“Happy spring everyone!” was the cheery welcome from Mary Ellen Maguire, Homeless Family Center executive director, to guests at the Bent Pine Golf Club for the center’s fifth annual Spring Luncheon chaired by Rosemary Hartmann and Pat Dunsmore.
“Spring is a time of hope, and at the Homeless Family Center we believe in hope,” said Maguire. “The Homeless Family Center provides the hope of a better future.”
Touching symbols of that resolve were at each table in the form of booklets entitled, “My Book of Dreams,” created by children who live at the center. In some ways their dreams are typical, hoping to grow up to become teachers and firemen. But others tell a tale of heartache; simply dreaming of the day their parents will find a good job so that they might live together in a home of their own.
“These stories speak loudly about how quickly our kids grow up,” said Maguire. “Kids shouldn’t have to worry about their parents finding a job. They should be out playing. If we’re looking to break the cycle of poverty, we have to look at the whole family.”
There are currently 21 families – 23 adults and 46 children, ranging from 4-weeks to age 17 – filling the 21 shelter bedrooms. Two of those rooms have just been converted from office space this past year to make room for an ever-increasing homeless population.
According to a June, 2013, Council on Homelessness report, Florida has the dubious distinction of having the third largest homeless population in the country, and the third highest rate of unsheltered homeless. The fastest-growing homeless population is families with children. At last count in Indian River County there were 837 homeless people, 321 of them children.
Audrey Malin, a former resident of the Homeless Family Center, returned to the luncheon to give an update on her inspiring homeless-to-homeowner experience. An attractive, articulate mother of two young boys, hers is the surprising new face of homelessness.
“The reasons for homelessness include rising healthcare costs, domestic issues, substance abuse, loss of employment and the inability to find livable wages, especially in Indian River County. That’s the No. 1 reason for homelessness today,” said Malin.
“People look at me cross-eyed when I say that the most amazing experience of my life was when I walked through the doors of the Homeless Family Center.”
She noted that the shelter not only provides families with a safe place to live, it also offers structure. The center assists residents to get their lives back on track first by reestablishing the basics, such as daily routines, improving hygiene and health and recovering lost documents, and then providing job and life skills, training and education programs.
Her oldest boy read from the poem “Invisible Boy” by Shel Silverstein, and said, “The center makes invisible things visible; all kinds of people as well. It’s an amazing thing.”
“I love HFC and will never forget it,” said Malin.
Residents are required to save 75 percent of their earnings, and with hers she was able to purchase a low-mortgage home. After Youth in Action and teenagers from the high school helped spruce it up, she found furniture from the shelter’s A Second Chance thrift store, and they are now living a life that was just a dream a few years ago.
“Thank you for helping us to get our life back – way better than it was before and making us un-invisible,” said Malin.
The Homeless Family Center provides emergency and transitional shelter for homeless families on the Treasure Coast. The center also partners with individuals and other organizations that assist by providing children’s programs, employment training, and mental health counseling.