What is the Human Care Network?
Human Care Network is a community wide service delivery initiative developed by United Way of Lake and Sumter Counties in Partnership with the Salvation Army and the faith-based community to assist the less fortunate in the community and ensure that their fundamental needs are met.
It is a comprehensive plan designed to offer a wide range of services in progressive steps, called phases. The phases are a series of tasks that are executed to produce certain results. These steps are constantly evaluated in terms of their effectiveness, functionality, practicality, and sustainability. The successful implementation of one phase determines the appropriateness to move to the next level.
Started in April 2002, Phase One primarily deals with the operation of food distribution centers in key areas throughout Lake and Sumter Counties and the provision of case management services to individuals having problems with rent, utility, mortgage, health matters etc… On days of food distribution, representatives from the Salvation Army, the Emergency Medical Services, and the Lake County Health Department Mobile Unit are on hand to provide case management services and help with health related issues.
Presently, there are thirteen centers operating in Lake and Sumter: Bushnell (2 sites), Wildwood, South Lake (3 sites), Fruitland Park, Lady Lake, Leesburg (2 sites), Altoona, Eustis, and Sorrento. Three more service centers (2 in Lake County and 1 in Sumter County) are slated to open by the fall of 2006. They will cover Astor, Howey in the Hills, Astatula, and Okahumpka in Lake and Crom-a-coochee in Sumter.
The Phase Two deals with empowerment for self-reliance. This component places the emphasis on education, training, employment and career opportunities. United Way has forged partnerships with many organizations such as Work Force of Central Florida, the Emergency Medical Services, the Lake Sumter Community College, the Lake County Health Department, the Sumter County Health Department`, the Lake and Sumter Board of Counties Commissioners, the Sumter Transit System, the Lake and Sumter School Districts, the Department of Children and Families… etc, to create a better service delivery system and provide advancement opportunities to our citizens. In some service centers such as Bushnell and Faith Neighborhood Center in Clermont, the foundations had been laid to start providing basic training in the areas of Home Economics, GED, and Job interviews preparation.
This third component will consolidate the foundations laid in phase I and phase II and pave the way for the food distribution sites to be transformed into “One Stop Centers” where Representatives from Agencies dealing in Health and Human Services, Focus Care, Housing, Education, Protective Services etc… will be on hand to assist in meeting the diverse needs of the community. The ultimate goal is not just to have services readily available and accessible but more importantly to offer empowerment opportunities for productive life.
During the 2004 hurricane season, the Altoona Center served as an outpost by DCF to provide emergency food stamps to those affected. Other sites, such as Bushnell, were utilized for drop shipment of ice, water and pre-packaged cooked meals.
This component deals with housing in all its aspects from homelessness, to transitional housing, to affordable housing. Our primary focus has been to help fix substandard living conditions so as to enable families to stay in their homes. United Way’s attention is also directed at developing partnerships with churches, civic groups, governmental entities to facilitate the establishment of homeless shelters, transitional and low income housing in our service areas.
At first glance, the Human Care seems to be about food. Even if that was our only claim to fame, it would have been a great accomplishment, for we now have something unheard of four years ago: a hunger free community.
The Human Care Network is more than giving out food, it is also about staving off eviction, preventing utility shut off, helping people keep their houses, providing job opportunities, offering counseling on issues such as finance, health, inter-personal relation, case management etc…
In a nutshell, the Human Care Network is the most innovative platform of service delivery established by The Salvation Army/United Way in partnership with the community at large to assist and empower the needy people of Lake and Sumter to move from dependency to self-sufficiency.
We now have 13 fully operational service centers throughout Lake and Sumter.
They are:
Bushnell Service Center (St Lawrence) 320 East Dade Ave- Bushnell, Fl 33513
Bushnell Service Center (The Salvation Army) 870 North Main St- Bushnell, Fl 33513
Wildwood Service Center 303 North Old Wire St- Wildwood, Fl 34785
Lady Lake Service Center 229-237 West Clarendon Rd, - Lady Lake, Fl 32159
Fruitland Park Service Center 509 Berkman St- Fruitland Park, FL 34731
Leesburg Service Center (St Paul) 13331 Sunshine Ave- Leesburg, FL 34748
Leesburg Service Center (The Salvation Army) 2105 West Main Street- Leesburg, FL 34748
Altoona Service Center 18405 Keene Rd- Altoona, FL 32702
Eustis Service Center (EFFORT) 5655 Glover St- Eustis, FL 32726
Sorrento Service Center 32441 SR North 437- Sorrento, FL 32776
South Lake Service Center (FAITH) 7432 SR 50 Suite#114- Groveland, FL 34736
South Lake Service Center (Angels of Mercy) 1300 Millholland St- Clermont, FL 34711
South Lake Service Center (New Water) 777B US Highway 27 S- Clermont, FL 34711
Further expansion plans include the establishment of 3 more service centers: one in Astor, one in Howey-in the-Hills, and the third one in Crom-a-Coochee.
