In 1985, I lived off Oakhurst Road in Seminole, within walking distance of Seminole Mall. In those days, most businesses in the mall were still flourishing. It was still a
SEMINOLE â It was around Thanksgiving that employees at the Walgreens at Park Boulevard and Oakhurst Road started noticing a rarity in their little, upscale neighborhood â hungry, homeless men and women with no hope and nowhere to go.
So they decided to take action with a food drive that has inspired other stores to join the cause.
Store employees saw how peopleâs despair and hopelessness can turn into exasperation when one day a homeless man tried to commit suicide by walking into traffic in front of their store on Park Boulevard.
Store manager Liz Messer surmised many residents of this west Seminole area, just a bridge away from Indian Shores, make their living in the service industry, which has been heavily impacted by job loss because of COVID-19. Employees began to regularly see small groups of the hungry and homeless who are out of work and down on their luck gather outside their store. Some just sat on the sidewalk with their meager belongings, while a few pa