SALT Outreach was founded by Eric Camarillo in 2011. He had become a Christian a year prior and was seeking his purpose. As he started to attend church, he believed his calling was to bring people together for a common cause, which would lead to combined resources, and a deeper impact in the community.

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​Eric knew that something had to change. An organization that would focus on impactful community service projects, exemplify Christ’s method of evangelism by creating meaningful relationships with those in need in the community, and create a "space" for church communities, community organizations and members, local government,  and corporations to combine efforts and resources for a specific mission.
 

The First Events

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With this vision, the first event was held September of 2011. Over 150 young adults who wanted to learn how to serve through SALT Outreach were in attendance. After sharing the vision and planting seeds of interest in those that attended, a second event was scheduled for November of 2011.

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Before the second event, Eric reached out to the young adults he met to figure out what their passions were. At the second event in November, close to 250 young adults, representing many different churches, were in attendance. The young adults interested in starting/leading ministries set up tables and took sign ups for new volunteers. From that event, ten different outreach ministries were created which formed the foundation of SALT Outreach. After that time SALT hosted outreach events, worship services, socials, and fundraisers.

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One of those tables was our Outreach Project for the unsheltered. It started by offering food to a few people experiencing homelessness in downtown Orlando.

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In May of 2012, SALT became incorporated with the State of Florida as a Nonprofit and opened it's bank account. We were then able to start accepting donations to fuel the vision for the organization. In September of 2012, SALT had their first year anniversary event which brought about 850 people from all over Florida. This number of interested individuals was overwhelming, as the organization had a very basic structure, and was not built to handle this much at one time. Eric then decided to quit his job as a dental assistant and for 6 months was unemployed. He completely dedicated himself to running and developing the organization as a full time volunteer.

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Eric’s 6 month journey of "unemployment" forced Eric to depend on God in ways he had never done so before. God miraculously paid his bills while Eric worked to add some structure to the organization.

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Narrowing the Focus

 

In 2014, SALT made a big decision to condense its outreach ministries from ten to three. This would allow the organization to streamline its focus and to utilize its resources in a more effective way.

 

One of these three was the outreach to the unsheltered. By this time, SALT was sharing food with over 200 unsheltered people on a bi-weekly basis.

 

In 2016, Eric received his CNP (Certified Non-Profit Professional) Credential, and graduated with his Social Work degree which provided him with valuable knowledge to better serve others. At this time, SALT also received it's 501(c)3 determination. Thanks to dedicated volunteer leaders, Eric and his team were able to restructure and reorganize leadership roles, solidified each outreach project's mission & vision, and developed several programs that would help SALT to run even more smoothly.

 

First Phase of the Mobile Outreach Center - Clothing Trailer

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In 2016, the organization was able to raise $4,000 to purchase a clothing trailer (which SALT calls it's Change Trailer) specifically for SALT guests experiencing homelessness.

 

After guests would receive a meal, they would be able to receive a change of clothing. This came after doing surveys with the unsheltered and realizing clothing and hygiene were hard for the unsheltered to access in downtown.

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In 2017, the team realized that providing food and clothing was not enough. A change of clothing didn’t mean much if those receiving the clothing were not clean themselves. Eric and his team decided (after additional surveys) that they needed to provide showers for those receiving clothing. They began fundraising to purchase a mobile shower trailer.

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Second Phase of the Mobile Outreach Center - Shower Trailer

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In 2018, after raising $40k, a mobile shower trailer outfitted with four full bathrooms was purchased. SALT launched it in August of 2018. This was the first shower trailer in Central Florida.

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At that time, SALT Outreach was featured on Channel 9 news, which was the first time SALT started to be known in the local community.

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You can watch that Channel 9 News Story Here. SALT started to transition out of the food sharing with the unsheltered and focused on developing its Mobile Outreach Center. Starting in September of that year, SALT started operating once a month, as an all volunteer work force providing:

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• Clothing and Hygiene Products with it's Change Trailer

• Showers with it's Shower Trailer

• Hot Meals

• And Haircuts.

