A daily care center offering access to free meals, showers and medical care to the Beaches homeless population is scaling back its services to keep the doors open and the client needs met during the COVID-19 crisis.
Lori Anderson, executive director of Mission House, said Monday that reduced staffing prompted the decision to limit the meal schedule to once a day and supplement its clients with a bagged lunch.
“The dinner group is doing a bagged lunch so they have something to take with them in the evening so food is not lacking,” she said. “It’s just that they’re not getting as many hot meals as they’re used to.”
Mission House, located at 800 Shetter Avenue in Jacksonville Beach, previously served two hot meals at noon and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and meals at noon Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Sunday before the outbreak. The schedule now is one meal a day at noon Monday through Saturday. The organization also closed its medical clinic on March 23 until it can safely resume seeing patients on site. Two volunteer pharmacists are on site two days a week to ensure clients are still able to receive medication.
“We actually lost two operations people, one to self-quarantine and one who is over 65 and his wife preferred that he stayed at home. So, to have two of our operations people in the back leave was the final decision to just go with one meal because I didn’t want to stretch the staff who are already down at least four people with kids who are out of school,” Anderson said of team members who are now working exclusively from home or have cut hours down to just a couple hours a day.
“We’re only six days a week now and on Sundays, one of my operations guys comes in for an hour and hands out sandwiches. Everybody really cares about what’s going on but it’s really tough because they have their own lives.”
Anderson said showers are still available and staff is taking extra precautions to keep the area sanitized for safety.
“The shower thing is really important and we are adhering to all CDC regulations. We only have 10 people inside while they’re taking showers and 10 people in the yard,” she said. “Everyone’s temperature is being taken as well. So far, so good. I did not want to close.”
The nonprofit organization also halted in-kind donations of clothes and toiletries, instead asking those who wish to donate to contribute financially through the Web site at www.missionhousejax.org/donate-now. Items can also be purchased directly from the Amazon wish list at smile.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/VU3PNCNZN964/ref=hz_ls_biz_ex.
“We have stopped all donations because we wanted to limit the number of people that come to the house,” noted Anderson. “We need people to either donate [financially] so we can buy the things we’d normally get donations of or order things from our Amazon wish list.”
Necessary items include toiletries and personal hygiene items, clothing, new socks and underwear, and supplies for meal preparation. Several local restaurants, including Angie’s Subs and Taco Lu, have also stepped in to provide meals.
“They are absolutely wonderful. What the groups have done is sometimes they’ll have pizzas delivered or go to Publix and buy fried chicken and the sides and drop it off for us to serve it here,” Anderson said.
Case managers remain on site, rotating shifts and maintaining social distance in one of the common rooms when meeting with clients.
“They are kind of trading days and everyone is wearing masks and disinfecting everything. We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got,” Anderson said.
If the stay-at-home order is lifted at the end of the week, Anderson said it could still be weeks until they are able to operate at full capacity.
“The problem is if we reopen, I still will not have the cooks. My volunteer coordinator has been calling people and asking if we reopen May 4, would you be able to come back and cook? And probably 80 percent of the folks said no. And since probably 80 percent of them are 65 and older, they are not going to be running back here,” she said.
“As dramatic as it seems, these are life-saving services that we’re doing here, to have clean clothes and to be clean. We’ll be prepared for the week of May 4 but we’re looking at the end of May before we get back to normal.”
June 15, 2026
