Press Releases

FAMILY ROOM FOR HOMELESS GETS EXTREME MAKEOVER

ORLANDO, Fla. — (January 6, 2009)—Homeless individuals and families who reside at the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida joined with Coalition staff, Orange County Leadership Institute participants, Florida Desk representatives, and other project sponsors to dedicate a remodeled Family Room at the Coalition's 240-bed main campus facility. The room renovation, complete with a beautiful Florida-themed mural, was the charitable venture chosen by "Team Coalition" as one of the five Community Service projects to be completed by the Leadership Institute's 2008 class.

Team Coalition chose the Family Room Makeover as their project during a tour of the Coalition. One of the Team members subsequently contacted the staff of the International Academy of Design and Technology (IADT) to ask whether the school had students who might want to develop a redesign of the Family Room. IADT's staff and Florida Desk had been contemplating such a collaboration and were "just looking for" a project to get their partnership started. Serendipity took over when Team Coalition called, resulting in much support for the endeavor and a warm and inviting Family Room.

"I am indebted to the Orange County Leadership Institute Class of 2008 for selecting the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida as one of their five charities," said Coalition President/CEO Brent A. Trotter. "In addition to making all the contacts, the Leadership Team handed us a check for $5,000 a few weeks ago to fund the renovation. And if that weren't enough, members of Leadership Institute held a supply drive and donated $2,500 worth of needed items for the men, women and children living at the Coalition, such as hygiene items, new underwear, linens, cleaning supplies, children's books, videos, and diapers."

IADT held a student Family Room Makeover competition on July 18, 2008, during which three students presented their design model for a panel of judges. Though the judges selected first (Lynette Williams), second (Wendy Gary), and third-place (Anabell Torres) winners, they voted to use elements of all three designs presented.

The Leadership Team coordinated the entire makeover. They secured donations of paint products from 360 Painting, some of the furniture from IKEA and Workscapes, and books from Borders Books and the Orange County Public Library. Members of the team provided "sweat equity" by priming and painting the room prior to the students painting the beautiful mural on one of the walls. Florida Desk built custom furniture and bookcases for the room.

Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida is the largest provider
of homeless services in Central Florida. This non-profit organization
works to address the needs of homeless men, women and children in the community and serves as a catalyst for community collaboration to end homelessness by offering comprehensive case management programs to help the homeless become self-sufficient. In the most recent fiscal year, the Coalition served almost 270,000 meals and provided over 234,000 nights
of shelter to homeless individuals.

The Leadership Institute is an Orange County Government development program, implemented to enhance critical leadership abilities of the
Orange County management team. It is a program designed to
shape the future of local government.

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