It is five o’clock on a Friday evening and I am eager and ready to get off work and race home to relax. Maybe, it’ll rain tomorrow, I think to myself, so I can just enjoy being home with my family. Home is that all too familiar feeling of belonging somewhere; of comfort, family, and happiness. Home is where the heart is they say, but what if there was no place to call home?
In Santa Rosa County, many people are considered literally homeless, which by definition means “the person spent the night prior in a place not meant for human habitation.” Another frightening fact is that Santa Rosa County does not have a homeless shelter.
Dr. Karen Barber, director of federal programs for the Santa Rosa School District, shared that as of April of this year, 1,618 of the students attending Santa Rosa County Schools are homeless. How can these students be expected to achieve high scores and positive participation levels when they’ve no shelter and are hungry?
Ex-offenders, who have completed the time for the crime they committed, are placed out on the streets of Santa Rosa County every day. Being in jail causes many to lose their homes, families, and friends and a new problem arises for them; they are released from jail to become a member of the homeless population.
Without a homeless shelter, there is no place for the homeless population to go. Many have no option but to pick up a life of crime, or return to a life of crime, due to lack of resources. Everyone goes through tough times, but without help, especially for homeless, everything quickly turns dim, depressing, and hopeless.
With the help of United Way of Santa Rosa County, an evidence-based program in Santa Rosa County is new hope for some of the homeless. S.C.O.R.E. is an acronym for Second Chance Outreach Re-entry & Education, and this program focuses on improving the community by providing ex-offenders and designated homeless with temporary food and shelter as well as the programs, training, and the services necessary for successful re-entry back into society. Mark C. was formerly homeless before entering the program and is currently a resident at S.C.O.R.E., and has also become a full-time volunteer at United Way SRC. “To me, Friday is like any other day. It can be quite depressing because I miss my family and friends. I’m very appreciative of S.C.O.R.E., they have offered me shelter and I honestly wouldn’t know where I’d be without the program…Probably on my way to jail, jail is not such a bad idea when you have no other form of shelter,” he shares.
At United Way SRC, we fight the waging war on depression every day, and with the help of new programs to our community such as S.C.O.R.E, we can win the fight by living united every day and working together to improve the lives of the people in our community.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: A PLACE TO CALL HOME