ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Outreach workers are engaging with the homeless directly in East Orange County. United Global Outreach is venturing into the woods to assist individuals in escaping their current circumstances and entering treatment.
“If you live in East Orange County right now and have any wooded area in your backyard, you already have people living in your backyard,” Timothy McKinney, the CEO and President of United Global Outreach, said.
Within many wooded areas along East Colonial in Bithlo and Christmas, you’ll find makeshift encampments with tents, trash, and residents who consider this area home.
“We have to go out there and meet them where they live, McKinney said. “Our peers are doing that. Why? Because they’ve been there and done that themselves already.”
Right now, McKinney says UGO is visiting nearly 1,000 homeless people in the eastern part of the county, trying to get them into treatment for drug addiction or mental health.
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If they agree to go, Mckinney said the organization will watch over their belongings, foster their animals if they have any, connect them with insurance, and take them directly to a treatment facility.
Just this year, the organization has successfully helped 80 people get out of the woods and into treatment.
“I could’ve been that person that something horrible could’ve happened too,” Alana Elliott, UGO’s Peer Support Outreach Worker, said.
She was homeless and addicted in these woods herself.
Now sober for three years and nearing the end of her probation, she spends each day walking into the camps, trying to connect residents with the appropriate resources.
“I do feel very proud,” Elliott said. “I’m just trying to save as many lives as I can.”
Plans are underway in the eastern part of the county to create transitional housing. UGO is leading the project. Right now, there are no official details or timeline, but McKinney said the work is happening.
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