On a single night in 2025, nearly 1,900 veterans were experiencing homelessness across Florida.

Sharief never thought he would be one of them.

He joined the U.S. Navy at 19, just after high school, serving four years, first as an aircraft handler and later as an operations specialist. After the military, life eventually brought the Brooklyn native to Florida, where he built a new life and found work.

Then the company where Sharief worked decided to relocate to Texas.

He couldn’t make the move. He lost his job and soon found himself unable to keep up with his rent.

For the first time in his life, Sharief was homeless.

He called 211 looking for help. Rescue Outreach Mission was the first shelter he was given. That phone call would eventually lead him somewhere he didn’t expect: his own home.

At Rescue Outreach Mission, Sharief began working with our case managers and together, they started identifying the resources that could help him move forward.

That is often how the path out of homelessness works. No single organization has every answer. Rescue Outreach Mission works with agencies and programs throughout the community to connect guests with available resources.

For Sharief, one of those connections led to an important discovery. Because he was a veteran, housing programs were available to him that he didn’t even know existed.

“I didn’t know anything else about the housing or anything else,” Sharief says of the veterans’ benefits available to him.

That discovery was especially important because simply going back to work full time wasn’t an option. Sharief receives dialysis three times each week and is on disability.

Through a veterans program, he secured a new place to live. The program is helping with his initial expenses and even furnishing his new home.

When asked how that feels, Sharief doesn’t hesitate.

“It actually feels real good,” he says. “I feel a lot better than I did when I first got here.”

But his experience has also given him something else: a message for other veterans who may be sleeping in a car, staying with friends or wondering where they can turn.

“You don’t have to be down and out,” Sharief says. “You can actually get back on your feet with the right help.”

He came to Rescue Outreach Mission needing a place to sleep. He found a case manager who helped him navigate a network of resources, discover benefits he had earned through his military service, and ultimately find a path back into housing.

Today, Sharief is preparing to move into his own place.

And when asked what he would tell someone else just beginning the same journey, his answer was simple:

“Just don’t give up and use your resources. There’s always a way out.”

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