The ‘hub’ will offer showers, wifi, fresh-baked pizza, yoga, poetry and more to unhoused Sarasotans.
By Gretchen Cochran
Original Air Date: July 30, 2025
Host: Streets of Paradise has been around for a while, looking after unhoused Sarasotans and Manatee County residents. It has not done so without controversy. But now it is opening a big facility where those who need it can find community.
Gretchen Cochran: I’m sitting in the middle of a warehouse out near the Sarasota airport. But this is more than a cement cavern—it’s a future community center for those who’ve suffered loss. And it’s the culmination of a dream of two people and their response to other human beings devastated by losses they also once felt.
People are moving furniture around, painting walls, assembling food packages. Between Kathy Bryant’s directions to “please move that table to the next room” or “let’s get the truck ready for the next delivery,” we’re sensing the excitement of prep for a big party.
We’re at Streets of Paradise, right across from the runway where planes come and go. The hoopla is about the August 15 opening of the Streets of Paradise community center.
You may have heard about Streets of Paradise. It’s the organization that was feeding unhoused people in downtown Sarasota in 2016 when the city made it illegal to feed people on the street, calling it a “toxic charity.” Streets of Paradise continued its mission of serving those on the streets within the parameters of the law, serving 150 hot meals on Sundays with five crews of volunteers. They’ve gathered donated furniture and household items in one side of the warehouse since 2019, furnishing 3,500 homes so far, averaging 10 a week. Then, they added an art gallery in the Rosemary District, always striving to serve the whole person. “Love, Act, Repeat,” it says on their t-shirts.
The opening of the community center August 15 will show off hot showers, StarLink Wi-Fi, and solar heat. All will be welcome.
Cathy Bryant
Kathy Bryant: One of our greatest pillars is building purposeful relationships—meaningful relationships. My background is in psychology, and one of the indicators of a successful life or of a safe life is that you have five people to call in an emergency. I think we live in a society where most people don’t have that anymore, and so we aim to build this community.
GC: We’re on the community center side of the building now. The walls are bright, artful colors: teal, fuchsia, gold, and here and there are vivid floor to ceiling murals. One area has a small stage at one end for the open mics and poetry readings, and at the other end is a cafe area with a pizza oven.
The August 15 opening day will feature snippets of ongoing offerings such as yoga classes led by Jay Martin and Meredith Sauceda.
KB: The thing about anusara yoga that I was drawn to—why I started practicing it and why I really wanted it here—is because it’s alignment-based, which means there’s a lot of emphasis and a lot of care given to making sure that our bodies are aligned and that everything is safe as we progress and to really root down to rise up to be able to have those roots and that foundation.
GC: One form of yoga to be offered is Kula. It means “Community of the heart,” so aligned with Streets of Paradise, Kathy says.
So this big party will start at 9 a.m. and cost $20. You will get a wrist band so you can come and go. Yoga will be from 10 to noon. From 12 to 5:30, the stage will bow with poetry, karaoke and open mic—that means anybody can deliver unrehearsed poems, rhyming or not. From 5:30 to 7, there will be lotus hearts and cake. You won’t want to miss the fire dancing at 7.
So, you will have joined the community of all who have experienced loss, be it of a spouse, a job, a home.
KB: We all need community, especially right now when community is pretty frazzled and community is pretty hard to come by. As a society, as a species, we used to gather so more, and we don’t gather like that anymore. I think that what’s going on in society is indicative of that, and the results of that—when you stop coming together, you stop being together, you stop seeing each other as human—it’s an “us and them” kind of thing.
GC: Here’s where we bumped into Greg Cruz, co-founder of Streets of Paradise.
Why does he do this?
Greg Cruz
Greg Cruz: Love, really. Love of our community. I wanted to see a better, healthier community. Create a place where I want to raise my kids, basically.
So, a community that focuses on things like health and wellness, makes sure everybody in the community has a place, that everybody has opportunities in the community and that everybody in the community is engaged in some way to make them feel like they have a place and that they belong—they’re part of the community. And that means every aspect of the community, even the parts of the community that.some people may not find as sparkly and shiny as the rest.
GC: If you want to see the grand opening for yourself: That’s Streets of Paradise, 8251 15th St E in the Airport Mall Friday, August 15. Doors open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
This is Gretchen Cochran for WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.