ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – In a recent report, medical leaders said the risk for getting and spreading the coronavirus is twice as high for the nation’s homeless population.
As a result, places like Matthew’s Hope, a faith-based homeless outreach ministry in Winter Garden, had to close its doors for its regular operations but Scott Billue told News 6 that doesn’t mean the work stops.
The ministry replaced its bus pick-up route with a help-out route, offering medical care, clothing and food to those who need it, right near their home.
“Based on this idea, since we can’t have more than 10 people together at a time is why we decided to go this route and we’ll go as long as we can until our resources run out,” he said.
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Posted by Matthew's Hope on Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Leaders at Matthew's Hope said a lot of people they would usually pick up and bring in for medical care suffer from terminal illnesses. Meaning if they brought them to their main office, they would be at the highest risk for contracting coronavirus.
Nancy Pfaff is the director of health services at Matthew's Hope.
"We decided to take this show on the road," she said. "It shows the homeless we truly do care and in a time of need, we're still there for them and not going to let them down."
Billue said Matthew’s Hope is struggling with donations because of all this, but says they’ll be back on the road next week, bringing the care outside to the many who cannot come inside.