LAKELAND, Fla. — When there’s a need in Northwest Lakeland, Pastor Mike Cooper is there to fill it. And lately, the Pastor has been around quite a bit.
What You Need To Know
- Pastor Mike Cooper runs the Dream Center of Lakeland. It’s an organization that provides food, clothes and other resources to the community
- Cooper has been meeting with community leaders to talk about recent violence in the area
- At the end of September, there will be a banquet at Victory Church to celebrate the community and the work done at the Dream Center
“With the economy, the needs are getting greater,” Cooper said.
He runs the Dream Center of Lakeland. It’s an organization that provides food, clothes and other resources to the community.
“I think that’s what we do,” Cooper said. “We take the edge off.”
The edge is violent crime. According to Lakeland police, there had been two homicides in the city this year as of the beginning of September. Each time there’s any shooting, Cooper leads a group back to the same area to clean up and make life a little better.
“You go home at night and lay your head and you feel like you made a difference today,” Cooper said.
Making a difference means bringing like minds to the table. Cooper said partnerships are the solution. He recently met with community leaders to work towards solutions to the violence.
“There’s a call to action with parents, our churches, our community leaders, our children to come together,” said Lynn Simkins, who heads the nonprofit Grass Roots Solutions. “We got to do this together.”
Walking along the neighborhood streets, Cooper remembers the drug houses and gangs that used to be there. He didn’t grow up in Lakeland, but he knows the struggles.
“I was raised in the Appalachians,” Cooper said. “So when we say poverty, I understand poverty.”
He said he used an outhouse and shared a bedroom with two sisters.
“I was raised in the worst poverty actually,” Cooper said.
A lot has changed for the better for Cooper and for the neighborhood he calls his own.
Still, the pastor said there’s tension like he’s never seen before, racially and politically. It’s something he’s trying to change through the Dream Center.
At the end of September, there will be a banquet at Victory Church to celebrate the community and the work done at the Dream Center.
Cooper said they’ll also look towards the future, investing in the work that’s left to do in Lakeland to create a brighter future.