Christian Service Center for the Homeless to close Ocoee campus

An Ocoee resident held back tears as he shared how he drives in his truck the one block from his home to the West Orange campus of the Christian Service Center for the Homeless in Ocoee to not only have two hot meals every day but also socialize with others. 

He said his doctor recommends he visits the center to get out of his home and be around people. 

“The food part, I absolutely depend on 100%,” he said. “I’m not the only one. There are hundreds of us.”

Eric Gray, the executive director of the Christian Service Center, sat quietly and listened to the man and other Ocoee residents share the impact the center has had on the community since it opened 45 years ago. 

Although he understood the impact the center has, Gray delivered unfortunate news to the more than a dozen residents sitting in the center on a gloomy afternoon Friday, June 19. 

The West Orange campus of the Christian Service Center for the Homeless will be closing its doors Friday, July 31. The center will stop assistance including the food pantry, computer lab and SNAP food-stamps services Tuesday, June 30.

Gray said the decision to close has been looming for the past six years as the nonprofit has been running the facility at a budget deficit. The nonprofit’s board of directors decided to put the property, located at 300 W. Franklin St., up for sale Dec. 19, 2025. The property is listed for $1,995,000. 

The mission has changed

When Gray became executive director in May 2020, he was tasked with operating three campuses: one in Winter Park, one in Parramore and the third in Ocoee.

He said upon his hiring, the board of directors decided to change the mission of the nonprofit from “help as many people as you can, as often as you can,” to now “end homelessness for as many people as you can, as often as you can.”

“It’s a subtle distinction, but that’s what we do; we get people out of homelessness in the process of meeting people and learning about them,” he said. 

With that shift in mission, Gray said the direction of services has changed, as well. 

In 2020, Gray said the Ocoee campus only had three-and-one-half staff positions, and with those staff positions, they were serving a free, daily hot lunch to about 100 to 125 people Mondays through Fridays. It also provided emergency food when requested. 

There also were items in the thrift store in case of emergency. 

He said the West Orange campus also has a robust volunteer program — more significant than the other two campuses. 

“That was the only strength to this particular campus, because the majority of our clients that we see are not homeless,” Gray said. “There are people who come here to this campus who are homeless, no question, but at our other campuses, 100% of the people we see were experiencing homelessness.”

The budget in 2020 was $990,000 with 25 total staff members, and about $300,000 of that was spent to run the West Orange campus at the time. The nonprofit was raising $250,000 from donors west of Hiawassee Road to the Gulf Coast.

In 2020, Christian Service Center rescued six adults and children who were living on the streets or in their car and placed them in apartments. Last year, the nonprofit rescued 1,538 people experiencing homelessness.

“A good chunk of those came from the staff at this office, but the majority of the people that this office helped never stepped foot on this campus, because our programs don’t require you to come to the campus in all situations,” Gray said. 

Now, Christian Service Center has a budget of $6.2 million with a staff of 42. 

“Our primary objective is not to feed people every day; our primary objective is to not have to feed people every day,” Gray said. 

Closing the campus

Since Gray came aboard, the nonprofit’s board decided to close the Winter Park location because the nonprofit only was giving away emergency food at that location while paying rent at the church, which also was closing. 

The budget for the Ocoee campus is $600,000 annually. The nonprofit owns the building and doesn’t have a mortgage. But the campus is costing the nonprofit money as it is running the facility at a nearly $400,000 annual deficit. 

“We have cash flow; we are not in a crisis financially,” Gray said. “The challenge is that the cost to run this facility has gone up, which is mostly utilities and a lot of the paper goods we purchase for the meals … and the staff that operate here, but the donations have gone down.”

Gray said he failed to secure more donors in West Orange to support the Ocoee campus.

Since December, Gray said he has met with Ocoee’s mayor and city manager to share the decision to put the Ocoee campus on the real-estate market and discuss potential solutions to keep it running.

Gray said at first, the city considered purchasing the building and then leasing it to Christian Services Center for $1 per month, but with the potential impacts of property tax reform looming, he said the city couldn’t afford the purchase. 

Community outcry

Ocoee resident Stephanie Gontko, who volunteers at the West Orange campus, said she will be reaching out to churches in the area to see if donations can be made. She also intends to reach out to companies to donate paper goods.

Gray said although he appreciates the energy of the residents who love and support the nonprofit’s center in Ocoee, he is pessimistic about efforts to raise the funding necessary to sustain running the center. 

He said the nonprofit would need a diversified group of donors who are committed to donating for multiple years.

Residents questioned why they were just hearing about the closure of the campus only about a month before its final day. 

Gray said the nonprofit has been transparent about the closure, stating staff were notified of the facility being put on the market in December 2025. He said staff members could disclose the information to anyone. He said he never has disseminated a press release in his career, and he didn’t want to send one out for the closure because it would cause “crisis fundraising,” which he said the nonprofit refuses to do. 

“We’ve been talking about the financial problems of this campus for decades,” he said. “This can’t be a surprise. Did you expect us to come and say, ‘Guys, we’re threatening to close it down unless you raise a ton of money?’ I am not that person, and we’re not that organization. … We don’t crisis fundraise because it’s bad, it’s wrong, it’s not Christian, it’s not who we are.”