Where blueprints become belonging and walls become hope
Celebrating 5 Years of Building a Future Without Homelessness
BUILDING A FUTURE WITHOUT HOMELESSNESS How Central Florida’s builders are turning blueprints into belonging—and walls into hope .
The light turns green, and nobody notices him.
The man on the median clutching two leashes and a paper bag of dog food that isn’t his dinner. Two blocks away, a mother folds a plastic grocery sack into a makeshift diaper. Across town, a child sleeps on a bare floor because it’s easier to clean. This is the house you can’t see. The one hidden in plain sight, its walls catching the Florida sun just enough to look whole. But if you squint long enough, you’ll see the cracks in its foundation.
And HomeAid Orlando refuses to blink .
Housing That Heals Creating safe spaces for those facing homelessness. Built by Builders Powered by Central Florida’s construction community. Hope in Action More than charity — it’s dignity, stability, and second chances.
“When you’ve seen what it means to not have a safe place to sleep, or a clean diaper, you realize this isn’t charity. It’s humanity.”
—Annamae Kacsandi Director of Operations HomeAid Orlando
Backed by Central Florida’s building and trade community, they arrive with hard hats and calloused hands, blueprints rolled like declarations. Not to build a new skyline, but to raise something rarer: dignity, belonging, and doors that actually open. If you want to know a city’s soul, don’t look at its skyline. Look at the places where light leaks under a door that doesn’t quite close, where a grocery bag becomes a diaper, where a teenager ages out of foster care into a parking lot.
RUSS BEYMER | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Then watch who shows up.
HomeAid Orlando shows up. With builder captains, trade partners, and suppliers who know that a hammer can be an act of hope. They build what breaks the cycle. They build the floor that keeps a child off the tile. They build the tiny home that becomes a lifeline. They build the kind of community that refuses to call people “the homeless” and starts calling them neighbors. “It’s personal,” says Annamae Kacsandi, Director of Operations. “When you’ve seen what it means to not have a safe place to sleep, or a clean diaper, you realize this isn’t charity. It’s humanity.”
ANNAMAE KACSANDI | DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
“ That’s how HomeAid was born, It worked because it let builders do what they do best.”
2024 FORWARD PATHS, RIBBON CUTTING
A Foundation Rooted in Compassion Before there was HomeAid Orlando, there was HomeAid America, born thirty-six years ago in Orange County, California. Back then, industry leaders discovered something simple and revolutionary: when they asked builders for cash donations, few could help. But when they asked for labor, materials, and craftsmanship, the doors opened. “That’s how HomeAid was born,” Kascandi explains. “It worked because it let builders do what they do best.” Since then, affiliates have grown nationwide, each shaping the mission to local needs. In 2019, the Greater Orlando Builders Association, together with HomeAid America and a handful of civic-minded advocates, launched the Orlando chapter. At its helm stood Russ Beymer, a thirty- year homebuilding veteran who traded blueprints for purpose. “He’s been there since the beginning,” Kacsandi says. “Every site, every project, every partnership. He jokes that he talks too much—but it’s because he feels it all.” Five years later, HomeAid Orlando has become a movement. Its mission stands on three pillars: construction, community outreach, and education.
Each one anchored in empathy.
From Frontlines to Frameworks Kacsandi speaks with the calm conviction of someone who’s been on both sides of a locked door.
Before joining HomeAid, she spent more than twenty years in nonprofit work.
“I was that person with the duct tape,” she says. “Constantly on call, working seventy hours a week. Now I get to help the people I used to be. The ones holding everything together with scraps and prayer.” Her first major project with HomeAid hit home—the diaper drive. “I’m a mom of two,” she says. “When I hear about parents using plastic bags because they can’t afford diapers, it breaks me. I think back to when one ripped and I just threw it away without thinking. That was a luxury. Some parents don’t have that choice.” The first drive collected 80,000 diapers. Last summer, HomeAid Orlando reached one million. “Russ and his wife used to deliver diapers in their car,” she smiles. “Now we need trucks. That’s not just growth, it’s more than that, it’s hope multiplied.” The Man With Two Dogs Each week on her drive, Annamae passes the same man, unhoused, with two dogs.
