Barber Robert Everett Gentry volunteers almost every Monday at Interfaith Emergency Services in Ocala, giving the homeless free haircuts. It s beneficial for me to focus on people that have fallen on hard times. It helps me to humble myself and give back to my community, Gentry said. There is zero judgment here. Some do it for job interviews. It s a place for them to hang out and get away from reality, said campus pastor Jody Schaible.
Gentry, who works as a full-time barber at Fade Factory Barbering Co., visits Interfaith most Mondays from 8 a.m. to noon and averages 15-20 haircuts a week.
Volunteers scoured Marion County one day last week to determine the number of homeless people living outside in camps and tent cities. It was part of the federally required annual 24-hour Point In Time (PIT) count.
The PIT count, required for the distribution of federal funds to local agencies that battle homelessness, was spearheaded locally by Maj. Robin Ford, a 31-year veteran of the Ocala Police Department who is serving as temporary manager of the City of Ocala/Marion County Joint Office on Homelessness.
According to Ford, the count is designed to be a 24-hour snapshot of the number of homeless persons in the area. The counters asked where the people they encountered had slept on Jan. 27, 2021.