Funding needed to help support homeless

JDRC even held at Fairfield Inn and Suites on Airport Rd. from 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Day Resource Center has been open and running for five months in downtown Jacksonville.

It's a place where hundreds of homeless people in the area have access to things like showers, computers, phones and veterans groups.

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Monday night, there's an event that gives you the chance to help with the center's mission.

The Day Center for the homeless was one of Mayor Brown's campaign promises. The center gets some funding from the city through a grant, but it's very restrictive on what the money can be used for. That's where a public-private partnership has come in and has made the center even more successful.

This center was a dream of many city leaders for 10 to 15 years and now, the Jacksonville Day Resource Center has been up and running since October, giving the homeless another place to turn.

"Mayor Alvin Brown made a commitment to make it happen and it couldn't have happened without the public private partnership," said JDRC Program Director, Till Devaughn.

The center is funded and operated by a collaboration of all the homeless service providers in the area and corporate sponsors like Wells Fargo who donated $80,000 and Acon construction who gave over $300,000 in renovated services.

"The purpose of the Day Center is to be a one-stop-shop for homeless clients that come off the street and they can come into this facility to be connected to other resources," said Devaughn.

The center prides itself on bringing in all kinds of resources to help get people back on their feet. It's where you can use computers to look for a job, take a shower for an interview; they assist with health issues like bringing in an eye doctor. But they still need help with things like buying bus tickets for clients to go get their eyeglasses and purchasing a washer and dryer.

Monday evening, an event at the grand re-opening of the Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites at the airport, will help the center reach some of those goals.

"A good opportunity for the community to come out and kind of be re-introduced to what we're doing here. It's a fundraiser but it's a party with a purpose," said Devaughn.

The event is from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday night at the Fairfield Inn and Suites on 1300 Airport Road.

There will be food trucks there giving a percentage of proceeds to the center and all money raised through a raffle of some big items will support the center.