Coalitions & Individual Service Help Hungry

This year has started out very busy for our food pantry. In January we served 484 families and in February, 536 families. This equates to 2955 individuals. Now that March is coming to a close, we project to have served around 1500 families in three months.

Our numbers correspond with the high amount of homeless residing in Lee County, Florida. New homeless numbers came out the end of last month and the count is up from last year. According to an article in the Fort Myers News Press, an annual homeless census identified 937 individuals and 75 families homeless. Of course, these are only the people that were actually found and counted. Numerous other people are living with family or friends in overcrowded housing and considered at-risk of being on the street. Officials predict around 3000 individuals to be homeless. 

Southwest Florida Outreach Ministry is a member of the Lee County Homeless Coalition that has pledged to end homelessness. This broad based coalition includes county, municipal, nonprofit, law enforcement, faith-based and social services leaders who collaborate on strategies for combating homelessness.

Through collaboration and direct assistance, our Outreach Center is here to provide a helping hand to those in need. Our Food Pantry is now open from Monday-Saturday 9am-12 noon. We conduct intakes with all clients and make referrals to other programs and agencies when needed. Staff can also assist people with applying for public assistance. As a faith-based program we feel strongly that all people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and strive to positively change lives one day at a time! Through coalition building and direct service we get closer to this goal.

House of Hope

The House of Hope is our Southwest Florida Outreach Ministry's addiction recovery program. We offer affordable, comprehensive addiction support and recovery services including temporary housing, food, clothing, counseling, case management, referral, and follow-up. This program is available to men over a nine month period of time. Participants come from a variety of backgrounds and are referred to us from partnering organizations or simply on a walk-in basis. House of Hope currently has space for six individuals and is operated in a safe environment by the Director, Ted Stringer.

The House of Hope is a faith-based program and provides weekly Overcomers meetings which are group support meetings. Individual counseling is also provided. We are currently researching funding opportunities for expanding the program's services to cover program expenses for participants during the initial transition period of the program. This allows the individuals to become familiar with expectations, gather paperwork, and secure employment in order to contribute the program fee and achieve success. However, the current economic conditions have made it more difficult for participants to secure employment and as a result, more pressure to cover the program costs has fallen on Southwest Florida Outreach Ministry.

Learn more about House of Hope by calling our office at 239-275-1141 or make a donation by clicking the Donate button on the top of this post. Check out our website at http://www.swfloutreach.com/. Thank you for your interest in ending substance abuse and providing support for addiction recovery.

Florida's Homeless Children

Discussion has been prevalent this week about the rise of homeless children in the United States. A report was issued by the National Center on Family Homelessness that ranked states according to factors affecting children including well-being, risk and state policies @ http://www.homelesschildrenamerica.org/. According to this report, Florida ranked 43rd with 50th being the worst ranking. In Florida, about 50,000 children have been listed as homeless or without permanent housing and almost half of these children are young school children ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade. Locally, 115 percent more homeless families have been recorded in Lee county than a year earlier. Children's lives are severely impacted when living in these conditions and not surprisingly children living without a permanent home are more likely to have problems with emotions, health, academics, and violence.

Here at Southwest Florida Outreach Ministry this report really comes as no big surprise. We serve children and their families at the Outreach Center and Food Bank every day with things like food, clothing, and emergency assistance for housing and utilities. Over the past eighteen months we have watched the need for our services skyrocket. Children are a large and important part of the population we serve. Last month we served 824 Adults and 577 Children. We also provide referrals to other services in the community. Although our organization is small, we are determined to do our part in changing lives one day at a time for children and families in crisis. Contact us anytime if you are interested in volunteering or making a food, clothing ,or financial donation toward ending childhood hunger and homelessness.

Business of Giving-Deliciously.

We at Southwest Florida Outreach Ministry would like to start this week's post off with a HUGE thank you to all those who contributed to the FirstGiving Marathon Fundraiser. The event was held last weekend and we raised $504 for our food pantry. We are in great need of donations and this money will allow us to purchase difficult to find food items to fill our shelves and freezer. Our pantry accepts donations from individuals and we also work hand in hand with the Harry Chapin Food Bank in Fort Myers by receiving food donations and also purchasing food at a discounted rate from them. We then act as a distributor of this food to our community individuals and families in need.

