LAUDERHILL, Fla. – The boxes are stacked high inside of the pantry of donated goods for LifeNet4Families.
That is indicative of the need, says the charity’s CEO.
“Mainly nonperishables because we’re moving them around, but we really try to give a variety of foods,” said CEO Denise Brown.
Brown said 2,500 meals a month are delivered to the needy by the non-profit organization.
In the kitchen and dining hall, volunteers serve the homeless hot food -- roughly 400 meals a day.
“This is where all the work happens,” said Brown. “It’s a restaurant quality meal, and then they can see our caseworkers, they can take showers.”
But those good deeds are on the verge of being shut down after recent code enforcement citations from the city of Lauderhill, taking issue with an outdoor mobile shower area and a covering over a seating area.
“We’re told that these tents are, I guess, illegal and we’re not allowed to have them,” said Brown.
“But you can’t see them from the street?” asked Local 10′s Terrell Forney.
“You can’t see them from the street and they don’t disturb anyone,” said Brown.
Local 10′s cameras were rolling as code enforcement officers returned on Tuesday for another unannounced visit after the center complied with the order to remove the outdoor shower, but the group now faces a city hearing to determine the future of the mandatory certificate it needs to continue to operate.
“If you make LifeNet go away, the resources that we provide, that doesn’t make anything better for the homeless community -- that makes it worse,” Brown said.
Worse for a struggling community that has been relying on the Broward based center more now than in years past.
“We see newborn babies coming from the hospital, living in cars, we see people who have been laid off from their jobs or who have had health circumstances that have happened -- anything that has been beyond their control,” said Brown.