Charlotte County Jail trustee inmates have picked up 25,000 pounds of items and garbage, taking three 40-yard dumpsters from five homeless camps in the county.



The Charlotte Sheriff’s office plans to continue cleaning up 15 more homeless camps in the area soon.



Landowners had asked for help getting people off their property in the heavily wooded area.

The Lee County Homeless Coalition has released its annual homeless census. And, as might be expected in a county with 18-percent unemployment, there was a sharp spike in this year’s count. WGCU’s Valerie Alker reports.

The
Lee County Human Services division launched a program last month to
provide transportation to help the area’s homeless receive preventative
medical and dental care.  WGCU’s John Davis reports.

Federal funding geared to helping prevent more families from becoming homeless is now available in Collier County. But, the Collier Homeless Coalition says only a handful of families will be able to take advantage of the program. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.

The
number of people who need help getting food is reaching new highs.  One
southwest Florida food pantry actually ran out and had to shut down
temporarily. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.

A mailing address is now available to homeless people in Lee County. People struggling to make the transition from homelessness to a home of their own face many challenges – not the least of which is no mailing address. Now if they choose – they can have one. Mail will be delivered to the individual in care of the Soup Kitchen on MLK Boulevard in Fort Myers. Robert Stryker directs the Lee County Homeless Coalition.

“One of the nice things about being able to do that is the person doesn’t have to put down john smith – soup kitchen – and the address. the just put down their name and address and folks don’t necessarily know that they’re homeless which is good if you’re applying for a job and you don’t want folks to know you’re in-between places to sleep at night.”

On any given night there are about two thousand homeless people in Lee County. The Homeless Coalition is working with Community Cooperative Ministries to provide the mail service. Counselors will also be on hand to help people apply for social security or other entitlements complete the process.
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Homeless people in Lee County have a new tool to help them make the transition into the mainstream: a mailing address. They can use the address of the Soup Kitchen on Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard in Fort Myers – and pick up their mail there Monday through Saturday. Robert Stryker of the Lee County Homeless Coalition says being able to receive mail is a good thing.

“One of the things we’ve been addressing through the lee county homeless coalition is the importance of people who are transient or homeless that may be applying for a job may be applying for entitlements such as social security or V.A. benefits – or just needing to stay in touch with family.”

Lee County’s homeless population is estimated at around 2 thousand – and more during the winter months. The mail will be sorted into pigeon-hole slots. People picking up mail at the Soup Kitchen will need to have some kind of identification.