Not only do we partner with non-profit organizations like Harry Chapin, but we also look for opportunities to connect with local businesses who are interested in community good works. For instance, Panera Bread, located on Cleveland Avenue in Fort Myers operates a program called Operation Dough-Nation. This program donates their leftover bakery products at the end of the day to selected non-profit organizations for delivery to those in need including the ill, the needy, and infants. Panera Bread states they believe the "Universal Spirit of Bread is Sharing" and as a result they are committed to the communities they share. We appreciate this commitment and are happy to collaborate with them on this project.

We always welcome food donations and please spread the word about our food pantry. We are open Monday through Saturday 9-noon--And, if you want to dine at a yummy restaurant that supports our community, check out Panera Bread at: http://www.panerabread.com/ located at 5037 S Cleveland Ave.

Marathon Fundraising.

We are always on the look-out for new and innovative ways to raise money to support program activities at the Outreach Center and House of Hope. We realize that it is vital to pursue a broad scope of funding and to diversify our fundraising plan in order to stay afloat financially. Individual donations, church support, grant writing, program fees, volunteers, and special event fundraisers are a few of the methods we have utilized to raise financial support.

Currently, a special event fundraiser is in its last week as a friend of the Outreach Center and House of Hope gets closer to running the Tampa Bay Gasparilla Marathon on March 1st. This event will be ran on behalf of both programs and donations can be made by pledging a dollar amount for each of the 26.2 miles to be ran or in one contribution amount. Please check out our progress at reaching this fundraising goal at: http://www.firstgiving.com/swfloutreach or click on the FirstGiving button located in the right hand column of this blog.

Also, you may have noticed we recently added a donation button from JustGive.org to our blog. JustGive provides a secure server that will protect your financial information and safely transfer your credit card donation. They never sell, trade, or give your name to any other group. And if you choose to donate anonymously, they'll protect your identity. If you would like to make a donation to our organization from this blog site, simply click on the JustGive.org button.

We really appreciate your interest in the work going on in southwest Florida to combat hunger, homelessness and addiction and thank you for your caring and support.

Community Partnerships

At the Southwest Florida Outreach Center and House of Hope we try to assist the families and individuals seeking help from our organization by remaining flexible and innovative. Although we are a small operation, we are taking on large issues such as hunger, homelessness, and substance abuse on a daily basis.

Compassion for those in need may be the driving force for the services we provide but we use a variety of tools and resources to carry out our mission. For instance, our Outreach Center is an ACCESS Florida site. This means we are partnering with The Florida Department of Children and Family in an effort to increase access of services to the community. As an ACCESS Florida site, we provide a computer for people to apply for benefits, check the status of an application or report a change. This is helpful for people without transportation, the elderly, or those who face other barriers to applying for assistance at the main office. Help for submitting a web application and checking status of information to determine eligibility is also available. Anyone is welcome to use our site for this purpose on a walk-in basis.

ACCESS Florida posts the statement "Protect the Vulnerable, Promote Strong and Economically Self-Sufficient Families, and Advance Personal and Family Recovery and Resiliency." on their website. Our Outreach Center and House of Hope programs, supported by the Broadway Community Church, hope to help maximize the available resources to those in need by partnering with other organizations that focus on improving the human condition and working together to change lives one at a time. Please contact our office if you have a partnering project/opportunity you would like to discuss: 239-936-8366

Fort Myers Receives National Attention

The issue of hunger and homelessness in Fort Myers was brought to the nation's attention yesterday by Henrietta Hughes as she spoke directly to President Obama during his town hall discussion. Ms. Hughes and her son have been homeless for over a year and living out of her truck. President Obama's staffers connected Ms. Hughes with the local Housing Authority who is now working with her to find housing. She was later offered a home by Chene Thompson, wife of State Representative Nick Thompson, in LaBelle, Florida. Here is a link to The News-Press report http://www.news-press.com/article/20090210/OBAMA/90210038/1075.

We are always looking for ways to help the hungry and homeless that visit our Outreach Center on a daily basis. Donations to our organization are welcome. We accept food, clothing, and financial donations and are very thankful for any assistance people feel they can provide! We also love volunteers! Contact us at swfloutreach@comcast.net or 239-810-5917 for more information.