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Purchase of Additional Vehicles

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In early 2019, SALT fundraised to purchase a 15-passenger van that was used to shuttle the unsheltered to and from the mobile outreach events (as needed, eventually the unsheltered would come through word of mouth to our various sites). The van also helped to transport the Change Trailer to and from the outreach center.

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Most of 2019, SALT fundraised to purchase a truck to transport the shower trailer (prior to SALT receiving a truck, generous volunteers would use their own trucks to transport our shower trailer). In December of 2019, SALT was able to purchase a 2017 GMC Sierra to pull the shower trailer. 

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These purchases helped SALT build it's capacity to operate more frequently, and to be more flexible in it's operation.

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Brand Sponsorship Program

 

One of SALT's major goals for 2019 was to launch a Corporate Sponsorship Program, in which organizations and businesses can pledge to donate a certain amount per year, to support the mission and vision of the organization. SALT Outreach's first sponsor came from the Orlando Utilities Commission. 

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Solar Panels on the Shower trailer by OUC

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In early 2020, the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) donated the funds to have solar panels installed on the shower trailer. This allowed SALT Outreach to take the shower trailer anywhere without the need to plug into electricity or a water supply.

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You can view the news story showing the ribbon cutting of the Solar Panel addition to the shower trailer here.

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The Pandemic Begins

 

As we moved into 2020, still with an all volunteer workforce, SALT was determined to operate at least once per week (increased from the previous twice per month SALT operated in 2019). SALT hired it's first two part time employees in February 2020 to make that a reality.

 

In March 2020, SALT was met with the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Our unsheltered outreach also had to take on a different dynamic. We asked all of our volunteers to stop volunteering temporarily, and we asked our outreach partners not to be present at our outreach events. The SALT board came together, and after much prayer and careful consideration, decided to continue to operate during the pandemic. Many other organizations had to shut down, but with SALT Outreach being an outside operation, we felt we could mitigate the risks.

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Partnering with the City of Orlando

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Almost all other non-profits and who assisted the unsheltered closed down due to the pandemic, this led to the City of Orlando contracting SALT Outreach to provide showers and hygienic services to our unsheltered guests, three times a week, in order to help combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus among the unhoused.

 

Up until this point we had only been operating about three to four times per month and we felt privileged to be able to serve our unhoused friends on a more consistent basis. The short-term contract was for April 2020 through July 2020, but we hoped to continue these services beyond that four month period. We were able to hire four part-time employees to operate the mobile outreach center three days each week, one of whom was a former unhoused friend, Patrick Woods, who used to come to us for assistance before being hired. 

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Click here to get a visual of our operation at the start of the pandemic from May 2020.

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The Hilton Orlando's Special Gift

 

After hiring employees to operate the mobile outreach center during the pandemic, we were concerned about the safety of their families to whom they would go home to every day.

 

The Hilton Orlando graciously offered us four hotel rooms to accommodate our employees for over 90 days so that they didn't have to put their loved ones at risk (a value of about $100,000). It was a huge help in keeping our employee's families safe and putting everyone's mind at ease during a time of great uncertainty.

 

We are grateful to the Hilton for their generosity and assistance to our organization during a very stressful and unchartered time.

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The Life of Patrick Wood - Formerly Homeless

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Before being hired by SALT, Patrick, affectionately called Pat, used to come and receive assistance. He would come to get a shower, clothing, and a meal, but he always felt like he needed to give something back for the help he received. Him and his friend, Singleton, would volunteer with us before receiving any assistance at our outreach events. They kept the showers clean in between each use and helped to manage the queue of individuals waiting to take a shower. Eventually, we would compensate them for a day's work because they were a great help before we were able to hire employees.

