There are so many wonderful people living in Punta Gorda and Charlotte County that it’s

Leslie Martin

difficult to select only one to write about each month. I have selected Leslie Martin because she and I have worked together on Health Days at the Genesis Center and I have come to love her as a warm, generous and caring person.

Her self-chosen mission in life began in 1974, Leslie’s mission to help others began in 1974, as secretary to the director of the Wisconsin-Winnebago Indian tribe. She witnessed such

poverty among its members, that she called her homeless friends “the lost generations.”

Martin took piano lessons at the age of 5 and went on to play for her local church. She also played the flute in her high school band and attended the Interlochen Music Camp in Michigan during the summer. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in Music Therapy.

In 1979, she moved to Sarasota to be near relatives and began selling real estate. Ten years later, her parents’ illness took her back to her hometown in Winona Lakes, WI, where she became a volunteer chaplain for a prison ministry.

“This is a generation of precious souls with many skills and talents. The Lord showed me a long time ago that my life should be spent in the service of others. Knowing these men bas been an asset to my life.”

In 1997, she married and she and her husband moved to San Antonio, Texas, where they began a church ministry and established a soup kitchen for the homeless. From there they                     relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and set up a food pantry in a local church until 2002, when they divorced.

Martin learned of a need in Port Charlotte, Florida, and soon began working as a volunteer outreach specialist for the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition. Many are veterans, their homelessness caused by divorce or the death of a spouse. Some have left high paying positions in the corporate world. She has cared for the poor, less fortunate and homeless for over a quarter of a century, attempting to live the words of God.

Now she devotes her time to the approximately 150 people living in camps in the woods throughout Charlotte County.

“Most are men, but perhaps two percent are women. Some use their cars or vans as homes; other live in tents. They average 45 to 50 years of age. Many have day jobs and if they are not exhausted at day’s end, they will travel by bike or walk to the Genesis Center on Kenesaw Street for dinner. Some pick up food [to go] and return to the camp, where they may jump into a nearby creek to bathe. I promise to never tell where the campsites are, unless I have permission or someone’s life is at risk. I keep food, soap, deodorant and blankets in my car to distribute to those who don’t want to come to the Center.”

Martin picks them up once a month and takes them to the Peace Lutheran Church on Gibraltar Street, where they can take baths and get their haircut. When the Volunteers of America health van comes to town, she picks brings them to have their health screenings and dental checkups. She visits the camps on a regular basis to help in any way that she can. How lucky we are to have Leslie Martin in our community.

“I just go looking for them and whatever I can do to help, I do it.”

Please contact me at c1943x@comcast.net  if you have specific questions.
Penny Deutsch
Board Member, Charlotte County Homeless Coalition

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