OCOEE, Fla. — The West Orange campus of the Christian Service Center for the Homeless is closing its doors on Friday, July 31, the board of directors announced.
The center at 300 W. Franklin Street in Ocoee will stop assistance, including the food pantry, computer lab and SNAP food-stamps services, and the property will be sold.
Leaders within the organization said the decision to close has been looming for the past several years as the nonprofit has been running the facility at a budget deficit.
With just a few weeks left, team members and volunteers at the West Orange campus are still showing up to help the community.
“We’re just doing the best that we can, with our clients here, our volunteers, and my goodness, they’re so valuable, and we’re so grateful for them,” said Michelle Cancel, the interim director at the West Orange campus.
“Some of our programs that are still running is our daily bread program. So right now, we are actually preparing for that," Cancel said. "We serve, on average, around 145 people daily within one hour. So that program right now is going to continue all the way to July 31.”
In Ocoee, the Christian Service Center offered a variety of services, including a food pantry, clothing, housing services, hot lunch and meals every day, helping hundreds of people daily.
“Closing this campus, it's really kind of hit some heart strings," Cancel said. "Because before I worked here, I also volunteered here. Actually, before I volunteered here, I was actually a client. And that’s how it started off. Me and my family were needing some assistance and came across Christian Service Center.”
Service center leaders said the decision was not easy.
“We’ve been operating, really, at a $300,000-a-year-plus deficit for the last couple of years," Director of Operations Kirsten Pena said. "And we’ve been able to cover that. But as we look at kind of the long-term stability of the organization or at that campus alone, we really just need to find different community support, long-term sustainability. And we haven’t been able to find that in West Orange County.”
After looking at every option, the organization decided closing the Ocoee location was the right move.
“We know the problem is not getting better. It’s actually getting worse. We’re seeing homelessness numbers grow, particularly in West Orange County,” Pena said.
In the meantime, the team has been working closely with all of its regular clients to make sure that they know where they can go to get these same services.
“There is a couple of other locations within a few miles of our Ocoee campus where they can get most of the services, if not all. And they also have access to come to our Orlando campus,” Pena said.
The Orlando campus in Parramore is open seven days a week.
Just last month, that location opened a new pavilion and wellness center offering medical assistance, legal services, and help with clothing and hygiene, as well as lunch and dinner.
At any given day, Pena said the Orlando center serves between 400 and 500 people.
“We’re still here to help. And we’re still going to be able to connect people to any resources that are available in the area. So give us a call. We’ll be happy to point you in the right direction,” Pena said.