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Singleton eventually found employment and was able to move into housing, but Pat would still faithfully come to our outreach events. When we had the opportunity to hire employees to run the outreach center, Pat was a clear choice. When given the news that we wanted to hire him, he had tears in his eyes. He hadn't held a job in years, and felt honored to become an official member of the SALT team.

 

After working with SALT for about 3 months, Pat began having pain in his left leg that got considerably worse in a short period of time. After being gently persuaded to see a physician by SALT staff and leaders, who had become like family to Pat, it was discovered that Pat had stage 4 Cancer. The SALT team was devastated by this news, especially upon discovering that he only had mere weeks to live. Patrick stopped working then, but SALT still provided him with all of his needs. Even in his poor physical health, Pat still wanted to work and it took a lot of convincing to get him to rest and be taken care of. In a few short weeks, Pat moved into hospice where he passed way quietly with one of our SALT leaders, holding his hand. A week before his passing, he started studying the bible and his last request was to be baptized.

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Our time with our brother Pat was unexpectedly short, but during that time he came to mean so much to the SALT team and taught the team so many valuable lessons. He reminded the team that to be family, you didn't need to be related by blood, you just need to have a love for each other that transcends the mistakes of our past. A love that accepts us for who we are, children of God, filled with value and infinite potential. The transformation that we saw in Pat over the time that he served with SALT was apparent, and it was a strong reminder that the work at SALT truly changes lives in a wholistic way. This lit a fire in the team that still burns to this day.

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Partnering with the Christian Service Center

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SALT is a mobile outreach center, and at times it is difficult to find a location to set up all of our trailers and vehicles. Around August of 2020, through a connection at the City of Orlando, the Christian Service Center offered to partner with SALT and allow SALT to set up its mobile outreach center on their property at no cost. They also provided SALT with the use of one of their buildings for various purposes such as storage of clothing, hair-cutting stations, washer and dryer hookups, office space, and more. SALT is incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Christian Service Center at that time, as it helped SALT to build capacity to grow, and serve new more people.

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$250,000 Grant from the City of Orlando 

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The City of Orlando extended it's contract with SALT into September 2020, and in October of 2020, SALT was awarded a grant of $250,000 by the City of Orlando to continue providing services and resources to our unhoused guests for one full year. Due to more funds, SALT was able to hire more employees to run the daily operations of the mobile outreach center, expanding and increasing its services to the unsheltered. SALT was able to add a fourth day a week to its operation at that time. Additionally, SALT was able hire two full time social workers and bring on six UCF social work interns to provide case management services to our unhoused guests at the beginning of 2021. This enabled SALT to better connect the unsheltered resources and other organizations, helping them take steps toward ending their homelessness.

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You can view the news story of the $250,000 grant from the City of Orlando to SALT here.

 

Launching our Laundry Trailer

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In late October of 2020, with help from the City of Orlando, Simply Healthcare Plans (new corporate sponsor), and many generous private donors, SALT was able to place the 50% down-payment on a laundry trailer. The laundry trailer, valued at $90,000 is outfitted with 6 industrial sized washers and dryers. These 12 units allowed SALT to provide its unsheltered guests with the ability to have clean, laundered clothes at no cost to them. The ability to launder our guests clothing is important because it better utilizes clothing and monetary donations. Donated and purchased clothing can now be worn over and over, instead of being thrown away once they become soiled beyond use. 

 

SALT made the final payment on the laundry trailer in March of 2021. On April 15th (National Laundry Day), SALT had the ribbon cutting ceremony for this first of its kind (in Orlando Florida) laundry trailer. Buddy Dyer, Mayor of Orlando, came out to celebrate with us and declared April 15th to be SALT (Service and Love Together) Day for the City of Orlando! The event was also attended by City Commissioners and our corporate partner, Simply Healthcare Plans, all of whom shared special congratulatory words with the leaders and employees of our organization.

