The Russell Home<\/a>, offering weekly church services, music, hands-on volunteering and ongoing support that has become a cornerstone of life at the nonprofit.<\/p>\nInside one of the home\u2019s classrooms, Brock begins his visit the same way he always has \u2014 with prayer. It\u2019s a familiar routine for residents who have come to know him not just as a pastor, but as someone who genuinely cares about their lives and well-being.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew this is where God wanted me to be,\u201d Brock said. \u201cThe reason I\u2019ve come down here for all these years is the residents. I\u2019ve become part of the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sense of family is central to The Russell Home\u2019s mission. Founded in the 1950s by Vantrease Russell, the nonprofit continues to serve, now under the day-to-day leadership of her granddaughter, Betty Turner.<\/p>\n
Turner said volunteers like Brock are invaluable to the home\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
\u201cStephen and his family are amazing,\u201d Turner said. \u201cThey are compassionate, caring and loving. They help whoever they need to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond leading services, Brock frequently brings members of his church congregation to assist with meals, activities and special events. Whether he\u2019s peeling vegetables in the kitchen or coordinating music and sermons, his presence is felt throughout the home.<\/p>\n
After nearly 20 years, Turner said one thing is certain: Brock isn\u2019t just a volunteer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is someone you can call your friend and your pastor,\u201d she said. \u201cMore than anything, he is our hero.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continues to serve \u2014 one visit, one prayer and one act of kindness at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 For nearly two decades, an Orlando pastor has quietly made a lasting impact on developmentally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,2297,274,770,28293,2296,115,1335,768,139,141,140,278,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-128409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-community","9":"tag-app-everyday-heroes","10":"tag-app-top-stories","11":"tag-community-news","12":"tag-curtis-mccloud","13":"tag-everyday-hero","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-orange-county","16":"tag-orange-county-fl","17":"tag-orlando","18":"tag-orlando-headlines","19":"tag-orlando-news","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}