COVER STORY 28 AUGUST 2024 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition During a time when the U.S. Housing Department reports the number of people facing homelessness in the U.S. has reached the highest level on record due to economic instability and an increasingly unaffordable housing market, HOPE South Florida is poised to tackle the issue of family homelessness in South Florida like never before. Due to an innovative partnership with Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, HOPE South Florida is now under strong leadership that has revamped their entire playbook and brought together a brand-new team aimed at propelling holistic life-change for families and individuals in crisis. Now calling the plays is Hope South Florida’s Vice Chairman and Revitalization Project Lead, Ken McKenzie. McKenzie brings robust business and leadership acumen as the former executive vice president of Airbus and most recently as CEO of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. Under McKenzie’s guidance, HOPE South Florida and Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale seek to develop strategic partnerships, combining the efforts of local churches, foundations, businesses and individuals with a focus on comprehensive solutions for Broward County’s most vulnerable homeless populations, specifically families in crisis. Doug Sauder, Lead Pastor at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale said, “By working together, we can fulfill the gospel commission and provide hope, dignity and tangible solutions to those facing homelessness in our community.” However, McKenzie emphasized that HOPE South Florida remains its own entity. “A team from Calvary is serving alongside HOPE who wants to see it succeed. We have hired a new director of operations, George Rich, changed the bylaws, put in a statement of faith and developed a code of family values that has led to a thriving staff culture.” The vision and history Since HOPE South Florida’s start as The Shepherd's Way 29 years ago, thousands of lives have been impacted by the compassionate care and support of the faith-based nonprofit ministry. After encountering God at a time of crisis in his own life, HOPE South Florida Founder and Chairman Emeritus Fred Scarbrough recalls how he kept returning to Matthew 25:14 in the scriptures: “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” This is the foundation behind everything they do. It all began on Thanksgiving Day in 1995 when Scarborough spoke with people experiencing homelessness during a feeding ministry at “Tent City” in Fort Lauderdale and was moved with compassion when he encountered a mother and father with a five-month-old baby who had no place to spend the night, no diapers and no baby food. Using rooms at various hotels paid for by volunteers at the time, The Shepherd’s Way began housing families. The grassroots organization became HOPE South Florida in 2010 with the support of key church partners including Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, First Baptist Fort Lauderdale, First Presbyterian Fort Lauderdale, Mount Bethel Baptist Church and Rio Vista Community Church, among others. By 2016, HOPE had expanded to include shared meals, mobile showers, basic medical care and access to rapid re-housing. However, like many organizations Hope South Florida struggled in the wake of the COVID pandemic when funding from PPE payments ran out. Some on the leadership team transitioned out and Scarbrough along with HOPE South Florida Chairman Madison Gulley began to look for a new path forward. Experiencing mission drift, Scarbrough said, “We almost lost our Christian witness and that was just heart wrenching to me. That’s why we reached out to Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale and the Stacy Foundation. I wanted to be able to sleep at night knowing this will always be a Christian ministry for family homelessness, and I sleep very well right now.” HOPE South Florida’s vision is to end homelessness by building HOPE-filled communities that empower families to become resilient and independent. “There’s such a huge immediate need,” said Scarbrough, “but when you open God's door, when people come to us and want food, or when there’s a need for a shower, we’re going to do it!” Broward County currently has over 7,000 individuals experiencing homelessness with more than 1,000 families who need permanent, self-sustainable housing. With hundreds seeking aid from HOPE South Florida weekly, there is a community-wide opportunity to reinforce solutions for those who need it most. With so many needs, McKenzie said “HOPE South Florida ended up trying to be everything to everybody. It really needed to reestablish its compass. So we asked, what is it that we feel called to do and want to be measured against? First and foremost, that has always been families.” The strategic plan Hope South Florida’s strategic plan is based on three pillars: 1) The first pillar is caring for families through access to housing services. 2) The second pillar is offering supportive services. These include parenting classes, financial literacy training, mental health counseling, employment training and more. There are currently seven different classes offered at HOPE South Florida each week. 3) The third pillar is providing physical services. These include shared meals, hot showers at their mobile shower unit, mail services, and weekly partner ships that provide eyeglasses as well as limited health care from a Broward Health van. Last year more than 50 families benefited from rapid re-housing, 20 families were given refuge at transitional crisis housing, 90,000 shared meals were served, 12,000 hot showers were made possible through their mobile shower unit and over 1,000 New Team Brings HOPE for the Homeless Shelly Pond Good News Editor Hope South Florida leadership team: Jason Mann, Director of Meals and Showers; Denise Trio, Director of Development; Ken McKenzie, President; Haley Weniger, Finance Manager; and George Rich, Director of Operations Photo Credit: Ariel Feldman Fred Scarbrough
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