The Mission in Citrus, Inc. was founded in 2008. It started after the founder, who was a successful business man and a millionaire.He lost everything due to illness and divorce. His illness was so severe; he died on the operating table for 14 minutes. Less than one percent have lived through this and he has. He figured God had a purpose for him, and he found it.
The Mission in Citrus is the only Emergency Shelter system in Citrus County. We are open 24 hours a day; the phones always get answered, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. With NO PAID STAFF. No other Shelter in Citrus County can say that. They all operate from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Our “overhead” costs are for our leases, utility bills and operational costs only. Again no one receives a salary; we are the Homeless helping the Homeless.
Mission in Citrus is not your ‘traditional’ homeless shelter due to the fact that it is founded on the same principles as the United States of America: Freedom to choose your religion, freedom to go out and find a job and work, freedom to have cellphones, watch the news, read the newspaper, and the freedom to make choices; whether they are right or wrong and without being videotaped and having their privacy violated in the name of security. Our Shelters have security, Night watch and Fire watch.
Mission in Citrus has come a very long way on a very trying road.It has moved forward from 1 page intake forms, 1 page of rules, and only 6 residents to start.People heard by word of mouth about the Mission and how they were still treated with dignity and the respect that they still deserve, even though they fell on hard times and have become homeless, and they started flocking in in large numbers. We had 60 tents. The county got wind of this and a war started. (I urge you to read about the hardships Mission in Citrus has endured and many success stories are also there to read
http://www.missionincitrus.com
& www.helpourhomelessvets.com
So in 4 short years we have accomplished the near impossible with no real staff to speak of, we now have an Active Board of Trustees, an Operational and Procedural Manual, A business plan, Very thorough intake forms, specific guidelines for all ‘staff’ and residents must follow. We have had our ‘staff’ members certified in suicide training. We have a bookkeeper, who does our accounting, a CPA who audits our bookkeeping. We also have a Guidestar seal. www.guidestar.org (I also urge you to read these testimonies of our residents, board members, people who have visited our shelters.)
What Mission in Citrus is asking is for the ALL of the Citrus County Community to all pull together and offer their support.With Corporations, Businesses, Churches, Veteran’s Groups, Clubs, Organizations and even the smaller “mom and pop” businesses to help all of our homeless residents and neighbors in need. Very many of your neighbors may be in this situation shortly.They live from paycheck to paycheck and one missed week of work could be the event that spirals your neighbor into full blown poverty or homelessness.
Mission in Citrus Inc. has many programs and Ideas it would love to help our community with starting with a drug addiction program, (an incredible program) open to the public, not just our homeless residents. On-site Counseling, Anger Management and Parenting classes that are greatly needed, these parents were never shown the love and tenderness of a mother or father; most of them have come out of abusive homes and never taught how to be good parents.
There are no affordable programs, or programs that even work.
We would like to incorporate a program called The Children’s Clothing Closet where the residents of Citrus County donate children’s clothing size 0-6 months up to size 14. Shoes also are a great necessity, and they would be given to all in need free of charge. We receive In-Kind Donations from Walmart, Home Depot, and Bed Bath and Beyond.The building supplies that are not needed at our shelters are given away freely at our free yard-sales we host from time to time, with building supplies, some furniture gets donated, and that we GIVE away to needy families who otherwise couldn’t furnish a house/apartment. Cars have been donated and again, they have been given to residents to help them get back on their feet. We would like to have a program that provides bus tickets to families who would like to go home or to their nearest relative.
We are also aiming much higher than that, however again, all our time is begging for every penny we receive. 80-85% of our residents work and pay their upkeep which goes towards the Mission bills and we are very proud of that result. But the bills just keep getting more expensive. We still charge our residents the same as when we first opened, and if we charge them anymore, they wouldn’t even make it at the Mission. 5-8% of our residents have an income such as disability and 2-5% are out looking for work daily.
We have MANY other programs that we would love to bring to the Community but we need your help, and support.
We are a relatively new Shelter that not many are aware we exist or who have heard negative information about Mission in Citrus Inc. We grew too fast in 4 years to be organized, especially with no paid staff. We are the “Homeless helping the Homeless” and live by the words: “If we don’t help them, who will?” Mission in Citrus helps ALL in need. No one is turned away except people who have domestic abuse charges, child abuse charges, elder abuse charges, people with any type of sexual offence charge, or very violent criminal histories. We need and do protect our residents. Even those with those backgrounds are fed, treated with dignity and respect and sent on their way.
Mission in Citrus is more like a FAMILY than like an institution. We encourage you to stop by at any time, at any of our shelters, and speak to the Directors, residents, and any visitors that happen to be there, to see where your support is going.
As of now we can barely make our overhead expenses. As mentioned before, none of our income goes towards salaries, all the staff is volunteering to make this shelter work because it is the only one of its kind. We are behind in some utility bills. But we have mountainous amounts of faith and prayer. We barely make it and it’s getting harder and harder every month to meet the bills. We operate 5 shelters on less than $10,000.00 a month. I don’t know of any other shelter operating on that budget. Not even close…they range in the hundreds of thousands a month to operate.
IF ALL OF CITRUS COUNTY BUSINESSES ETC. ALL CHIPPED IN TO PAY A SET AMOUNT A MONTH, OR A UTILITY BILL, Mission in Citrus could move forward from begging for every penny we receive and help more people in Citrus County, not just those who are already homeless.