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During the ceremony SALT had several loads of clothing running in the washers and dryers, and it was amazing to see the immediate effects that the laundry trailer was having on SALT guests. The ribbon was cut by Eric Camarillo, president and founder of SALT..

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You can view the news story of the laundry trailer launch here.

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Case Management Program

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The SALT case management program launched in January 2021, with two social workers, and six social workers interns from the University of Central Florida. The case management program is designed to assess the needs of the individual, create a plan, make referrals to other organizations, and fill any service gaps in the community. The main metric of success is how many people they help take the next step toward ending their homelessness, and how many people they help transition to shelter or housing. The case management team was able to help 75% of those they served take the next step toward ending their homelessness and helped 20% transition to shelter or housing in that first year. SALT now had a clear pathway to navigate from services to housing.

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Additional Services for the Unsheltered

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Throughout 2021, SALT gradually added additional services for the unsheltered. In addition to case management and laundry, SALT added mail services, limited storage services, and charging stations for people experiencing homelessness. SALT managed the mail for over 500 people and provided charging stations daily for more than 30+ people. SALT learns the needs of their guests and continues to expand services as those needs are identified. At this time, SALT operated five days per week, serving over 100 people per day. SALT was completing between 70 to 80 showers and 50 to 55 loads of laundry per day.

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Expanding into Sanford

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SALT started to operate in Sanford in October 2021 and continued to go out to Sanford every week. This was made possible by the Universal Orlando Foundation, Seminole County, and Advent Health Altamonte. 

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Thanks to donations from AdventHealth and Spyder Controls, SALT was able to launch a second shower trailer dedicated to the Seminole County area. SALT Outreach now operates in Sanford with a dedicated team five days a week.

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Fundraising and Administrative team

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SALT's goal in 2021 was to raise over a million dollars to build the capacity to quadruple its impact from the previous year. To raise over a million was to raise 10 times more than was raised in 2019 and 2.5 more than was raised in 2020. On top of this, and to be able to accomplish this, SALT had to start hiring administrative staff. 

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Up until this time in 2021, the administrative functions were performed by Eric Camarillo, and a small handful of limited part-time employees and interns. Eric was still working a full-time job (40 to 50 hours per week) along with his duties at SALT, which were starting to take about 30 additional hours per week.

 

In April 2021, Eric Camarillo quit his full-time job, and became the full-time Executive Director of the organization. SALT hired additional administrative staff to handle Human Resources, Reporting Data, Business Development, Accounting, General Admin, and Fundraising. The Administrative staff were key to helping SALT to build the capacity needed to grow the organization, to help even more people experiencing homelessness in more places. This added a new challenge for SALT, as raising administrative expenses are usually more difficult than raising the funds for Outreach and Case Management related expenses. SALT ended 2021, raising more than $1,000,000, which was slightly over our goal for that year. SALT spent roughly $850,000 to deliver the impact accomplished in 2021, between the 25 staff members (more than half were part-time). SALT looked forward to what 2022 would bring as they continued to move forward in faith!

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SALT Outposts and SOS Weekends

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SALT started the SALT Outpost Initiative in 2021 as a way to expand SALT branches through churches within the state of Florida. To learn more about this initiative, you can click here. SALT also this initiative to expand SALT and/or its model in different states outside of Florida. To learn more about SOS Weekends, you can click here. There is also a SALT Outpost option for out-of-state groups, but a pre-requisite is that they must have completed a SALT SOS Weekend first. To learn more about the out-of-state SALT Outposts, click here.

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Ongoing Expansion

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In 2022, SALT raised over 2.8 million, and continued to deepen its impact in the Central Florida community. One key thing that happened this year, is SALT started to expand outside the state of Florida, planting a SALT in San Diego.
 

In 2023, SALT continued to deepen its impact, and build a foundation that would lead to further expansion.

