- Community leaders in Franklin County say they have driven members of the homeless population to Tallahassee for their long-term services, however, for many, they find it difficult to leave home
- Sheriff A.J. Smith says he'd like to see a temporary shelter in Franklin County
- Watch the videos to find out what short-term resources the Franklin County community provides before they arrive in Tallahassee
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Making my way along I-10 to Franklin County to speak with community leaders about their homeless population and how it relates to Leon County. These figures say their vulnerable neighbors often look to Tallahassee for their homeless shelter but that it's not always easy to relocate.
"We work with them and we have driven more than one person up there, the problem is, this is home, and a lot of them don't want to leave here," said Cheryl Fritsch-Middleton, the pastor of Forgotten Coast Community Church in Franklin County.
She said she knows many of the homeless population by name.
"Whatever we can do whether it's feeding people, or giving them a hot cup of coffee, or providing them with something if they call or come and tell us there's something that they need," said Fritsch-Middleton.
And also because she's driven some of them to Tallahassee herself. I visit Sheriff Smith at the Franklin County Sherriff's office who said he gets visits from shelterless people that can vary from none to 3 to 4 a day.
"The ones that do reach out to us, then we try to find them a better environment to live in and of course that environment a lot of times is Panama City or Tallahassee who has much more resources than we do," said Smith.
He said applying for grants for local resources is not as easy as it sounds for a rural county.
"I don't have a grant writer on staff, it takes expertise, it takes time," said
But Sheriff Smith would like to see something like a temporary shelter in Franklin County:
"Until they can be placed somewhere where they can work, a job that meets their skill level, or sent somewhere where they can be trained that meets their skill level as well," said Smith.
So for now, Fritsch-Middleton said she suggests the Kearney Center when the person tells her they want to change. But she said this isn't easy for everyone.
"At the same time they're not really ready to make that ginormous change that says yeah I'm going to leave everything I know here in Franklin County and go to Tallahassee and go to a homeless shelter," said Fritsch-Middleton.
Sheriff Smith and Fritsch-Middleton said the community does a fantastic job at coming together to support this need. Forgotten Coast Community Church has a food ministry every Monday night that's supported by local businesses. Fritsch-Middleton has hope they can build on these services to help neighbors beyond driving them up here.
