Annual Cardboard City opens eyes, hearts about homelessness

Posted on November 9, 2018 By Editor Articles, Neighborhood News

Zach Nunez participates in Cardboard City to help raise awareness of the homeless in Jacksonville.

The statistics are sobering no matter which one you read: Every public school in Duval County has at least one homeless student. More than 3,300 students are homeless. Nearly 40 percent of the homeless in the United States are families. One out of four of the homeless is a child.

To raise awareness of the number of homeless families in the community, individuals, families and other groups will have the opportunity to spend the night in cardboard boxes, tents or in cars – just as many of the community’s homeless population does on a nightly basis.

Regardless of the temperature or weather, the 8th Annual Cardboard City will be held Friday, Nov. 16, 4:30 p.m. to 8 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 17, on the grounds of Southside United Methodist Church, 3120 Hendricks Ave.

During Cardboard City, activities will be held 6-8:30 p.m., including an interactive experience, The Social Service Maze, where participants will be challenged to navigate a series of stations to get the resources needed to move out of homelessness, such as finding shelter, food, a job and more. The program was developed in partnership with the FSCJ Honors program through the Center of Civic Engagement.

The event, held during National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week, is also a fundraiser for Family Promise of Jacksonville, a nonprofit organization with the goal of helping homeless families to return to self-sufficiency by obtaining employment and permanent housing.

Jame Greene Ancion and Emily Greene learn what it’s
like to sleep with nothing but cardboard to soften
the pavement at Cardboard City 2017.

Family Promise collaborates with 18 local congregations, multiple social service organizations and 800 volunteers. The families served have an 85 percent success rate. Family Promise provides case management, which includes budget, job and life skills counseling necessary for families re-enter the workforce and sustain independence. The churches provide shelter and meals. One of the more than 200 affiliates in 43 states, Family Promise run under the leadership of Mark Landschoot, who celebrated 10 years as executive director in October.

During Landschoot’s tenure, the nonprofit has tripled the number of participating churches from six to 19; served 65 percent more families and 44 percent more individuals in 2017 than it did in 2010, doubling the amount of nights of shelter and serving 77 percent more meals. Family Promise’s success rate is high; 87 percent of those helped have found homes and jobs, while the average length of stay in a shelter decreased by 41 percent, from 105 days down to 61 days.

Event sponsors include the Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation, the Jacksonville Firefighter Charities, Alhambra Theatre & Dining, Alive Credit Union, the Family Promise Board of Directors, Futch Printing, Greenberg Dental and Orthodontics, Hodges Boulevard Presbyterian Church, IVenture, Key Buick-Hyundai-GMC, LifePoint Fellowship—a Seventh Day Adventist Church, North Florida Lincoln, O’Steen Volkswagen and Volvo, Regency Centers and other local businesses.