TAMPA, Fla. — The C.A.L.I. Project held its first “Save Our Streets” block party in Tampa to provide wraparound services for people who are homeless and others in need.
The event offered services including clean clothes, haircuts, warm meals and hygiene products. Organizers also shared information about resources the nonprofit offers, including transitional housing and workforce development.
Hannah Jordan, who attended the event with her sisters, said she has received help from the C.A.L.I. Project in the past, through mentorship and other support.
“I look for things myself, but it’s not as easy, I would say, when you don’t connect with the people around you,” Jordan said.
Jordan said she wanted to show her sisters that it is okay to ask for help and to share where they can find resources.
She said the organization helped her discover different opportunities that she didn’t know existed, and that they helped her with food and clothing.
The nonprofit was founded two years ago in Pinellas County as a way to help foster children who were aging out of the system and finding themselves homeless. The services they offer include mentorship, workforce development, transitional housing, and more.
More than 50 volunteers took part in the event that took place at Beulah Baptist Institutional Church in Tampa. The church helped provide people with a free change of clothes through its “Stylez Shop.”
For volunteer Robin Gage, the work was personal. “I have been there,” Gage said. “I have been homeless, I’ve been in the streets, and I know how it is not to have nothing, not able to take a shower.”
Gage said she has volunteered at similar events before and plans to continue to do so. “I’m going to let them know that God loves them and that we love them and that they can come in anytime, not just today,” Gage said. “They can come in anytime and get help.”
Jordan said seeing the support available to her and others has motivated her to help others. “I just like serving other people, so it helps build my character, and I just continue learning about others and what they need,” Jordan said.
The C.A.L.I. Project said its long-term goal is to help place 100 people into housing through tiny homes.