Shelter
We set up an average of nearly 160 tents each month. We don’t just want to leave them with a tent, so we provide sleeping bags, blankets, tarps, and other shelter necessities that they will need to survive in the woods.
Word on the Street — Central Florida — Since 2005
We gowherethey are.
Meeting the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs of Central Florida’s homeless and unsheltered, one person at a time.
2027 Expansion Campaign — Now through Dec 31
The road
gets longer.
$50,000goal by December 31
$0 raised of $50,000
In 2027, WOTS is going further. We’re partnering with organizations already serving people in Philadelphia, PA and Atlanta, GA, and growing our reach in Richmond, VA and Orlando, FL.
Your gift opens these new roads and keeps the basics moving everywhere we go: food, tents, sleeping bags and the essential supplies people are missing.
01 / Your donations in action
Your donations in action since 2005.
- 11,935
- Tents
- 22,726
- Sleeping bags
- 100,000+
- Hours of face time
- 120,285
- Plates of food
- 260,260
- Snack bags
- 770,000
- Miles driven
On the street
02 / What we do
Homelessness isn’t a program to us.
It’s personal.
WOTS goes where people are: into camps, along streets, through wooded areas, and behind the places most folks never look. We don’t wait for anyone to find us.
We show up with food, tents, sleeping bags and practical help for the need in front of us. Then we do the harder part. We stay. We listen, we pray, and we keep coming back, building the kind of long-term relationships that actually change lives.
Why we do itWhere it goes
How your donations
are used.
Here is how your donations are used every day of the week to help the homeless through the most difficult times of their life. Each tent, sleeping bag, snack bag, and bandage is provided through your generous and faithful giving.
Medical needs
Just because they are homeless doesn’t mean they don’t have regular medical needs like the rest of society. They may have asthma, diabetes, lung or heart conditions, and the list goes on. We try to provide as many medical supplies to them as we can, including helping them get their prescriptions filled or taking a trip to the hospital for emergencies.
Transportation
Our lead missionary Pastor Skip travels nearly 150 miles each day to meet the needs of our homeless friends; that’s because our ministry covers a radius of over 50 miles! We have a lot of ground to cover and many homeless to help throughout Central Florida.
Food
Snack bags make up for 98% of the food we distribute throughout the week. If we could only afford one thing to bring with us to meet the homeless, it would be snack bags. In addition, every Sunday we provide a buffet style meal for our homeless friends — with enough food for them to take a to-go container full of more food for later.
Clothing
Our storage facility is full of clothing items. Our clothing is usually donated, but from time to time our homeless friends are in need of socks or shoes that we may not have donated yet, and it’s a wonderful thing to buy them a good pair of shoes for the many miles they walk each day.
Availability
24/7/365 our missionaries are available. They are accessible, and ready to help however they can. We truly believe that consistency is the key to transformation in our homeless community. The more we are present and “there” for them the more opportunity we have to help them heal.
It’s because of you that we can have this impact on our homeless community each day. We thank God for your faithful support of Word on the Street Homeless Ministries.
03 / Your giving
This is what
your giving does.
01
Feed someone
Meals, groceries and snack bags.
02
Keep someone safe
Tents, sleeping bags, tarps and essential supplies.
03
Keep us on the street
Fuel, outreach, emergency assistance and ongoing care.
General Fund
Your monthly support directly affects the impact we can have on the homeless in greater Orlando and all of Central Florida. From helping to pay the bus fare, fully equip and set up their homeless camp/“home” or just simply buy them a hot meal and talk about life and how we can help.
Every dollar is an amazing blessing to our team and we hope you will prayerfully consider a monthly giving amount of support for our ministry to the homeless and unsheltered poor. If you have landed on this page out of a heart to give a one-time or regular monthly gift to Word on the Street Homeless Ministries, please click below to continue to our giving portal.
Give nowSupport Pastor Skip
Our founder and lead missionary to the homeless through Central Florida, Pastor Skip has dedicated his life to homeless ministry. Your financial support helps him stay on the streets to continue his work in reaching the homeless.
We understand that sometimes you want to make sure your financial support is being used for a specific purpose. Pastor Skip takes no salary from this ministry but relies entirely on personal financial support to continue this work full time. He’s devoted to the homeless people and has committed his life 7 days a week, 24 hours a day to be available to them whenever they are in need. Throughout the week Pastor Skip can be found deep in the woods or under bridges spending time loving on the forgotten homeless of Orlando. If you feel led to support him as he obeys God’s calling on his life please click the link below for further instructions. Every dollar is such a huge help — we can’t thank you enough!
Support04 / Serve
Put your boots
on the ground.
Pack. Feed. Drive. Serve.
You don’t need a title or a committee. You need a pair of hands and a willingness to show up. Serve alongside the ministry and meet the people you’ve driven past.
- Pack snack, hygiene and supply bags for the road.
- Feed by cooking or providing meals for gatherings.
- Drive and distribute donated food and supplies.
- Serve side by side on outreach, face to face.
Boots on the ground
B.O.T.G.
