By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

A local organization has a five-year plan to help the more than 1,200 homeless schoolchildren, along with their families, move out of the hotels and motels along U.S Highway 192 and into affordable housing.

“We know we have pockets of families from Poinciana to West 192 to St. Cloud,” said Gene Turrico, chairman of Give Kids Safe Shelter, which formed 10 years ago but only honed their focus to the motel families in the last few years.

Meredith Griffin, the Osceola County School District’s homeless liaison, estimated that 25 percent of all homeless Osceola students, as many as 400 “motel kids,” as they are often called, she said, attend Westside K-8 School. These students and their families predominantly occupy the lodging properties in the Four Corners area, she said.

It held a successful outreach event last June at The Rock Church in Kissimmee, where more than 1,000 people attended and 77 children and their families found affordable housing.

Bolstered by those families, organizers decided to plan another event for Friday at Westside K-8. About 145 families whose children attend the school were invited by Griffin.

In addition to locating housing for families, Give Kids is working with the Kissimmee Utility Authority to help with deposit and credit problems. Families also will receive case management support.

“There’s some folks who need a little lift up,” Turrico said. “It’s the end of the school year so it’s a good time to make the decision (to relocate).”

The School District has even assigned 132 stops (out of a total of 2,691) along the highway to pick up students living in the hotels and motels.

The smaller, local motel and hotels were only able to survive the slumping economy as families moved in after fewer tourists frequented the area, Turrico said.

Give Kids also is working with lodging owners to ease their dependence on the families while maintaining their business.

“Part of the survival of the hotel owners is building up their clientele,” Turrico said. “They have been supplementing their income with the long-term renters.”

Turrico said Give Kids’ mission is a long-term process that could take as long as five years.

“It’s not something you can, in a flash, do,” he said.