COCOA, Fla. — Lori Grounds was living in her car when she first arrived at Matthew’s Hope. She found more than a meal at the nonprofit. She found a home. It’s a two-bedroom condo.
“One incident, one incident to become homeless, a divorce, a death, anything, being sick. It takes one time, anybody, you know. You think it can’t happen to them?” she said.
Matthew’s Hope is a homeless ministry providing services to men, women and children in Brevard and Orange counties.
But Matthew’s Hope has recently struggled with a downturn in private funding that’s jeopardizing its ability to provide vital services, such as mobile showers, food distribution, medical outreach and housing assistance.
Pastor Scott Billue, the founder and CEO, said, “Well honestly, a lot of people that go on vacation, they take their money with them. And then the other thing that happens is we have a lot of snowbirds that support us and then they go up north.”
That made an unexpected donation from Orlando Health all the more critical. Hundreds of pounds of food from the recently closed Rockledge Hospital will help feed area residents for months.
“It almost was a no-brainer, right? It was, this is an organization we were aligned with. They do so much work to change the lives of people every day, and it really aligned with our mission to really serve the community,” said Orlando Health East Florida Region President Ohme Entin.
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