Orlando nonprofit offering free showers, other services to homeless avoids shutdown but still may face cuts

An Orlando nonprofit that provides free showers, laundry and other assistance to the area’s growing homeless population came within days of having to discontinue key services last week.

A last-minute donation has kept Service and Love Together, or SALT, running for now, but it must still raise another $200,000 to continue operating at full capacity through the end of the year, and it may need to scale back its services in 2025.

Last year, the nonprofit helped more than 3,000 people and midway through 2024 has already aided more than 2,500.

About 80 people use the agency’s showers each day, and about 50 loads of laundry get washed and dried. SALT also provides other free services, including a phone charging station, and connections to social workers.

Located in the city’s Parramore neighborhood, SALT, founded in 2011, offered people facing homelessness its services three times a month prior to the 2020 pandemic. Federal COVID-19 relief money allowed it to expand to five days a week.

But that funding ended this year, dropping the total grant dollars from the City of Orlando from about $750,000 to $200,000 and forcing the nonprofit to turn to private donors to make up the deficit.

When a promised donation fell through in June, CEO Eric Camarillo and his staff made the difficult decision to stop services on July 15. Then the Big Nova Foundation — a family foundation in Sanford — donated $300,000, staving off the shutdown.

Though “deeply grateful” for that money, Camarillo said it will be hard for the nonprofit to operate as it does now relying on private donations. It expects about $200,000 in government grants again next year.

“That is going to be really difficult for us, but if that is our only option, we are going to continue to try as hard as we can,” Camarillo wrote in an email.

Despite the funding problems, the demand for SALT’s services in Orlando keeps growing.

Last year, it recorded more than 80,000 visits in its downtown center. It is on track for 120,000 this year, as a growing number of people in Orlando face homelessness.

A year and a half ago, Johnny Upshaw was living on the streets with his two sons, then 12 and 16.

“We were sleeping on the concrete,” said Upshaw.

His leg had been amputated above the knee, due to an infection, and he didn’t have a wheelchair.

“I had a walker, but it was no good. It was a strain on my body,” said Upshaw.

With all the area’s homeless shelters at capacity, Upshaw took his sons to SALT, looking to clean their clothes and take a shower. While there, he was connected with a case worker.

“We met this nice lady called Ms. Kat,” said Upshaw, speaking of outreach service director Kathleem Jorge. “I lost a bunch of my personal things like birth certificates and ID. She helped me get all that stuff back.”

Jorge also helped him get better equipment. “When I came here, I got me a prosthetic leg. I got me a wheelchair. I couldn’t have done none of this on my own,” he said, breaking down into tears.

Most importantly, the nonprofit helped his family get into subsidized housing after three months without a home. Today, they live in a two-bedroom apartment in Apopka.

“Food and showers and laundry are critical basic needs that will bring our unsheltered population in and help us build those relationships to help them move forward,” said Lisa Portelli, senior advisor to Mayor Buddy Dyer for homelessness and social services.

Camarillo would love to continue offering services five days a week in 2025 but, depending on the amount of private donations SALT receives, it may have to scale back on the frequency to avoid a shut down.

The agency operates two mobile trailers at the Christian Service Center’s two-acre campus downtown. One trailer has four shower stations each with a shower, sink and toilet, and the other six commercial washers and dryers.

SALT also occupies a building on the campus, providing mail services, clothing storage, free hygiene products and the phone charging station, which are “really crucial in helping people to obtain and maintain employment,” Camarillo said.

“We can’t leave this group of unsheltered people without any help, especially as shelters are full and housing programs are full. We’ll keep fighting for them,” he added.