Onslow Community Outreach — Local services in Jacksonville

Yes, at one time I'm glad they were available. I happen to have to stay here temporarily a long while back ago. It is a displacement shelter or "A place for displaced families or for a person(s). I have to say it is not a food pantry, that is true, but the staff are strict and professional. They treat people here with respect and dignity. They are there to help and if and when you are their, you're expected to take care of each other by contributing in domestic tasks assigned and give each other much encouragement to make a better way, you will be expected to participate in meetings and cleaning. You will be expected to get on your feet to be independent and they will have meetings with you on a regular basis to see what you are doing to get yourself out and on your own way again. They will work with you and motivate you (Motivation is you showing results or back out on the street). One thing I like to add is they do inspect your things to make sure no weapons and drugs are entering this facility and to me that is a good thing to keep everyone safe. You are not allowed to have weapons, alcohol, non prescription drugs that are not in a med bottle without the information on it prescribed by your doctor. No smoking. You are not allowed to bring food into the shelter Inflammatory speech is not tolerated. Arguments, harassment or violence is not prohibited. If you do not follow the rules they can exit you from the program. One more thing. They do out of the goodness of other hearts have people donate food for breakfast and supper to give to those that stay here. {If you do not like what they offer you for breakfast or supper, then it is your choice to go without.) This is not a motel with continental breakfast. Your wake up call is the lights coming on at 6 am. your in bed by 10 pm. There are rule and there is no turn down service. Your up at 6 am and have to be out by a given time which is more then likely 7 am. Your there for one reason, to not be on the streets and to try to improve your life, by getting a job and getting a place to live. You are allowed back in at 5 pm sometimes 6 pm They have many rules. If you do not like to be governed by rules while you are here then you are S.O.L. You can leave but you may not be able to get back in until 3 months later. This is a first come first serve basis. Once your in your in and don't have to compete to rush back to get a bed. Although you are required to be there before a given time unless you have a job, and they will check to make sure you are where you say you are. The services they provide is designed to get you back into the community and independent. They go over all this with you before they allow you to stay with them, if you do not agree to it by signing a written authorization statement to comply, then you exit the door the same way you came in. Simple as that. Also this building is shared by the soup kitchen. The soup kitchen is in the back of the building and they do serve food for the less fortunate people who are hungry and would like a warm meal. It is not a diner, you get what they give you that day. People start to line up for this around 11:30 am so be there by that time if you are hungry. They are not a food pantry; however, sometimes they may have a box or boxes of food sitting by back door that you may have permission to receive from once after you had a meal they offer you. You may select item(s) on...

American legion officer and I had to call a senator to find a bed at a facility they had designated veteran beds. Took 6 hours. Now we lost contact with vet. Everyone points fingers. Nobody took responsibility. If this facility created a statistic in the veteran community I will ensure they are erased from our community. How can any place in America turn down a homeless veteran that had a VA insurance card hence proving they were discharged have a Va rating and have healthcare These folks justified by no management. County said it’s a VA problem. And their board of directors asked me to donate them $ to fix the problem. How dare you ask a veteran service organization for donations to help veterans when you’re not a veteran organization. You should be giving America legion post 0556$ not the other way around. We meet the first wed of every month 1800 Marina cafe for any...

Update: after myself interacting with a lot of the volunteers, I will say that a lot of them do care about the homeless. I will say it definitely changed my mind in regards to my prior feelings on how they did things to me previously. I definitely get help from them now through Food. I was very skeptical, but they accommodated my food intolerances along with my child and as I said, I’ve talked to a lot of the volunteers and they are extremely sweet and they just want to help people. Prior post: Asked for my intake documents and was refused which had my social and ID information. “Internal information you can’t recieve a copy” this is what I was told. Completely sounds illegal. If it has my information on it. Had me leave would not let me view information shredded or the information they wrote down. Don’t go...