Coalition for the Homeless of Nassau County (CHNassau) held a vigil at the courthouse in downtown Fernandina Beach to honor National Homeless Persons’ Remembrance Day held annually on Dec. 21. The local community gathered and held candles at the courthouse on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year.
Since the annual holiday began in 1990, it has been a way to call attention to the plight of the country’s homeless population. This was the first year that CHNassau held a vigil to honor the night of remembrance. The names of those who had passed in connection with homelessness were read aloud.
“It’s been many years, but it’s Christmas time, and I miss my sister,” Laurel Strong told the crowd.
Strong lost her sister, Gail, after she ended up homeless and couldn’t recover from a fall in the street. In her sister’s honor, Strong volunteers with CHNassau.
“It was a horrible situation for my sister, and I hate that other people have to go through this,” Strong said.
In early 2023, the Northeast Florida Continuum of Care (CoC) joined together with community partners, elected officials, staff and volunteers to conduct an annual Point-In-Time (PIT) count and report of the local homeless population. The count is a “one-day snapshot of our neighbors experiencing homelessness on a given night/day, and it provides a relative snapshot of a dynamic condition.”
In Nassau County, there were 28 homeless people in emergency shelters or transitional housing and 27 unsheltered homeless people living and sleeping in places not meant for human habitation.
“The summation of this data should never minimize that we are person-centered and most dedicated to the people experiencing homelessness and not the number they represent,” the report says.
Carlene McDuffie is the president of CHNassau and also serves on the Nassau County Essential Housing Advisory Committee (EHAS). As part of the EHAC, McDuffie introduced a new strategy to assist in the construction of homes sold by not-for-profit homebuilders to the Nassau County Local Housing Assistance Plan (LHAP), and also adjusted the LHAP to the rapidly changing housing market.
“We have to do it. It’s our country, it’s our county, we have to be the change,” McDuffie said on the courthouse steps. “Pass the word, we’re going to be the change.”
Coalition for the Homeless of Nassau County operates the Day Drop-In center at the intersection of Jasmine Street and 14th Street in Fernandina Beach. It is a place where people experiencing homelessness, or at risk of homelessness, can access services and resources. Those include breakfast and lunch, laundry services, assistance applying for benefits and a mailing address and phone number to use on job applications. The Drop-In center is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
When temperatures are below 45 degrees, CHNassau partners with the city of Fernandina Beach to provide a cold night shelter at the MLK Rec Center. McDuffie said that she has learned a lot by spending time at the cold night shelter.
“I have to tell you, it’s an experience,” she said at the vigil.
McDuffie said the first night many homeless people spend at the cold night shelter is sleepless. Homeless people tend to stay awake at night, when they face the greatest risk to their person and possessions.
“I never thought about that. They stay awake all night long because they’re afraid of being a victim,” McDuffie said.
CHNassau can also connect people to other local services like Gracie’s Kitchen, The Fernandina Interfaith Dinner Network and Council on Aging programs for those in need. CHNassau recently launched a mobile unit on the west side of Nassau County, offering showers, food and more to those in need.
As part of their holiday outreach, CHNassau offered turkey dinners at the Drop-In center on Saturday. Volunteers, including Strong and CHNassau board member Zen Carver, were cooking and serving and others came by to drop off thick hand-knit hats to keep people in the street warm.
McDuffie called Carver “a force to be reckoned with.”
When COVID-19 first broke out and social services shut down, Carver started feeding people out of her car because she knew people still needed help. She said she has “been on the verge of homelessness” herself a few times, and being able to help herself is what inspired her to try to help others.
“We’re not all born with the same skill set. When I’m struggling, I kind of have some knowledge of how to get myself out of it. And I don’t have the mental health issues or the alcohol problem or the drug problem, so I can pull myself up by those proverbial bootstraps, not that it’s easy, and most of the time it’s luck,” Carver said.
At the vigil, CHNassau volunteer Brandi Mooneyhan said, “I’d really like to hope that some of the negative stigma that people just automatically have, that it kind of just goes away and people understand that it’s not really a choice. It really isn’t. It’s just the circumstances of life. And it’s helping them, not just a handout.”
srosenthal@fbnewsleader.com