ORLANDO, Fla. — Even as Central Florida gets ever closer to the summer months, the area has already seen some record-breaking temperatures in recent weeks.
For many people experiencing homelessness, this extreme weather makes it even more challenging to survive out in the streets.
The Christian Service Center for the Homeless is one of the few places in downtown Orlando offering cooling stations, with fans and showers for people in need. With the arrival of the summer months, leaders get ready for their most demanding season.
Andrew Daniel is one among many experiencing homelessness who come to their campus looking to cool off.
“It's really kind of scary sometimes, especially, like, at night, when there's already no place for us to go,” he said.
As he goes through the donated clothing racks, he looks for some items that can be useful this summer, which he says it’s the most challenging time of year.
“I’ve watched people literally just dropping from heatstroke," Daniel said. "And it's not that it's hot, I'm a desert baby, I'm from New Mexico originally. It's the humidity factor that keeps everything pressed down."
Christian Service Center’s Executive Director Eric Gray says as June approaches, they are seeing more people coming to the cooling center, which serves close to 400 people a day.
“We've seen an increase in the number of heat-related illnesses going through the E.R. here in Orlando in the last couple of years," he said. "We've also seen a significant increase in the number of extreme heat days."
The Christian Service Center for the Homeless offers meals, showers, fans, charging stations and clothing, among other services.
“There's no place for us to be cool. There's no place for us to have any kind of services that we need, clothing, anything,” Daniel said. “So having them here is, in a very little sense, a godsend.”
Gray said some of the people his organization serves have serious health conditions, like cardiovascular disease and respiratory problems, which worsen during the summer months.
“Those types of challenges that we might look past, become … a struggle for somebody that's living on the street," he said. "So, something as simple as an asthma attack can be much more serious, because they don't have the same medications. And they can not only end up in the hospital, they can die."
But providing these services, it’s not cheap — Gray said it costs them about $11,000 a day to run their operation. They are working on an Anniversary Matching Gift campaign until June 1, where every contribution will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to a goal of $155,000 to help them get through this summer.
“Overall, we're hoping to raise $310,000, which would go a long way towards getting us through the summer, making sure that we have enough food, and we have enough clothing that we can support the people in need over these hot months,” Gray said.
He said the need for these facilities is more pressing than ever, and they are calling on more organizations to help them offer people a place to cool off.
“We need more businesses and churches to open up their spaces, even if it's just for one or two people to get people even just an hour of able to cool down can make a huge difference,” Gray said.
In terms of donations, Gray said they are always in need of flip flops, water bottles, hats, sunscreen and electrolyte packets. They also welcome volunteers who might want to help with their day-to-day operations. Anyone looking for more information can visit the Christian Service Center website.