“One week, one of the dogs was gone,” she recalls. “I asked where, and he just looked at me. That was his family. Shelters don’t take pets, so he stays outside. He won’t leave them behind.” She handed him a care kit: snacks, water, a cooling towel, and kept driving, tears brimming behind her eyes. “People pass him without seeing him,” she says. “But he’s kind. He’s human. He’s worthy of love.” Those roadside care kits — simple bags of essentials — have become one of HomeAid’s most immediate, enduring acts of grace. Proof that compassion doesn’t always need drywall and lumber . Building Through the Storm “The core of what we do is building, We build for nonprofits so they can focus on serving people.” HomeAid Orlando’s first project, a small pantry renovation for a women’s and children’s center - started quietly. Then came the pandemic. Many organizations folded. HomeAid didn’t.
HOMAID ORLANDO | FIRST PROJECT PANTRY RENOVATION
STARLIGHT HOMES CARE KITS
“We started right before COVID,” Kacsandi recalls. “The fact that we survived and grew, it still amazes me.” From that humble start, the organization’s work has expanded in both scale and scope. In just five years, HomeAid Orlando has completed twelve builds valued at over $3 million , saving nonprofit partners more than $1 million through donated labor, materials, and expertise. Their projects now span micro-homes, transitional housing, facility upgrades, and community centers. A living portfolio of what collaboration can achieve. “At the core of what we do is building,” Kascandi says “We build for nonprofits so they can focus on serving people.”
“Russ always says: Builders doing what they do best, so service providers can do more of what they do best.” Builders Doing What They Do Best
It’s become the organization’s unofficial mantra—and the reason HomeAid works.
Those builders are everywhere. On job sites, in boardrooms, volunteering after hours. Commence (under ODC Construction) built two Benefit Homes that fund HomeAid’s operations. Taylor Morrison and Ashton Woods led the vertical construction of the Forward Paths micro-home village.
SRC OFFICE RIBBON CUTTING
Park Square Homes, Meritage Homes, LandSea Homes, and Del-Air Heating & Cooling continue to champion projects across the region. “They’re our lifeblood,” Kacsandi says. “They manage projects, juggle their real jobs, and still show up for HomeAid. They’re not just donating, they’re leading.” Each nail, slab, and hour volunteered becomes a tangible testament to an industry that’s building beyond structures, it’s building community. The Children Without Homes Some statistics can’t be ignored. In Orange County Public Schools, more than 9,000 students are identified as homeless each year. “I have a second grader,” Kascandi says. “Every year we get a form asking if we’re homeless. It’s heartbreaking. Any one of those 9,000 kids could be sitting next to mine.” That realization sparked HomeAid’s newest initiative—hygiene kits for unhoused children.
RUSS BEYMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
VFS DIAPER DELIVERY
“These children are growing up in chaos, the least we can do is give them something small that says, you matter.”
PRESENTING SPONSOR, ALLY BUILDING SOLUTIONS 2025 CHARI-TEE GOLF TOURNAMENT
This year alone, the organization has assembled roughly 5,000 care kits, including Florida-heat survival packs with sunscreen and hats, and kid-specific kits distributed through schools. “These children are growing up in chaos,” she says. “The least we can do is give them something small that says, you matter.” Building a Village for Youth Some projects change the landscape; others change lives. The Forward Paths Foundation micro-home village in Eustis, Florida did both. Ten tiny homes. Each a bridge for young adults aging out of foster care, many facing homelessness the day they turned eighteen.
