Camarillo would love to continue offering services five days a week in 2025 but, depending on the amount of private donations SALT receives, it may have to scale back on the frequency to avoid a shut down.

The agency operates two mobile trailers at the Christian Service Center’s two-acre campus downtown. One trailer has four shower stations each with a shower, sink and toilet, and the other six commercial washers and dryers.

​

SALT also occupies a building on the campus, providing mail services, clothing storage, free hygiene products and the phone charging station, which are “really crucial in helping people to obtain and maintain employment,” Camarillo said.

“We can’t leave this group of unsheltered people without any help, especially as shelters are full and housing programs are full. We’ll keep fighting for them,” he added.

"We were funding this operation, with nine of our direct services, all through private giving, donors, corporations, foundations, things like that. We tried to keep up even with a $600,000 deficit from local government," he said.

"We did our best. When you have a six-figure delay like this, it just kind of knocked you off your feet."

Camarillo said unsheltered homelessness has doubled year over year. The cutbacks come at a time when they are also seeing more people using the services. Marie Diette is one of those people.

"I've been coming to Salt now for about seven months, and it helps a lot of people. And it helps me a lot," Diette said.

​

Each summer the organization launches the 'Summer SALT' fundraiser. This year they hope to raise $200,000. People can text 'summer salt' to 44321, which will link to the fundraiser, or they can access it through the organization's website.

Camarillo said their other programs and services they offer in Sanford are still running normally. The group hopes to start the laundry and shower services back up in October if they hit their fundraising goals.

Nicknamed "The Beast" the mobile shower trailer is the newest addition to services available to Central Florida's homeless (population). It features three restrooms and (two) washer(s) and dryer(s). "It's dedicated to (youth and) young adults experiencing homelessness in Central Florida," SALT Executive Director Eric Camarillo explained. Camarillo thanks a partnership with Simply Healthcare Plans, which presented a $150,000 check to pay for the trailer. An $8.4 million federal grant awarded to the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida funds the initiative. 

"Now you've been housed for a year," WESH 2's Sanika Dange said. "How has that been?" It's [been] very great. I can take a shower whenever I want to; I can just lay around. It was a blessing," Hawkins said. "SALT gave me security because sleeping in my car, you don't really get sleep because you're sleeping with one eye open because every little thing you hear, you wake up," Hawkins said. "You sleep with both eyes closed now?" WESH 2's Sanika Dange asked. "Yeah, I wake up refreshed, yeah," Hawkins said.

The laundry trailer has six commercial washers and dryers and will provide free laundry service to ensure those experiencing homelessness have access to clean clothing.

As a wave of unemployment and evictions swells up on Central Florida’s horizon, Orlando is investing in homeless outreach groups to help those most affected by the economic implications of COVID-19.

SALT Outreach is helping the homeless through their SALT Shower Trailer. They partnered with Downtown Orlando’s First United Methodist Church hosted the SALT Shower Trailer for the first time on Tuesday, March 10th as the COVID19 pandemic was beginning to worsen in Orlando.

Mario Perez doesn’t have a car to take him places or a home to call his own.

But he nailed down a job interview this week, and he’s going to look sharp for it, thanks to SALT; a Christian millennial group of volunteers dedicated to helping Orlando’s homeless freshen up.

The funding challenge, which was exacerbated by a reduction in local government COVID-related funding totaling about $600,000 in 2024, prompted the organization to seek creative solutions to maintain essential services, including temporarily shutting down some locations. The community responded with donations, including $300,000 from the Big Nova Foundation.

​

Executive Director Eric Camarillo said he and his staff prayed for a miracle.

"We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from the public and our partners like the Big Nova Foundation," Executive Director Eric Camarillo said. "Their generosity ensures that we can continue providing critical, life-sustaining services to those in need while we await the completion of the city's new drop-in center."

​

Big Nova is a charitable family foundation with the mission of “sparking hope and igniting change, while keeping ever mindful of the needs of others,” working to help communities thrive in Central Florida.

Eric Camarillo, executive director of SALT, said direct services in downtown Orlando are funded by donations, not grants, and all of this is due to the delay of a corporate sponsor’s gift.

​

He’s now calling on the community to step up and help. “These services going away is going to make it that much harder for people to end their homelessness,” Camarillo said. 

80 showers a day, 50 loads of laundry a day, all gone on July 15. COVID funding helped ensure the future of these services for a short time. But now, the money that was expected is no longer there.

​

“Last year we got about $800,000, $750,000 to maintain this operation,” said Camarillo. “This year we only got $200,000. That’s mainly for our case management team. So that’s about a $600,000 deficit that we’re having to come out of pocket for to maintain these services.”

​

This decision to scale back comes at a time when Camarillo says more people than ever before need these services.

