ONE HOPEFUL PLACE
By Melissa Garza
As we welcome the new year, many of us see the season of giving in our rearview mirror, focusing on setting our resolutions, looking forward to the changing seasons, and leaving the hustle and bustle of the holidays behind. However, there is a place in Okaloosa County that keeps on giving all year long- One Hopeful Place in Fort Walton Beach. Serving the unhoused since 2016, One Hopeful Place has gone through many iterations in its efforts to be a “one-stop shop” by effectively and profoundly combining programs and resources to impact homelessness in Okaloosa and Walton Counties.
One Hopeful Place (OHP) was created when community leaders met in 2006 to discuss assisting those struggling to meet their basic needs. Through dogged community involvement and an unwavering commitment to the vision of providing for our most vulnerable, OHP has become a beacon and potential prototype for other area shelters. Providing emergency cold shelter, a Day program, and the only shelter for single women, One Hopeful Place aspires to be the “doorway into permanent housing” and the “end to the cycle of homelessness.” This mission can only be accomplished through the cooperation and commitment of the community along with service and resource providers.
Sherry Jones, OHP Community and Public Relations Director, recognizes One Hopeful Place’s unique approach to combat homelessness. Acknowledging the efforts of numerous stakeholders, such as churches, non-profits, volunteers, businesses, and donors, that make One Hopeful Place exceptional, Jones stated, “I don’t know what we would have done without the community’s generosity!”
One community partnership has dramatically expanded services for those most in need. Since 2020, Bridgeway Center, Inc. has provided mental health services, primary care, detox programs, two 24/7 on-site staff members and equips participants with life and social skills. By looking at the issues that lead to homelessness holistically, One Hopeful Place aims to empower those utilizing its services to create a new way of life, one that’s off the streets and beyond survival mode.
Not content to rest in its success, One Hopeful Place has its sights set on constructing tiny houses to provide transitional housing, a project estimated to take $250,000 to get started. While there are opportunities for grants from the city and county, OHP needs continued generosity from the community. While we are all focused on looking forward to the New Year, we should not forget that the season of giving never ends for those that take care of our most vulnerable. One Hopeful Place relies on continued monthly contributions to meet the shelter’s monthly operational needs and costs.
President and CEO of the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce, Ted Corcoran, a central figure in driving this vision, sums up the uniqueness of OHP, “The government tries to solve the homeless problem with the assistance of the community; but this community is solving homelessness with assistance of the government.” For more information on how you can help end the cycle of homelessness, visit onehopefulplace.org today. Let us all aspire to be part of the solution in 2023!c
