Hope Center a passion project

Matt Scoggins knows homelessness.

He knows what it is like to have no roof overhead, no idea where the next meal is coming, how to care for a young child when there is nothing.

Matt Scoggins has been there.

And for him the Gulf Coast Hope Center, a satellite office of the Panama City Rescue Mission, is less about the mission as it is about his life, and what he has made of it since it tumbled to the bottom of the barrel.

“I was there,” Scoggins said during a recent interview at his business, 5 Star Collision. “I was scared. I knew I had messed my life up.

“But it gave me the passion to what I do now. I came out (of prison) with nothing and we have provided jobs, we are taxpayers. I have a ministry.”

To understand the roots of the Gulf Coast Hope Center, Scoggins said, one must first travel to the path he has. In the late 1980’s, like many his age, he got messed up with drugs. One of those wrong-place-wrong-time events landed him in prison in 1992 for a short period.

He had bottomed out.

And just a few months out of prison the mother of his son turned the youngster over to him.

Scoggins had nothing, no car, no money in the bank and a young son to care for.

The two lived inside a car at the back of a used car lot, a hand extended by the owner of the car lot. Scoggins and son lived there for the better part of a year. Scoggins scraped by.

He found his faith and through that faith he established a ministry in Georgia, essentially a series of storage units that provided services – clothes in one unit, used furniture in another, food and toys for Christmas in others – to the needy of the area.

(The son, by the way, is nearing graduation from college with degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Psychology).

There were five businesses operating on the same property and Scoggins said there were never problems, no vagrancy, and for a key reason – there was no kitchen or shelter.

“We would provide some food, gas for those who didn’t have money for it, care repairs, help with utility payments,” Scoggins said. “If they are elderly and can’t afford car repairs, I still do that, repair the cars and I don’t ask for a penny or a pat on the back.”

But, Scoggins said, his faith put him on a path to do more and when he moved to Port St. Joe some dozen years ago, carrying his passion and ministry with him, he sought to expand the hands he was extending, because after all, an extended hand had turned his life around, he said.

He and his company give to the Taunton’s Children Home. He delivered thousands of cans of food goods, as well as pastries and bread to People Helping People of Gulf County.

He founded the Second Chance Ministry at the Gulf Forestry Camp, with some 40-50 inmates in attendance.

“Everyone needs a second chance,” Scoggins said. “We are able to share the gospel with the inmates who need a second chance.”

Scoggins pays for Bibles and books himself.

In the past 12 years he estimated he has donated $30,000 from his pocket for everything from gas to utility payments to a quick meal.

“People know where to call,” Scoggins said. “It says at our church to help our own. Every week our phone rings.

“I have carried my children over to the Panama City Rescue Mission to serve meals. I wanted my kids to experience what it is like to have nothing. I wanted to them to understand what it is like to do without.”

And although the last thing Scoggins said he seeks is the spotlight or attention for his work, he felt compelled to speak about his ministry, his passion, given the controversy swirling around the Gulf Coast Hope Center and its link to the Panama City Rescue Mission.

“In light of all the negative and truculent things that have been said I am compelled to speak,” Scoggins said. “The two main staples of life are food and shelter and we have neither here. We have neither here and we did not have either in Georgia.

“We didn’t have a problem in Georgia and we don’t here. I have promised every (Port St. Joe city) commission that if we ever have a problem we will shut it down that same day.”

Scoggins said perceptions about the Gulf Coast Hope Center stem from beliefs and viewpoint, but he said that while he may fork over a few bucks for a lunch or quick dinner for a person in need, he will never install a kitchen or provide any shelter through the Hope Center.

There will be rides to the Panama City Rescue Mission for those in need of such assistance.

“There will never, ever be a dormitory or soup kitchen here,” Scoggins said. “That is not part of my ministry. My word is my word. I love this community. I would never do anything to harm this community.”

Scoggins said the Gulf Coast Hope Center office, a small lobby in front of a small office, will continue to serve as a referral outlet. Needs will be assessed – the assessment sheet clearly states that if food or shelter are needed, Panama City is the destination – and folks referred to the appropriate agency.

He will still lend a hand to the veteran without a home or his proper medical benefits, the shrimper beaten senseless at sea, his belongings lost, or the Wewahitchka woman in need of help on her rent.

They are in need, Scoggins aims to assist as he can. He also stressed that because a person is homeless does not make them a bum. And he notes that the much-cited report about homeless in Gulf County is misleading because instead of indicating “zero” homeless, the reports of the past three years reflect no actual count was made.

“We have record unemployment, record foreclosures, there are more people homeless and out of work because of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” Scoggins said. “Everyone is one tragedy away from needing help.

“There are victories and defeats, but that’s where I thought (my faith) was leading me to do, to help those in need.”

Scoggins said he receives no outside funding and does not ask for any. This is personal, born of personal struggles. By telling his side of the story he hopes to allay fears of what might be.

“I understand there are fears, 100 percent,” Scoggins said. “I hope speaking out will help people understand this is not more of a mission, not having a shelter, not having food.

“I feel very comfortable with what I am doing. I am very comfortable with my word. I will not let people down.”