Veteran Finally Gets Home of His Own

Originally Reported by: Albany Democrat Herald.

Steve Sacre left home at 17 to join the Army. He spent five and a half years in the service, serving 12 months as a gunner on a jeep escorting convoys in Vietnam.

In Vietnam, he used opium and pot “so [he] could climb up on that jeep every day because you knew someone was going to get blown up.”

Since then, he has spent 32 of his 62 years behind bars, battling drug and alcohol addiction. The rest of his days have been spent either in homeless shelters, living under bushes or sleeping on the occasional friend’s couch.

On a Friday in late October, he moved into an apartment, his first home in 45 years.

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Daytona Program Benefits Homeless Men, City

DAYTONA Beach, Fla. — Daytona Beach officials said its program to deal with its homeless problem has seen enormous success in its first 10 months.

The members of the Salvation Army’s clean streets team say that by picking up city streets they are lifting themselves off them.

To view the complete story, click anywhere or go directly to: http://www.wesh.com/news/21522450/detail.html

Number of homeless students skyrockets in Seminole County

by Glenn Judah, Herald Staff

Beth Davalos crunches the numbers every day as director of Families in Transition, and each day they’re more upsetting.

The numbers show the population of homeless students in Seminole County has already increased 130 percent since last school year.

“Our office received 15 phone calls today,” Davalos said Tuesday. “All were families looking for help. It’s sad. I’m getting more and more desperate situations.”

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Number of homeless students skyrockets in Central Florida

OrlandoSentinel.com
Number of homeless students skyrockets in Central Florida
Poor economy leads to 20 percent leap in a year, squeezing school-district resources

Denise-Marie Balona

Sentinel Staff Writer

October 1, 2009

The number of homeless children attending Central Florida’s public schools is soaring — further evidence that the weakened economy has hit this part of the state particularly hard.

Across Florida, there were 41,286 homeless students in the 2008-09 school year, according to a new report from the Florida Department of Education. That’s a 20 percent jump over the previous year.

Read the full story by clicking anywhere on the article or by going to: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-homeless-students-100109,0,984404.story

Homeless: Orlando could be the most violent metro area in Florida, survey finds

OrlandoSentinel.com
By Willoughby Mariano

Sentinel Staff Writer

August 20, 2009

The nation’s third “meanest” city for the homeless may also be the state’s most violent toward them, say survey results being released today.

Forty-six percent of homeless people questioned in Orlando and Orange County in an ongoing local survey said they were physically attacked in the past four years by someone they thought was not homeless — well above Florida’s average of 27 percent, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.

The same organization last month ranked Orlando as the third “meanest” city in the country, behind Los Angeles and St. Petersburg. A coalition report released earlier this month said that in 2008, Florida led the nation in violence against the homeless for the fourth year in a row.

This year alone, at least two homeless men have been slain in Orange County.

“To me, the statistics are shocking. It shows the problem is much worse than we thought,” said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Orange County’s results in this most recent survey are preliminary. There were 35 Orlando respondents and 1,350 statewide. However, in Orange Osceola and Seminole counties there are about 3,800 homeless people at any given time, according to the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida.

The network is in the midst of a more extensive local study that aims to survey 650 homeless people. It plans to release results this fall.

Here’s more about the coalition’s survey, and what it means.

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NYC Homeless Given 1-Way Tickets; At Least 100 Sent To Fla. Since 2007

Click anywhere on the article and you’ll go to the link, if interested in watching the televised report

From WKMG TV
POSTED: Wednesday, July 29, 2009
UPDATED: 7:32 pm EDT July 29, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. — New York City’s homeless are on the move, and many are being sent to the Sunshine State.

The city has been purchasing one-way tickets for homeless families to places all over the world since 2007.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg said the program is the only way to keep the people out of the city’s expensive shelter system. Some are concerned that the practice is just relocating the problem, and not resolving it.

Florida is dealing with nearly 86,000 homeless people and is in the middle of a crisis to provide shelter and affordable housing to the homeless population.

Downtown resident Ryan McKey said he doesn’t like the program.

“I just came from New York and didn’t have a problem. I get back here and get stopped for change on every corner. We already have too many homeless,” McKey said.

The practice, dubbed “Project Reconnect,” is aimed at homeless families in New York who have relatives elsewhere who are willing to take in the family member.

“I think it’s a good idea. Anything we can do to help families reconnect and possibly get them back on their feet is good,” Trey Killingsworth said.

It costs the city of New York around $36,000 a year to house and feed a family in a shelter. Considering that expense, a plane ticket can save the city thousands of dollars.

The Coalition of the Homeless of Central Florida applauds the goal of reuniting families, it said the program does not address the problem.

“On the downside of it, this is not a good way to address the homeless issue. Moving them from one corner to the next corner or one city to another is not addressing the issue of homelessness,” coalition CEO Brent Trotter said.

The New York department that oversees the program did not respond when asked for the exact number of homeless people who have been sent to Central Florida, but at least 100 families have been sent to Florida since the program began.

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Why are people homeless?

Click on this sentence and it will take you to an interesting article.

David Ashby to resume trek; sister Aubrey still in hospital

posted by Kate Santich on Jun 28, 2009 11:37:39 PM

David Ashby, the 14-year-old Orlando teen who began walking to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of homeless children, will resume his trek Monday morning, his mom said.

David’s much-publicized journey had been abruptly halted June 16 — just two days into his trek — when his 10-year-old sister was in a serious, freakish accident. Staying with an uncle in Virginia, Aubrey Ashby took a bad fall off a bicycle and fell, suffering extensive facial trauma and a potential brain injury. A blood clot and life-threatening reaction to anesthesia further complicated matters.

But Alison Ashby, David and Aubrey’s mother, said Aubrey underwent an initial surgery last week and is doing well, though she has more surgeries and a long recovery ahead. The girl — known to her many friends for her happy and compassionate spirit — “continues to amaze us with her strength and positive outlook,” her mother said.

A series of fund-raising events for her medical bills has already been organized by friends, teachers and neighbors. (I’ll have more details on those soon.)

Meanwhile, David will pick up in DeLand, where he left off before the accident, and resume his 21-mile-per-day walk. Though Alison will stay with her daughter, who is still hospitalized in Virginia, another chaperon will take her place following David in a van to ensure his safety. He has nearly two dozen overnight stays scheduled for homeless shelters along the way.