Later that year, SALT Outreach was able to win a grant from the Homeless Services Network to serve unhoused youth and young adults experiencing homelessness. This initiative, which ultimately stems from the national Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project (YHDP), gave SALT the ability to focus on unaccompanied 16 to 24 year olds across Central Florida. SALT has a dedicated team for this demographic, a dedicated Drop-in Center building, and a dedicated trailer with showers and laundry for mobile engagement. The Drop-in Center is called the Fountain of Youth (FOY). The FOY is open five days a week, Monday through Friday, 9am to 4pm. Also in 2023, SALT San Diego launched its shower trailer for the unhoused. 

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In 2024, SALT received two new trailers, the one previously mentioned that is dedicated to unhoused Youth and Young Adults and sponsored by Simply Healthcare Plans, and another three bathroom trailer (one bathroom ADA with a wheelchair lift) sponsored by Link Logistics Realty. The latter was commissioned at the end of 2024 to Bithlo, now operating five days a week, serving our unhoused guests in East Orlando along with SALT’s full suite of services. Near the end of 2024, SALT Lake County was formed, launching their shower trailer in October of 2024. With their volunteers, and limited staff, they serve two to three days a week in Leesburg and Fruitland Park. Funds from the Mid-Florida Homeless Coalition (the local continuum of care), Lake County, Corporations, and private donors help fuel this operation. In 2024, SALT also received a shower trailer from the city of Sanford, which helped create the capacity to move the Sanford operation to 5 days per week. A new trailer model also emerged this year: a mental health counseling office on wheels! This is used for our unhoused youth and young adults. Another unique trailer SALT received this year was a vacuum trailer. This trailer helps to build capacity of our fleet team by allowing them to tow this trailer to vacuum the waste out of each of its shower trailers.

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2024 was a tough year for SALT, facing one of its biggest fundraising challenges, that almost forced its Orlando location to scale down by 80% for three months. It was due to an unpredictable circumstance, which led to a lapse in promised funding, but thanks to a generous gift from the Big Nova Foundation, SALT was able to continue its services at full capacity for its Orlando guests.

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In 2025, SALT continued expanding and deepening its impact:

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• SALT was awarded a 1.2 million dollar grant to focus services for unhoused veterans across Central Florida. SALT’s frontline case managers for this program are all veterans, including some with lived experience of homelessness.

• SALT expanded to Apopka. Now operating five days a week for guests, and gradually deepening its services for the unhoused in that area. 

• SALT received a grant from Big Nova Foundation to launch two new trailers: one hybrid with both laundry and three bathrooms, and another one that is a mobile office on wheels. These will get delivered in 2026!

• SALT received a grant to purchase trailers and vehicles for a completely mobile shelter operation. This includes two shelter trailers (each with 10 private rooms), a food trailer for lunch and dinner, a resource trailer for ADA bathroom and laundry, and a van for micro transit. SALT will be partnering with Orange County on the operation and will go live at the end of 2026.

• SALT launched the minimum viable product for the software, Corsalis. This software is used in all SALT locations to gather data and create a more efficient operation. It’s also a software that is now being piloted and will create a recurring monthly income for the organization.

• SALT built a tiny home trailer prototype that it will perfect and lean into in 2027/2028.

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2025 was SALT Outreach’s most impactful year. SALT served over 3,500 different people with 180,000 services and resources. SALT helped to lead 391 people into housing through its case management team and also in collaboration with other organizations.

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2026 isn’t a big expansion year for SALT, instead, it’s a year where SALT will focus on:

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• Deepening its impact at all locations and breaking its impact records

• Lean into mission driven earned income to improve cashflow and build capacity’s

• Fully funding and launching its fully mobile shelter operation

• Analyzing collected data to determine best next steps in 2027 and beyond

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SALT continues to grow with your support. Now with a team of 60 staff members, across 13 different locations, with five of those locations operating five days per week. As you continue to support SALT, you can expect continued growth and expansion, so SALT can exemplify Christ and end homelessness for more people in our communities.