The lack of affordable housing in Central Florida became a big issue in 2019, but nobody had to tell Rev. Mary Lee Downey about it.
As director of Community Hope Center in Kissimmee, she’d been helping people find homes and better their lives for years. For her efforts, Downey was named the Orlando Sentinel’s 2019 Central Floridian of the Year at a Thursday evening celebration of the six finalists.
“Wow,” Downey said as she accepted the award. “I believe in the people we serve in the community, and I believe they have wishes and hopes and dream like I did as a little girl. And I believe they have a right to see those dreams come true.”
Downey was presented the award Thursday evening at an event at the Sheraton Orlando North hotel in Maitland. The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board has given out the award since 1983.
The other five finalists were 24-year-old Revel Lubin, who’s been starting charitable programs since he was at Oak Ridge High; 97-year-old Richard Ortega, a decorated D-Day veteran who’s spent decades volunteering for causes in Orlando; Donna Hedrick, a sexual assault victim whose courage inspired a proposed new law; Ron and Lin Wilensky, who operate shelters for homeless people with mental illness; and Alex Morgan, Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger, Orlando Pride players who were on the winning U.S. World Cup soccer team.
Downey didn’t know anyone when she arrived in Kissimmee from Arkansas in 2006. She got a job at the First United Methodist Church as director of evangelism and children’s ministry.
It didn’t take long for her to see a gnawing need running through the heart of Osceola County. U.S. Highway 192 was lined with low-budget motels originally designed to draw visitors to nearby Walt Disney World.
Instead of tourists, the motels were increasingly occupied by families. A lot of the parents worked low-wage jobs in the tourism industry. They didn’t have the credit rating or deposit necessary to get an apartment.
Though they had roofs over their heads, they didn’t have homes. The situation worsened with the 2008 financial crisis.
People were living in cars, campgrounds and on the streets. Downey saw as many as nine people sharing a hotel rooms and felt she had to do something.
With the help of a local Presbyterian church, she drew up a business plan and started Community Hope Center. The nonprofit helps people find long-term housing, and has programs that provide food, education assistance and other services.
“You sometimes feel like you can’t get anywhere in life, but they helped me get my life back to where I was and now I feel like I can be who I really am,” a client named Ruben said on the center’s website.
The 37-year-old Downey remains the driving force, doing everything from handing out diapers to cajoling legislators and corporations for funding.
Almost 8,200 families in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties are homeless. he largest slice of them, 7,922, live with other families or in motels and hotels, according to data collected by the school districts. School buses make almost 100 stops every day along Highway 192.
The situation got the attention of Hollywood in 2017 with the release of “The Florida Project.” The film was shot in Kissimmee and told a fictional story of a 6-year-old girl living in a motel with her single mother. Downey helped develop the script and give the project real-life perspective.
“She sees her ministry as being defined as building bridges within the community and empowering the families to start new lives,” the film’s director, Sean Baker, told the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. “I saw them as the hub. That’s why I kept going back. She was the authority.”
Community Hope Center began with a staff of two people and now has 22 workers. While it has grown, so has the problem it addresses.
The center served more than 10,000 clients in 2019 and found stable, long-term housing for 59 families. The 59th family was handed the keys to an apartment on Christmas Eve. Besides the material assistance, the family received hope for Christmas.
For providing that gift to so many people, Downey is the Central Floridian of the Year.
dwhitley@orlandosentinel.com
