.fb-like span { overflow:visible !important; width:450px !important; margin-right:-200px; } Heart to Heart- Changing Hopelessness to Happiness   Homeless women and children are the fastest growing population in our society. Not since the Great Depression have so many been without a permanent place to live. Central Florida is no exception. At last count there are 14,000 homeless children here in Central Florida among the 1.35 […]" />
Heart to Heart- Changing Hopelessness to Happiness

Heart to Heart- Changing Hopelessness to Happiness

 


Community H2H photo1425911437_tmp_ABC_7419_-_Version_2Homeless women and children are the fastest growing population in our society. Not since the Great Depression have so many been without a permanent place to live. Central Florida is no exception. At last count there are 14,000 homeless children here in Central Florida among the 1.35 million children nationwide.

Women head the majority of homeless families. Ninety-percent have experienced severe losses, abuse and violence, along with poverty. The typical mother is in her late twenties with two children. Forty-three percent of those children are under the age of six. Half of the mothers do not have a high school diploma and about one third have part-time, low paying jobs, which provide the bare minimum
 for food, clothing or shelter. These are the women and children that Heart to Heart: a Community Care Home serves.

Their stories are sometimes brutally real and seemingly hopeless—like that of Janice (not her real name to protect her identity)—orphaned at the age of 12 after watching the murder of her mother. Homeless and unprotected she was a child being sexually abused among various family members. Janice turned to the streets to cope with her heartbreak and suffering as a promiscuous teenager, who abused drugs, suffered abuse and became the unwed mother of two children. One of the children, a little girl, died at the age of two of a seizure. Her grandmother was raising the other child, a little boy.

Today she is a young woman-a mother-poised to live a fully independent and self-sufficient life. The turning point in Janice’s life? A benevolent social worker – fully aware of her struggles and painful history – intervened and got her into the program at Heart to Heart: a Community Care Home. She was reunited with her son and later reunited with healthy family members.

Because of the support and guidance offered by Heart to Heart—such as housing with collaborative programs to provide stability, emotional support, education, therapy and a loving environment—she is among a growing number of women learning to change their lives.

The Heart to Heart staff gives women the opportunity to make new choices for their lives, choices they never new they could have.” Said Ellen Parcell, President & CEO of Heart to Heart: a Community Care Home, Inc.

Under the professional care, mentoring and support provided, Janice stopped abusing chemicals, acknowledged her pain and began to address the emotional issues that had become so crippling in her young life. She was finally able to grieve the trauma of childhood rape, witnessing the murder of her mother as well as the death of her infant daughter. She began successfully healing from the harsh reality of her past.

“Heart to Heart housing offers a family stability, with professional support, new choices, education and job training the women are on the pathway out of homelessness and poverty.” emphasizes Ellen Parcell.

Parcell took over leadership in 2007 with a commitment to build a solid volunteer, diverse working Board of Directors. The board has adopted well-established business practices, along with focused stewardship of funds, ethics and personal values; these translated into measurable outcomes for the women and children they serve in Central Florida.

A small organization, Heart to Heart currently has 34 beds for families in houses and apartments, opened with HUD/Home grant funding from Seminole County and The City of Orlando. Last year in Washington, D.C. the organization was awarded the National Audrey Nelson Award for the use of HUD/CDBG grant dollars for housing. Heart to Heart is poised to move forward by opening additional housing in Seminole and Orange County in the near future.

Heart to Heart is helping to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty in Central Florida one family at a time.


 

How can you help? Join the “Caring Hearts” Auxiliary Board. The volunteer working board members have a passion helping to make a difference in the lives of homeless. They are a great group of folks that help with fundraising events and securing donated items for the organization.

Be a Collaborative Corporate Partner; help fundraise within your company. Take on a volunteer service project for the organization.

Give a tangible gift of love– monetary donations are always needed. Donations of property, houses or vehicles are also appreciated.

Fundraising events 2015:

  •  Chowder Festival- Saturday, January 24, in Winter Park was a success!
  •  Golf Tournament, Mercedes-Benz of Orlando Regional, Monday, June 8, The Legacy Golf Club at Alaqua Lakes in Longwood, a 2 person scramble.
  •  Winter Wonderland Social and Casino Party-Saturday, December 5 in Maitland.
  •  Mercedes-Benz Car Raffle- Buy raffle tickets for a new CLA 250. Drawing 12/5/2015

For more information go to the website (www.H2HCentralFlorida.org) or call Ellen Parcell 407- 463-6297.

Contributing Writer: Alan Scott Reference: “Homelessness in the United States: History, Epidemiology, Health Issues, Women, and Public Policy” Medscape. 9.22.2013

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