those recently released from jail or prison. The ministry based in the Webster Park South neighborhood offers programs intended to help the men become independent and productive.
New Life received $550,000 from Polk County to kickstart the project, money passed on from the $141 million it received through the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Mitchell said his nonprofit also raised $300,000 and leveraged another $250,000.
Construction began last fall, and EHS Construction Services in Mulberry served as lead contractor. Gerald Poleon, the company’s owner, stood outside the house Thursday, waiting for a Lakeland Electric crew to connect a power line to the structure.
EHS Construction Services donated some elements of its work, Poleon said. He talked with pride of upgrading interior details, such as soft-touch cabinets and a granite countertop in the kitchen and top-grade tile in the bathrooms.
“Being part of the project is an honor, knowing what it represents,” said Poleon, an Army veteran. “It represents veterans being taken care of, not just nationally but locally and in the city of Lakeland.”
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Mitchell pointed to another house just to the north, on the corner of West Sixth Street and Parkhurst Avenue. He said he intends for it to be a shelter for families of veterans.
Poleon’s company also constructed that house, which is not yet completed. He said Mitchell is trying to arrange a purchase before the house goes on the market.
Mitchell said that New Life used some of the funding from Polk County to renovate five other homes it operates. He thanks County Commissioners George Lindsey and Martha Santiago for their roles in securing the money for his nonprofit.
The main shelter is named for a Lakeland native and graduate of the former all-Black Washington Park High School. Austin joined the U.S. Army and served in the Vietnam War, earning a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star Medal and a Legion of Merit Citation, and later worked in the Pentagon. Austin died in 2019 at age 89.
Austin’s cousin, Ronald Smith, briefly spoke during the ceremony, standing beside Mitchell on the house’s front porch. He was joined by other relatives of Austin — Inez King and Gloria Porter of Lakeland and John and Constance Fennell of Groveland.
“Freddie was just a great person,” Smith said. “He loved his service in the Army. He also loved being a veteran, and he really loved the people of Lakeland. He would be absolutely elated with this recognition.”
Some guests at the midday ceremony wore shirts or hats identifying them as veterans. Those in attendance represented such groups as the NAACP, Daughters of the American Revolution, the League of Women Voters and the Lakeland Police Department.
Soon after the group of a few dozen moved inside the New Life Ministry headquarters across the street, Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz arrived, having zipped over from Lakeland Linder International Airport, where he celebrated the first flight of the city’s new commercial air service, Avelo Airlines.
Pronouncing the new house “fabulous,” Mutz praised Mitchell for his persistence in seeing the project through.
“These are pieces within our city that are so important for us to have in order to be able to thrive and to help people along the way whose lives have gotten tough,” Mutz said. “This is a town that has so many wonderful nonprofits that have been around for decades, disproportionate to communities with our population.”
Rodney Jones, CEO of Tampa-based Business Plans Plus, spoke of his late father, Herb Jones Jr., a pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen 332nd Fighter Group, known as Red Tails, during World War II. Denied the chance to become a commercial pilot after the war because he was Black, Jones started a flight school in the Washington, D.C. area.
Jones presented Mitchell with a poster commemorating the film “Silver Wings and Civil Rights,” signed by his father, to be displayed at the Austin House. Jones said that 23% of homeless people in Polk County are veterans.
Terry Coney, a retired U.S. Air Force officer and president of the NAACP Lakeland Branch, lent his support at Thursday’s dedication, wearing an Air Force cap.
“Everything we can do to help veterans is a plus,” Coney said. “I mean, we have veterans that walk around the cities, some having some difficulties, and all they need is just a hand to help them up. I consider them as silent heroes because they don't ask recognition.”
Coney said he knew Austin, having lived across the street from his parents in Lakeland.
“This is good,” Coney said of the shelter bearing Austin’s name. “It’s good for the city as a whole. This is obviously not going to house all the homeless, but it's a step to get other organizations to do a little bit, like this.”
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