“They help them enroll in school, get jobs, learn to live independently,” Kacsandi says. “We saved them so much on the first project they banked it and are now building another ten homes on donated land in Leesburg. That’s forty new beds—forty chances.” But the true transformation came after the ribbon-cutting. “A year later, they have Christmas parties. They make pancakes together. There’s a community garden. They didn’t have family before, and now they do.” She pauses. “That one really gets me. And the fact that we get to do it again, it’s everything.” Affordable Futures, Built to Last
The next chapter unfolds through a partnership with Bright Community Trust and LandSea Homes: a duplex that will provide attainable housing for families priced out of Orlando’s surging market. “These homes will stay affordable,” Kacsandi explains. “When families move out, Bright Trust resells them below market. The residents even build a little equity. It’s dignity through design.” Affordable housing, she adds, isn’t just an economic issue, it’s a foundation for stability and community resilience. The Benefit Home: Building to Give Back While HomeAid builds for others, it also builds for itself. The Benefit Home initiative turns industry expertise into ongoing sustainability. “We secure land, our partners build a home, and we sell it,” Kacsandi explains. “The proceeds fund HomeAid. It’s builders doing what they do every day, but this time, it builds hope.“ Two Benefit Homes have already been completed with Commence/ODC Construction, and more are planned. Each one reinforces a simple message: every act of building can be an act of giving. Doing More with Less Behind all this impact stand just two staff members—Annamae and Russ. “We used to have three,” she says.
UCF KNIGHTSBUILD VOLUNTEERS CARE DAY
“Budget cuts made us smaller, but not weaker. Together we balance the marketing, sending the emails, coordinating the projects —it’s a lot, but it’s worth it.” Without a marketing department, HomeAid leans on the Greater Orlando Builders Association, trade events, and word-of-mouth to share its mission. “We’re not the Builders Association, we’re a nonprofit born from it,” she says. “We keep showing up, shaking hands, telling people what we do. That’s how this grows.”
A Legacy of Hands and Heart
Ask Annamae what she hopes HomeAid Orlando will be remembered for, and her voice softens. “That we opened our hearts,” she says. “That we built things that lasted— not just walls, but hope.”
She pauses before adding:
“We keep showing up, shaking hands, telling people what we do. That’s how this grows.” “All nonprofits working with the homeless are doing good work, but they can’t do it all. That’s where we come in. They need a new floor? Okay. A window? Okay. Shelves? Okay. We make it possible for them to keep helping.” It’s a rhythm as steady as construction itself, measured, enduring, and filled with purpose.
In an industry defined by foundations and frameworks, HomeAid Orlando reminds us that the most enduring structures are the ones that hold people up. It’s the builder who volunteers weekends to manage a project that won’t bring profit.
The mother who donates a box of diapers she could’ve kept for herself.
the student sitting beside a classmate without a home.
The man who won’t abandon his dogs, even if it means sleeping under the stars. This is the city we live in—and this is the city HomeAid Orlando is rebuilding, one foundation, one act of empathy, one open door at a time. And just imagine what could happen if every builder in America built one more door for someone who needs it most?
Join the builders who believe that every act of construction can change a life. Support, volunteer, or partner with HomeAid Orlando to help build doors that open to dignity and hope. Visit HomeAidOrlando.org
Looking for a Meaningful Way to Give Back? Here’s How Builders Like You Can Change Lives With Every Project Build More Than Homes— Build Hope As someone who understands the power of building, you know that a roof is more than shelter, it’s security, dignity, and the foundation of a future. HomeAid partners with the construction industry to build and renovate housing for nonprofits who serve families, veterans, youth, and individuals experiencing homelessness. Your trade. Your tools. Your heart. That’s what makes this work possible.
“When you’ve seen what it means to not have a safe place to sleep, or a clean diaper, you realize this isn’t charity. It’s humanity.” — Annamae Kacsandi, HomeAid Orlando
Become a Donor Today Visit www.homeaidorlando.org Questions? Call
Put your skills to work for something bigger
Help nonprofits access the construction they desperately need
(407) 461-9361 Or Scan the QR Code
Give back in the language you know best— homebuilding
Building a Future Without Homelessness
Join Us in Making a Difference www.homeaidorlando.org 1953 Clayton Heritage Way Maitland, FL 32751 (407) 461-9361
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