No Place Like It

When people think of Boca Raton, they typically think of wealth, from palatial homes along the Intracoastal to high-end stores at the mall.

But people who live and work here know that it's a city like any other, with its rich, its middle class, its poor and even its homeless. And it's that last population that HOME - which stands for Homeless Outreach Mentoring and Education - seeks to help.

The staff and volunteers at this Boca Raton nonprofit work to provide the resources needed for individuals to get through the day-to-day realities of chronic homelessness and to eventually transition out of homelessness altogether.

"HOME is very much powered by volunteers," says Rita Scott, executive director. "We have a two-person paid staff, and we run the day-to-day operations of the board. And we have volunteers. And then we have partnering organizations that assist us, too. We try to be involved in something every day of the week."

The cornerstone of HOME's events is the Saturday Shower Outreach Ministry at First United Methodist Church in Boca Raton.

"They allow us to use their facilities and open up the doors and invite the homeless community to come in and take a shower and get cleaned up," says Scott.

Every Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m., you'll find Scott and her team serving up a light breakfast and offering homeless individuals what she calls a "weekly reset."

"We provide them with toiletries, towels - everything that they need," she says. "We also provide them clean clothes. A lot of times, with our Florida rain, they end up losing their clothes on a weekly basis because they mold."

In addition to providing these essentials, HOME works with volunteer vendors to offer crucial services to homeless individuals.

"We have a very giving young lady who owns her own beauty shop, and she comes in and provides haircuts," Scott says. "We also have an eye doctor that comes in whenever he can. We have a physical pain person who comes in for people who may be dealing with arthritis and things like that. So, any vendor who wants to come in and assist in any kind of way, the door is always open." O

For more information, call 561-465-5311 or visit homeboca.org.