Restored travel trailers provide sanctuary for homeless families with children

Find, Feed & Restore volunteers turn donated RVs into temporary housing

LEESBURG, Fla. – Brian Broadway, the director of Find, Feed & Restore, is this week's Getting Results Award winner. 

Broadway and a team of volunteers restore donated travel trailers and turn them into temporary housing for homeless families with children.

News 6 caught up with Broadway as he was cleaning and repairing a 30-foot Cherokee travel trailer at the Ridgecrest RV Resort in Leesburg. The trailer had a roof leak and needed flooring repair.  

"One small leak can cause major damage," he said and pointed out the rotten wood found in the trailer.

Broadway has experience with RVs, he was a dealership manager years ago. 

"A trailer like this can last for the next 10 to 15 years," he said.  "We can put 30 families in this trailer in the next 10 to 15 years and bring them from homeless to hopeful."

Broadway said he has a list of at least 25 families with kids waiting for an opportunity to get off the streets.  

The families can stay rent and utilities free for six to eight months.  

Within that time families also receive assistance with budgeting specialists, family and mental health counselors, career coaches, resume writers and banking professionals.

Broadway sees his program as a model that can be duplicated in any city.  

"The advantage of it is it's portable. So when we get them a job if it's further away we can move it to another RV park so they can still work and if they don't have transportation they can still get to their jobs."

Broadway said he hopes to purchase land in the next year where he can have travel trailers and tiny homes just for homeless families.

"They're all over the place here in Florida," he said of mobile homes and travel trailers. "The key is getting your name out to let people know that they can donate their trailer instead of trading it in. Some people instead of trading it in they decide to  donate it and take the tax write off."

If you would like to help, donation information can be found at FindFeedResore.com


About the Author:

Paul is a Florida native who graduated from the University of Central Florida. As a multimedia journalist, Paul enjoys profiling the people and places that make Central Florida unique.

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