BITHLO, Fla. — Hundreds of homeless people are living in the woods in east Orange County, facing dangerously cold weather this week. Some face mental health challenges, and many are addicted to fentanyl and other deadly drugs.
What You Need To Know
United Global Outreach tries to bring homeless people out of the woods to get housing and addiction recovery help
The group in 2025 helped more than 100 homeless people begin treatment for substance abuse
CEO Tim McKinney says Central Florida needs more homeless shelters and treatment facilities
A local nonprofit is sending teams into the woods to help them find places to stay warm and get the medical services they need.
Kala Bruning and Keri Lopes packed up boxes of Kloxxado for their mission, which is twice as powerful as Narcan and can save someone’s life if they overdose on fentanyl.
Some days they help people get out of the cold. Most days they help homeless people get services at the Transformation Village run by United Global Outreach in Bithlo.
Volunteers with United Global Outreach go into the woods to help the homeless on a daily basis. (Spectrum News)
Bruning explained what she is thinking as she approached a homeless camp.
“Normally, I’m praying I don’t walk up on someone who’s overdosing,” she said.
Despite that fear, Bruning hopes to change the life of every homeless person she meets.
“Just to be able to be there for them and help them get out of the situation that they’re in,” she said.
Bruning is only 22 years old, but addiction has already taken a toll around her. Her mom struggled for years with addiction. Her son’s father, Travis, lost his life five years ago from an overdose of fentanyl.
Bruning says it is tragic that people are dying alone in the woods addicted to fentanyl.
“You don’t know if today or tomorrow if someone’s going to make it. That’s how powerful this drug is,” she said.
The Drug Enforcement Agency says fentanyl is almost 100 times more powerful than morphine and 50 times more powerful than heroin.
“It’s really hard to stay sane and sober when you’re living in the woods,” CEO of United Global Outreach Tim McKinney said.
A homeless encampment encountered by volunteers. (Spectrum News)
McKinney says Bruning and colleagues who work in the woods are courageous and deal with some tough tragedies.
“People that my team has been working with, pleading with, building a relationship with, personally know and love, they’ve walked up and found them dead in the woods,” he said.
He also said there is a need for more shelters and drug treatment options in Central Florida to pull people away from fentanyl’s grip.
“Fentanyl is such a powerful drug that literally, a person that’s not a thief has to steal because they must use every day. Otherwise, they literally feel like they’re dying,” he said.
Bruning is a mom with a young child, but despite that she says she will continue to work where others don’t want to go.
“These people count on me to show up every day, and I can’t imagine to just not be there,” Bruning said.
McKinney says that in 2025, his team convinced more than 100 homeless people to leave the woods to receive substance abuse treatment.