ORLANDO, Fla. — For years, the William R Just transitional housing center has helped homeless veterans in Orlando get back on their feet.
In that time, the center and its building, located just off Michigan Street, needed some TLC.
On Thursday, it was all hands on deck as hundreds of volunteers transformed the space with some much-needed repairs.
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Hands on Orlando executive director Kyle Trager said the work was long overdue.
“It has decades’ worth of maintenance that needs to be done,” Trager said.
More than 400 volunteers from across the country worked tirelessly to transform the space.
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The Home Depot Foundation put on the large-scale project.
Executive Director Shannon Gerber said this is all part of the foundation’s mission to end veteran homelessness.
“This will really be a project that can create a home for the veterans who will be staying here,” Gerber said.
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Veteran Prince Khaliyfa couldn’t help but become emotional when talking about how much seeing all the people helping means to him.
“I’ve never been in an environment where people care for people like this,” Khaliyfa said.
According to The Home Depot Foundation, on any given night, there are 37,000 homeless veterans across the country.
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Over the past 10 years, the foundation has invested $400 million in veteran cases and helped renovate more than 50,000 veteran homes and facilities.
More information about The Home Depot Foundation can be found here.
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