WAUCHULA, Fla. — In the blazing heat outside the old train depot in Wauchula, more than a hundred people gathered for a ribbon cutting, followed by a hot meal and a significant announcement.
"We are very excited. We're scared. We're nervous but very excited," said Jill Vaillancourt, Director of Hardee Help Center.
Vaillancourt said the last year for her team's been extremely challenging. Hurricane Ian and the fallout from the pandemic continue to fuel an economic crisis for many. At the same time, the non-profit was struggling to raise money to fix their busted transport van. Through our new ABC Action News Gives campaign, we awarded the non-profit $10,000. Mosaic followed up after our report with $50,000. They were able to skip repairs and get a brand-new reliable transport van.
Even with their broken van, employees never slowed, using their cars and money to pay for gas and get supplies like food, baby items, and other needs out into the community.
A lot has changed since.
On Tuesday, July 26, Vaillancourt addressed over a hundred supporters gathered at the depot for a big reveal.
"We have secured funding to purchase 1330 S US Hwy 17," Vaillancourt said as the room cheered. "We found a building, toured the building, got board approval to move forward, made an offer on the building, submitted a proposal to the state, and received a million dollars to purchase this building."
The building is a new start for Hardee Help Center. They will still offer all of their current programs to help the community with the addition of something else, addressing the homeless crisis.
"The main part of our program will be for our homeless men. There's no shelter here in Hades County for homeless men. And so we're looking at a minimum, like 90 days up to a year program, where we want to help them," Vaillancourt said. "The other thing we really have our heart set on is being open Christmas Day. So Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, whatever the weather, we want them to have a place to call home for Christmas."
The county also lacks dedicated cooling and heating centers during extreme weather. Vaillancourt said they will use their new facility to ensure people can escape the day's heat or cold winter nights.
"So this will be an immediate place that we will open, and we can then open it more often," Vaillancourt said.
The next step is finalizing the sale and moving from their current location to their new one. They ask anyone who can volunteer and help move their food pantry and operations to the new center. A bigger building means they can help more people, which means they have to raise more money in donations. If you would like to help Hardee Help Center in any way, clickhere.
