Gabbert previously served as a social work consultant and stability specialist with the Homelessness and Housing Alliance, where his tasks included partnering with the Fort Walton Beach Police Department to find housing for homeless people.
His previous jobs also included serving as lead case manager, housing coordinator and grant manager for the Gateway Community Service Board in Brunswick, Georgia; city manager and chief municipal finance officer for the city of South Fulton, Tennessee; and as a rehabilitation and skilled nursing facility administrator, mostly in Tennessee.
“This job (as the One Hopeful Place shelter manager) is right up my alley,” Gabbert said.
Crestview Area Shelter for the Homeless
While the Crestview Area Shelter for the Homeless has more than a dozen clients staying at the facility, it provides food and assistance to more than 60 homeless people throughout the week and serves as a cold weather shelter.
“They all want hoodies or sweatshirts, jackets, gloves, hand warmers, knit stocking caps and ChapStick,” Ann Sprague, executive director of the Crestview shelter, said Wednesday. “They would also love to have gift cards, such as $5 cards to McDonald’s and Taco Bell.”
Sprague said while the Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County gave the shelter numerous masks to help protect their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic, the shelter is in need of large and extra-large masks.