Stopping Homelessness Before It Starts

The best way to fight homelessness is to stop it before it starts. Most families don’t become homeless overnight — it starts with an impossible choice between groceries, rent, and the electric bill. Our prevention programs remove that choice, keeping families fed, housed, and moving toward self-sufficiency.

Feed-a-Family distributes over 500 tons of food each year — more than 800,000 meals — to Volusia County families living below the poverty line. Each monthly Feed-a-Family bag contains about 32 pounds of food, enough to feed a family of four for 7 to 10 meals, including non-perishables, frozen meat, and often fresh produce.

Here’s how it prevents homelessness: when we cover part of a family’s grocery bill, that money goes to rent and utilities instead. In 2025, we distributed 30,256 bags — 484 tons of food — plus 1,200 more bags through Food Brings Hope for local schoolchildren and their families.

Feed-a-Family bags are distributed monthly at our locations in Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, Port Orange, and New Smyrna Beach, and at Campbell and Beachside schools. (Insert days, hours, and addresses for each site.) Eligibility: Volusia County residents who meet income requirements. [Find a pantry near you]

In 2025, our Prevention program helped over 167 new households experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk — and our financial assistance program paid $352,806 in rental assistance for 261 households facing eviction, plus $22,136 in utility payments to keep the lights on.

Who is eligible?

Prevention services are available to Volusia County residents who meet income requirements. Pathways to Housing is our program that houses the homeless. Call us today at 386-317-5886 ext. 2 — the sooner you reach out, the more we can do.