How
It seems we’re all about the 4 letter acronyms here! Being BOTG for WOTS means so much to us and it speaks volumes about the action you are willing to take to help the homeless throughout the country. When you serve at a Sunday dinner, donate much needed items, or financially support this ministry, you are being “boots on the ground” and even better — you are part of WOTS!
Why
To put it simply, because we can’t do this without you! The great commission is to GO into the world and preach the gospel. The first step in getting the gospel message to the ears and hearts of the homeless is to first be present. It is so important in this mission to be on the ground, with the homeless. They are people, with hurts, and pains — and they need love and support. The kind of love and support that comes with physically being there for them.
What
The term comes from its use in the military. The dictionary definition is “ground troops who are on active service in a military operation”. Being BOTG for WOTS means you are committing to be in active service for the homeless across the country. God called us to go out and put our feet on the mission field to love and serve.
When
You can be BOTG every day of the week. We need your help wherever you are right now in this world. It’s not about being here in Orlando, it’s about being OUT in the world. The homeless and less fortunate are on the street, in the woods, under highway overpasses and behind gas stations. They just need someone to be there, talk with them, and support them. We have been doing this for over a decade, so a great place to start for resources and involvement is with us! We’re here to help you help the homeless.
05 / Stories
Real people.
Real stories.
Watch the work
See what a day on the street with WOTS looks like.
Presence matters
Sometimes the most important thing we bring is time.
A tent and a bag
Shelter, handed over one person at a time.
About WOTS
Be present.
Keep coming back.
This is not a typical organization in regards to work done in ministry to the homeless. From the moment we connect with a homeless man, woman, family or teenager, we are pursuing their heart. It is about so much more than making sure they aren’t homeless. Yes that is a factor, but it’s not the priority. Living in a tent pales in comparison to eternity in hell and we want to see our brothers and sisters join us in heavenly places.
“Living in a tent pales in comparison to eternity in hell”
There is no greater joy than meeting the needs of the homeless — it is such a large part of what we do. The day-to-day challenges of our WOTS members are far greater than setting up a tent for a family. The kinds of situations we encounter on any given day consist of but are not limited to: camps set up in places consumed with bugs, drug abuse, suicide, fights, threats to our team, wounds, medical aid, counseling, and so much more. We are not another soup kitchen — not to say that soup kitchens aren’t very useful and helpful in our community, but we just want to be clear in stating that that is not our method of operation.
Sundays are a big day for us as it’s the time that our homeless friends and families come to join together for a time of prayer, teaching and an abundance of food (we always have to-go boxes for them to take home extras). Even as enjoyable as our Sunday dinner is, we are still confronted with all kinds of challenges. Some people show up drunk, agitated, confused, delusional, or just plain angry — granted they have every reason to be angry.
Our goal through all of this
is to be present.
There is no greater step we can take in ministering to the homeless than to make sure we are consistently available and THERE.
One more thing!
This isn’t about getting Instagram worthy material or striving for followers on our Facebook page. We hope for all the support we can get because all of this isn’t possible without your support. Just know that every single dollar that is donated is used to directly impact the homeless of Central Florida. This isn’t a career for our team, this isn’t about money at all. Of course people like Pastor Skip need to support their families and that is done through all of the giving that comes in. We are so grateful for each donation and we pray for an abundance more.
Please consider donating as a monthly contributor — in doing so you are creating consistency for our team — and in return we can continue to provide consistent care to the homeless.
The people behind it
Our team.
Skip Fengfish
Lead Pastor / Teacher
Every day brings new challenges, physically, emotionally, mentally and especially spiritually. In addition to teaching every Sunday afternoon at our weekly dinner, Pastor Skip is with the homeless throughout Central Florida daily often from sun up to sun down. He has been called to shepherd this homeless flock.
James DeLong
Co-Pastor
As much work as we are doing here in Central Florida we are also doing in Virginia. As Co-Pastor, James is continuing the ministry of WOTS in VA just as Pastor Skip does. Pastor Skip spends time in VA with James every few months to continue the great work being done there as our WOTS family grows across the country.
Joyce Fiorentino
Prayer & Dinner Coordinator
Sunday afternoon dinner is a big event every week for us and Joyce makes sure it goes off without a hitch. As our dinner coordinator she ensures we have all the food prepped and ready to serve for homeless crowds of 25 to 100 each week. She is continually in prayer for our WOTS community lifting up the needs of our homeless friends and thanking God for His work each day in the hearts and lives of these people.
Mike Barbieri
Missionary
Our Sunday dinners are part bible study, part… well eating! Mike takes over as teacher frequently to continue teaching our homeless church through the word of God. As a missionary he works along-side Pastor Skip in any capacity needed from dinner prep and teaching, to praying over, caring for and even transporting goods to our various storage facilities. Whatever needs done, Mike is ready to help.
Dennis Heartfield
Missionary
Dennis is another one of our missionaries to the homeless. He spends a majority of his time ministering to the homeless at our Sunday dinner, through teaching, serving food, and being there to pray with or support our homeless friends and family.
06 / You are not a number
Need help?
If you are experiencing homelessness, or you are struggling with food, shelter or basic needs, reach out. No judgment. We will listen and help however we can.