THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511020380
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 135 lines
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, ``This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, ``Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' saith the Lord of hosts.''
Maria Santos opens her ribbon-strewn Portuguese Bible to Zechariah 4:6
``Not by might, you see?'' she squeals with delight, translating into English, her tiny right index finger darting below the words.
``Thank you, Jesus,'' she says, casting her sparkling, brown eyes skyward.
``Look,'' she says, flipping the worn, tissue-thin pages quickly to Joel, Chapter 2. ``See how it says, `Don't be afraid?' ''
So many of Santos' red ink notes fill the margins and space between verses 21 and 22 that it is difficult to read the passages.
But now the diminutive Portuguese immigrant is jumping up and down on one foot. ``I prayed last night, this morning, and the Lord said this same thing to me, `Don't be afraid,' '' Santos says. ``We have the word of God. The Lord is going to do it.''
Santos is claiming these Biblical promises as her own while standing in front of two Indiana Avenue houses she plans to buy so that she can help the homeless of Virginia Beach.
Almost daily for 18 months, Santos has cooked pots of homemade soup and stew, baked round loaves of her Portuguese bread and fed hundreds of the city's homeless. But feeding them is not enough, she insists. She wants to give them more hope. Santos wants to provide an environment where they can recuperate from life on the streets, find jobs and, yes, come to trust in God as she does.
The Navy wife and mother of four has put $1,000 earnest money down on the adjacent properties near the intersection with Oceana Boulevard. The homes will cost a total of $148,000, but Santos does not worry about where the money will come from. She puts her faith in God for that, as she does with everything else in her life.
``By faith - that is how the Lord has been providing,'' Santos says, spreading her arms to visually enfold the structures.
The unswerving advocate has applied for nonprofit status for her new corporation, ``Love and Caring for the Homeless.'' She realizes that she wouldn't be eligible for government money because of her insistence that those she would house must seek to know God effectively.
``We do not want government money, because they do not want us to pray with them,'' Santos says, stomping her foot emphatically.
The ``we'' includes Elizabeth Weech and Norma Vanverveldt, who have helped Santos for about nine months.
Santos' determination and enthusiasm are catching. Tom Swoope, a Realtor with William E. Wood and Associates, is helping her secure the houses.
Santos intends that the house at 1508 Indiana Ave. provide shelter for up to four men. Caretakers Randy and Carla Battaglia and their two sons also would live in the building. They would care for the property and direct residents in cooperative work ventures such as growing a garden.
Randy Battaglia is an artist and sign painter; his wife is a former manager of a battered women's shelter in Farmington, N.M. Together, the couple ran a mission in Texas. The Battaglias, too, are full of faith in God and in Santos' work.
The residence at 1504 Indiana Ave. is where Santos would house four homeless women and, as needed, their children.
``The Lord owns the property,'' Swoope says in unbusinesslike fashion, watching Santos read from scripture. ``It's God's property now.''
Actually, the property still belongs to Christopher Ettel, owner of V.B. Construction.
Santos, who lives in Salem Lakes and works as a part-time phone counselor for the Christian Broadcasting Network, recently became impatient with the details of property transfer - she must come up with the rest of the money by Tuesday - when she learned that a homeless man she had been feeding for more than a year had died.
The 46-year-old Vietnam veteran, whom Santos knew only as Scott, was struck by a truck and killed as he crossed Virginia Beach Boulevard Sunday, Oct. 8.
Santos says that police have been unable to locate his relatives.
``I don't have a place yet, so I couldn't help him,'' she laments, wringing her hands. ``Oh, I cried so.''
Then, just four days after Scott's death, Santos learned that another of the homeless people she regularly fed had died.
Victor Barnes, a 40-year-old alcoholic diabetic, was found dead in a ditch Oct. 12, according to Santos, who attended his funeral the next day and spent hours in prayer at home afterward.
``He was one of the first I fed,'' she wails. ``There is no place.''
Then, recovering her optimism and her soft smile: ``But I told his family not to worry - that he is safe now. He is with God.''
Though she has been cautioned by others that she puts herself in danger when she feeds the homeless on the streets and in the woods, Santos is fearless.
``God watches for me,'' she says, crossing her arms and shaking her head affirmatively.
Nor is Santos worried that the homeless might pose a threat to her or others.
There will be rules, Santos says, including a requirement that residents pray each day. A 10:30 p.m. curfew also would be in effect.
Homeless people accepted into the residences would pay no rent for the first month.
The homes would not be ``for everybody, only the ones God chooses,'' she says.
``The ones the Lord leads us to,'' Weech adds.
It was God, Santos insists, who provided the earnest money for the homes in the first place.
On Sept. 25, when Santos spied the two houses ``For Sale,'' she knew immediately, she says, that this was where God wanted her to do his work. She didn't know where she would get the money, but she agreed to sign a contract and put $1,000 down the next Saturday.
On Thursday, Santos went to Rock Church. ``I asked them to pray, said, `I need $1,000. Everybody pray.' I prayed, said, `Lord, you have to do a miracle.' '' As she was about to leave the church, a woman handed her $10.
As Santos drove home, she recalled that she was still owed money as settlement for a traffic accident. She went to the home of the debtor and told the woman, ``I need my money now to help homeless.''
The money in hand, Santos drove away convinced that God had indeed given her a sign.
It was not the first time Santos has been moved to action by the voice of God.
She began her food ministry, she says, after the Holy Spirit directed her to speak to a ragged old man she found curled up asleep on the pavement behind a Virginia Beach Boulevard convenience store.
Santos, whose name means ``of the saints'' in her native language, believes that the man, whom she never saw again, was sent by God.
As the Nov. 7 deadline for coming up with $147,000 looms, Santos remains certain that God will perform yet another miracle in her life.
``I believe God will give it in his wisdom,'' she says softly.
``Yes. Thank you, Jesus. Alleluia,'' she cries, clasping her hands together in joy. MEMO: Donations may be sent to Love and Caring for the Homeless Inc., 4109
Stillwood Court, Virginia Beach, VA 23456. Santos may be reached at
495-5200.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Maria Santos is seeking $147,000 for two houses for the homeless.
by CNB