The Ephraim Project was founded as a 501(c)3 private foundation in July 2005. Our mission is to serve “the poorest among us” in an active demonstration of Christ’s love. The foundation has been ministering to the homeless of Orlando since August 2007 throughout local parks in an effort to help restore their hope and lives. In 2009, St George Orthodox Church invited The Ephraim Project to serve the homeless on its premises.
In addition to providing a weekly hot dinner to the homeless families on Fridays, The Ephraim Project provides clothes, shoes, blankets, backpacks, hygiene supplies, bus passes, Bibles, a mail delivery service, a remote storage service, and limited laundry services to the homeless. In urgent cases, we offer emergency shelter and Greyhound bus tickets.
Our case work to assist homeless men and women in securing employment, transitional or permanent shelter, or the social services they need, is done in satellite locations around the city, Monday through Thursday, by a small team of dedicated volunteers.
There is no paid staff at The Ephraim Project. We are all volunteers. This helps keep our administrative costs to a minimum. Eighty seven percent of our budget is invested in programs to serve the homeless.
Advisory Council
Fr. Constantine Simeonidis, Chairman
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Maitland, FL
Deone Adams
First Baptist Church of Orlando, Orlando, FL
Bertina and Noel Busch
St. Stephen's Orthodox Church, Longwood, FL
John Paul Conners
Tara and Scott Concelman
St. Stephen's Orthodox Church
Rachelle C. Petrescu
St. George Orthodox Church, Orlando, FL
Rudy Reudelhuber
Fr. Reweis Salidis
St. Rebekah Coptic Orthodox Church
Anne van den Berg
Board of Directors
Rachelle Petrescu, President
Scott Concelman, Treasurer
Tara Concelman, Secretary
Jeri Dotson
Horizon Presbyterian, Church, Greenville, SC
Fr. John Hamatie
Paulette Lawson
Second Baptist Church, Little Rock, AR
John Raymond Ross
Downtown Baptist Church, Orlando, FL
