Nonprofits join forces to help local homeless

ORLANDO, Fla. — Event organizers for a group of nonprofit organizations teamed up in the hope of gathering 30,000 people at the Citrus Bowl on Easter Sunday.
 
The "He Got Up" event targets families in need and organizers hope to offer them food, health care and job opportunities on March 27.
 
George Valldejuli runs a nonprofit at the Liberty Inn, where he takes in families and accepts rent on a sliding scale.
 
"They're coming from a transition on the street to come to a place that (is) clean. Take food, take a shower (and) go to work," Valldejuli said.
 
Everyone who lives at the inn has to work and plan for permanent housing. Valldejuli said he tries to move people out in about three months.
 
Volunteers are going door to door hoping to gather people who need help. The event will be set up for about 5,000 haircuts, showers and legal services for those looking to straighten out their past.
 
"Most of these individuals don't want to live here, but they have some medical issues, legal issues, events in their lives that have led them here, but they can't cycle themselves out," Tim Johnson, of Orlando Serve Foundation, said.
 
Organizers said they'll help a group of sex offenders living in the woods with no place to go, but they'll be kept separate from the rest.
 
During the process, volunteers will count how many in Osceola, Orange and Seminole counties are without homes.

Cox Media Group