JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An Action News Jax investigation reveals one of the things a multi-million dollar, post-hurricane grant, from a foreign country bought here in Jacksonville.
Action News Jax’s Courtney Cole went to the ribbon cutting for the Sulzbacher Urban Rest Stop Health Mobile bus on Tuesday.
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#RIGHTNOW The Sulzbacher has gathered Downtown today, w/ Mayor Curry, City leaders and neighbors ➡️ for the ribbon cutting of the Urban Rest Stop Healthmobile. @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/C1tXzDyT1l
— Courtney Cole (@CourtneyANJax) March 3, 2020
The bus is designed to bring ‘Health & Hope on wheels’ to our homeless community here in Jacksonville.
— Courtney Cole (@CourtneyANJax) March 3, 2020
Sulzbacher CEO Cindy Funkhouser says all of the things they used to do from a mini-van, they can now do from the Healthmobile. 🚎 @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/fEWAHS16vK
Sulzbacher describes it as a unit designed to bring “health and hope on wheels” to the homeless community in downtown Jacksonville.
“It took about a year. It wasn’t fast, but I’m really grateful that it’s finally happening because it’s so needed here in the community. It’s going to help so many people on the street,” Cindy Funkhouser, President and CEO of Sulzbacher, said.
A grant from the United Arab Emirates helped make the bus possible. Cole dug into how much it cost and what it will take to maintain it.
Action News Jax first reported in 2018 about the nearly $3 million grant from the UAE.
RELATED: Two Jacksonville council members want to give back United Arab Emirates donation
It was meant to fund Hurricane Irma recovery, but Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry gave some of the money to Sulzbacher for its new bus.
"This was a team effort with all of the providers in the Mayor's Task Force,” Funkhouser told Action News Jax.
The task force she’s referring to is Curry’s Downtown Homelessness Task Force.
It was created in 2016 to take a closer look at the needs of the homeless community in Jacksonville.
The task force includes representatives from Changing Homelessness, City Rescue Mission, Clara White Mission, Trinity Rescue Mission, Downtown Vision, Family Promise, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Mental Health Resource Center, Salvation Army, Jacksonville Transit Authority and Sulzbacher.
“This was a team effort with all of the providers in the mayor’s task force. And we’re going to be going to all of their locations,” Funkhouser told Cole.
The Sulzbacher CEO said the refurbished bus cost about $200,000 to buy and build out.
"I venture to say it’s going to cost $500,000 a year between all the salaries and the medicine,” Funkhouser said.
During the ribbon-cutting of the Health Mobile, Cole asked Curry where the money will come from to maintain it, since the grant was a one time thing.
He didn't answer directly, but did tell Cole this:
“It’s not going away. As long as I’m in office, and I have this city council, we’re going to keep this running. And then we just have to make sure, like any project, that in administration funds—we just have to make sure they were making the case to those that come behind us. And I think that this will make the case for itself.”
Funkhouser said anyone interested in helping to keep the bus up and running can donate on their website: https://sulzbacherjax.org/
Services are set to being on March 23.
When Action News Jax first investigated the grant nearly two years ago, some of you were concerned why Jacksonville would accept so much money from a foreign country and why it would not be used exclusively for hurricane-related needs.
For anyone skeptical of where the money came from for this project, Mayor Curry said, “Real lives are going to be changed in this mobile unit, potentially saved, and I’m proud of it. I’m glad we’re doing it.”
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