A new mobile shower unit directed at homeless youth in Central Florida is set to begin running next month as part of a collaborative effort between the nonprofit Service And Love Together and Simply Healthcare Plan. The mobile shower will add to the fleet SALT Outreach already has. It's parked in Sanford until the unveiling happens in February. The shower trailer has three bathrooms and stackable washer and dryer units. Simply Healthcare Plans donated $150,000 to cover the cost of the trailer, while the program as a whole is being funded by an $8.4 million federal grant awarded to the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida. The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which cited Central Florida as having the highest rate of 16 through 24-year-olds experiencing homelessness.

“At the time, he came to me for personal advice,” said Portelli, the mayor’s advisor. “The organization was doing well, but it was not super-solidly funded yet, and I knew he had gotten married, and I didn’t think it was the best idea [to quit his Amazon job]. He did it anyway. That was really a demonstration of his faith in the mission. Every minute of every day, he lives his faith.”

At the ribbon cutting ceremony for the first of its kind laundry trailer in Orlando Florida, Mayor Buddy Dyer, declared April 15th to be SALT (Service and Love Together) Day for the city of Orlando!

Eric Camarillo, 31, is running the biggest mobile homeless center in Orlando, Florida — a ministry he started nine years ago as a way to get young Adventists involved in community service.

The Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) said that they have partnered with SALT Outreach Inc. to provide energy-efficient showers to homeless citizens around Orlando. Engineers with OUC reportedly worked with SALT to retrofit the trailer with four solar panels to provide about 60 showers per charge.

“I thought I would do all of these things when I graduated in order to have an impact on people,” he says, “but why not do something now?”

Camarillo has used what he’s learned in the classroom to grow the organization and support the community.

SALT CEO and Executive Director Eric Camarillo said in early July he had planned to suspend the nonprofit’s shower and laundry services, but while working to raise about half a million dollars, SALT got a $300,000 donation from Big Nova Foundation — enough to keep its services going.

“Everyone deserves the basic dignity of a shower and clean clothes,” said Big Nova Foundation Executive Director Sarah Asma.

“We are looking forward to being a partner with SALT into the future to ensure that these services and the many others they provide are not only continued but expanded. Our greatest hope is that our confidence in Eric and his staff through this grant will inspire others in our community to support their work.”

​

The organization continues to face a funding shortfall after the ending of COVID-19 relief money it had been receiving up until this year, but Camarillo said Big Nova is a step in the direction of recurring funds.

“It’s not just a one and done — they’re here to stay,” said Camarillo. “They’re helping with this, but this is the beginning of what I think is a beautiful partnership with SALT and the Big Nova Foundation to really end homelessness here in Central Florida.”

An Orlando organization that helps people experiencing homelessness has had to make a tough decision — Service and Love Together, better known as SALT, is temporarily suspending some of their direct services due to a massive loss in donations.
 

Eric Camarillo, executive director of SALT, was fighting back tears as he talked about it, just after he told his staff about the budget cuts and suspension of services. He said he’s worried about the people who depend on these services every day.
 

“There are people out here that just can't care for themselves, and they don't have anyone that can care for them. People with disabilities, seniors, 70-80 years old. It’s families with kids. It's-- it’s a lot. We have a lot of weight on our shoulders,” Camarillo said.

The grassroots organization was expecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from different sources — a big part of which fell through or got significantly delayed, forcing the organization to cut back on its donor-reliant mobile laundry and shower services downtown.

Johnson spent the last five months, including some of the sweltering hot summer, living on the streets of Orlando. She says she's never liked asking for help, but she eventually sought help from SALT, which gave her a place to shower and do laundry. And SALT just recently helped her find a new home. "I would think about my parents and they would tell me if you have to ask, ask, don't be ashamed to ask for help, and that's what I would do," Johnson said. "I mean, I would break down and say I need your guys help and they would write letters - I mean big time letters." Thanks to SALT, Johnson says for the first time in a long time, she's thankful to have a place to call home. I'll tell you what - I looked up to the Lord and I said thank you, Lord," she said.

SALT Outreach President Eric Camarillo, who founded the organization in 2011, says the group helps fill gaps between what local homeless people need and services other local aid groups are able to provide.

Camarillo says the laundry trailer is one of a number of trailers stationed at the Christian Service Center in downtown Orlando. They also provide clothing, haircuts, showers and other services.

When a group of students saw local nonprofits struggling with issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, they decided to help out the Orlando community.

"The idea for something like SALT came to mind," he explained. "Where we encourage and empower young adults to start their own outreach project and help support them to help it to grow."

SALT, or Service and Love Together, has grown since Camarillo founded it in 2011.

A shower trailer will soon be available to homeless people in downtown Orlando. Eric Camarillo -- president of SALT, which stands for Service and Love Together -- said he hopes it will change lives. "We've done surveys with the homeless, and some who are actively looking for a job haven't showered in three months," he said. "You can't get a job if you can't shower."