Home: A Story of Survival With Less Premieres to Packed House
Central Florida’s Homelessness Problem on Full Display As Documentary Is Aired At Local Furniture Store
A new documentary entitled, Home: A Story of Survival With Less, debuted to an audience community leaders in the Central Florida area on Thursday night. The film specifically highlights the troubling epidemic of homelessness in the tri-county (Orange, Seminole, and Osceola) area. It also points out that there are approximately 1.1 million homeless children in the United States with another 500,000 which either are not of school-age or have yet to be identified.
Within Central Florida, it is estimated there are over 11,000 school-aged homeless children, many of whom are holed up in dangerous living conditions in run-down motels throughout the area. The film highlights the efforts of Lori Trainer, Vice President of Southern Affordable Services to provide access to affordable housing for these families. To date, Lori and her team have found housing for over 245 families.
Mark Waltrip, COO of Westgate Resorts and Board Member of the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness, has repeatedly emphasized the need for our community to disassociate the stereotype of homelessness and commit the additional resources to help these families. He said, “When people think of a homeless person, they usually think of the person at the bottom of an interstate highway ramp with a sign asking for food,” adding, “While it’s important that we address this challenge, there is a much larger number of invisible homeless, people who consist of women, children, and families that need our help as well”.
Home is a movie that is both enlightening and alarming. It is a critical examination of an often misunderstood problem in Central Florida. It highlights families who are currently or were previously homeless. It also brings together community leaders (such as Southern Affordable Services and Westgate Resorts Foundation) who offer their own insight to finding sustainable, workable solutions that will curtail the homeless problem in our community.
For a peek at the trailer, please visit, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I58DAXhEGiw. For more information about community partners involved in this initiative, please visit Southern Affordable Services at http://southernaffordableservices.org/ or contact the Westgate Resorts Foundation at foundation@wgresorts.com.
For further information, please contact Frank Blanco at 407-351-3351, x.534 or feel free to also e-mail Frank at frank_blanco@wgresorts.com.
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