ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Ashley Hildebrandt, who has been homeless for eight years, tells News 6 that this week’s bitter temps have gotten to her.
“Florida is not supposed to be this cold,” Hildebrandt said. “It was so cold I was shivering. I was crying because it was so painful.”
She currently lives in a tent in the woods of Bithlo.
“I can’t feel my fingers,” she shared, describing the harsh conditions. “This cold is just, it’s like taking the oxygen out of your body and expecting to still be able to breathe. It’s just suffocating.”
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Hildebrandt often visits Transformation Village to eat, shower, and warm up. There, she and others go find respite during the day, but because resources are limited, they can’t spend the night there and for most, the designated cold weather shelters in Orange County are too far away.
“There are zero options if you’re homeless in East Orange County, and that’s just not okay,” CEO of United Global Outreach Timothy McKinney said.
“[This week], it’s been terrible, and it’s been heartbreaking and candidly embarrassing,” McKinney said. “I go home every night to an apartment that has heat. I ride in a truck that has heat. I close the doors here at night and leave people outside to endure the elements because they don’t have shelter options.”
McKinney has been working on Transformation Village for a decade to give the unsheltered community what he calls the VIP experience.
“We’ve got our partners of salt out of here doing showers and clothing and washers and dryers and storage and social work and rights and mental health counseling. We also recently, this past year, opened our medically assisted treatment center to address substance use disorder and behavioral health issues,” he explained. “You need to be treated like you’re an important person because you are.”
However, McKinney cannot tackle this issue alone and is asking for help. He stresses the need for the county and community members to unite in finding a solution for a homeless community that continues to be pushed further into this area.
“We need to aggressively and quickly find a location where we can immediately open a shelter. And we need to cut through all the red tape,” McKinney urged.
The need for a nearby shelter is urgent for people like Hildebrandt, who wants the community to remember that she shivers just like everyone else.
“Homeless people are people, too,” she said. “She may not have a house, we may not have a car, or sometimes even have a job. But we have feelings and we care.”
Transformation Village is accepting donations to keep people warm this winter. If you’d like to donate clothes, blankets or outdoor heaters or learn how to volunteer with them, click here.
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