COCOA, Fla. — One Central Florida organization is asking for the community’s help as they face financial challenges. 

Matthew’s Hope Ministries serves the homeless population, but recently one of their biggest donors cut back on the amount they regularly give to the organization.

What You Need To Know

  • Matthew’s Hope Ministries serves the homeless population in Central Florida with two locations, one in Orange County and one in Brevard

  • Founder and CEO Scott Billue says one of the organization's biggest private donors is pulling back their funding based on the state of the economy and the recent uncertainty of the markets

  • The cutback is $50,000 per month, which might impact some of their services

  • Billue is asking for the community's help to be able to keep providing services to their clients

“We're in a rough place right now," Matthew's Hope founder and CEO, Scott Billue, said. "We're at a place we, as a nonprofit, are constantly in challenges. And we've had some rough spots along the way, but we've never faced anything like this before.”

He explained the private donor would still contribute and they have no intentions of pulling back further, yet some services will be impacted.

“The cutback is $50,000 a month. So basically $25,000 per location,” Billue said.

At their two locations, one in Winter Garden, Orange County and one in Cocoa, Brevard County, Matthew’s Hope offer services to the community ranging from bus services, medical and mental health care, showers, clothing, a hair salon, a food pantry and more.

“A typical visit to Matthew’s Hope is valued at about $100 per person in just the food, clothing and hygiene and other basic needs,” Billue said.

They help people in 17 municipalities with about 1,000 contacts with clients per week.

“How do we continue to meet all that need? But how do we do that with less? And so, we're looking at each area of our services and cutting back in each area. We're just trying to do more with less, which is a really tough mathematical thing to do,” Billue said.

Since the pandemic, Billue said Matthew’s Hope has tripled its size and went mobile, taking on more expenses than before. His biggest concern right now is not an imminent shutdown but having limited resources to help more people.

They are turning to the community to help them.

“We find that when everybody does something, big things happen. And that's our hope in this,” Billue said.

According to the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, more than 40% of Central Florida’s homeless population are children or people 55 and older. Billue says they have seen an increase in the people they serve in these populations, and there’s a need to focus on the root of the problem. 

“More money is spent on symptoms rather than causes. We need to focus our investment on causes of homelessness rather than trying to deal with the symptom,” Billue said.

Anyone interested in donating to Matthew’s Hope, they have a Facebook Page where they keep a list of their specific needs as they change daily. They also have a financial donation page for their Orange County location and their Brevard County location.

Billue says the biggest needs are single serve nonperishable foods, casual clothing including blue jeans, shorts, t-shirts, running shoes and travel size hygiene items.