The consequences of greed in real estate and tourism will hit Orlando families hard again this holiday season, as many food pantries are preparing to step in and assist our neighbors during this difficult time of year (story HERE).
It shouldn’t be this way in the tri county area. A region where I grew up, and used to look forward to seeing a happy community of residents gathered around a dinner table for a turkey dinner.
But the last decade has not been kind to working families in Orlando. We’re living an affordable housing crisis with no end in sight, that has myself and many others floating around just trying to make ends meet.
Thanksgiving should be in a loving home, filled with relatives, with a combination of gratefulness at what has been given to us by our faith, and an excitement of what the holiday season will bring us.
There is no excitement this year. Only sadness.
On Black Friday after Thanksgiving, if you go towards the back of the shopping center parking lot, you might see families spending their holiday weekend in a car. That vehicle is their home because Orlando property management has driven up the rent so high, that we can’t afford a place to live this year.
The only way to change this reality is to talk to your elected officials. They’ll be out there giving out meals.
They mean well. But you must give them a kind reminder.
A food pantry box.
A reality of living in cars and shelters.
Children crying themselves to sleep at a dream of stability they’ll never reach.
That’s not what Thanksgiving is about. And I pray for them.
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