Beaches Homeless Coalition

08/25/2026

BHC mourns the passing of our street friend Thomas. Thanks for the beautiful post remembering him by Saved 2 Serve: North Florida's Street Friends

08/25/2026

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2026/08/21/homeless-people-are-people-just-like-us-jacksonville-beach-stabbing-sparks-conversation-about-homelessness/

Good article!

BHC is a compassionate arm of the beaches community, working with faith partners and supporting available social service agencies like Mission House, Inc. and Sulzbacher. BHC is not funded by public dollars.

Collectively, there is more that we can do. We don’t have to wait for tragedies.

At the beaches, there is no shelter for the homeless and there may be no quick fix for that. But, our friends also do not benefit from specific County services for the homeless (that we pay taxes for) and we can do better.

Love is a team sport.

The City of Jacksonville Beach is responding to community concerns following a deadly stabbing Wednesday night involving two homeless men.

08/16/2026

BHC is highlighting Jeff Gray! Not only is he our top donor, he is a steady volunteer at compassion events with his wife Teresa, and he is a true friend to the homeless.

Jeff has a YouTube Channel, aptly named Honor Your Oath Civil Rights Investigations. He calls himself a First Amendment auditor. The simple cardboard sign that he holds up in his videos is a "mirror" that highlights lack of training and/or knowledge about the lawful exercise of First Amendment rights. Always polite, and never with a raised voice, his message is, "God Bless Our Homeless Vets." Totally non-threatening and in public spaces, you can count on the police showing up every time.

In September 2024, Jeff was detained and trespassed for standing outside of the Carthage, Texas, City Hall with his little sign. He was very clear he would challenge the unlawful action. Following a recent settlement with Carthage, Jeff has donated a very sizable settlement (for us anyway) to BHC. Our largest single donation. He has also brought in many other donors from all over the country. We are very grateful to him.

We support law enforcement in a law-abiding Nation. But as we have witnessed through his travels, Jeff has exposed a common problem - law enforcement is not trained well enough, some officers do a better job than others, mistakes are made, and a lot of people jump to faulty conclusions. Sometimes, in the mirror that Jeff holds up, he is greeted with kindness, other times he is greeted with nastiness and lies.

On his channel, Jeff wrote: "Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. writing from jail had this to say: "We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive."

Jeff has gotten millions of views for his enlightening videos. We are paying attention. We hope you will too! Thanks Jeff!

Details on the settlement are here:
https://panolawatchman.com/2026/05/28/05312026_pan_news_graysettlement/ #

The camera footage is uncontrovertible. The video of the 2024 incident. along with his detention and trespass, is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seUqkSOZ3DQ

Gray, who operates the YouTube channel “Honor Your Oath,” visited Carthage in September filming one of his First Amendment “audit” videos. During the video, now with over 220,000 views, Gray stood outside City Hall holding a cardboard sign reading “God Bless the Homeless Veterans.”

08/12/2026

https://nextdoor.com/p/LPJGrqNQCC5G?utm_source=share&extras=MTMzNTk4OTQ%3D&share_platform=10&utm_campaign=1786555665524&share_action_id=79d7e009-f999-4d90-8088-3891cfca1b30

Join Nextdoor, an app for neighborhoods where you can get local tips, buy and sell items, and more

07/31/2026

Thanks to Beaches Homeless Coalition partners Ocean City Church and Beach Church Jax for hosting a fantastic Compassion Dinner last night! We love supporting you. Kudos to church leaders Kim and Scott Larsen, Sara Henderson, and Emmanuel Escobar.

52 folks (with three canine friends) were served up with delicious ribs, chicken, mac & cheese, corn on the cob, hot rolls, watermelon, and cookies, all while games were played, conversation flowed, and a few flicks was shown.

It was up near 100 degrees yesterday, not counting the heat index. Our guests were not complaining - they were all super grateful just to be indoors for a few hours. Mostly, they consider the rain to be a blessing when it is so dang hot. Many of our them talked about the challenges that the heat presents to them, especially those with health issues.

As usual, we had volunteers, young and older, from many churches and walks of life.

Love is a team sport!

Mission House, Inc.
Jax Beach Brother's Keeper
Community Presbyterian Church
St. Paul's by the Sea Episcopal Church
First Christian Church of the Beaches
The Church of Eleven22
Neptune Baptist Church

07/25/2026

Beaches Homeless Coalition is proud to support two of our coalition faith partners - Ocean City Church and Beach Church Jax - for a compassion dinner at Beach Church on Thursday July 30th! Dang it is hot outside, so this is a welcome event! It is NOT an overnight event.

If you want to help, there are spots open! Check out the link to sign up!

We ❤️ you! Love is a team sport!

https://beachchurchjax.churchcenter.com/registrations/signups/3743105

Jax Beach Brother's Keeper
Mission House, Inc.
Community Presbyterian Church

Join us as we serve our local Jax Beach community who are experiencing homelessness. In partnership with Ocean City Church, this evening will include a hot meal, coffee, table games, and a movie. Let's be the hands and feet of Jesus as we serve a community that is often overlooked! Whether you donat...

07/12/2026

BHC feels the love in our beaches community! Thanks to Community Presbyterian Church, E.K. Cottrell, and the collective team for hosting a very successful Compassion Night event this past Friday. The theme was “America.” 🇺🇸

107 friends were served a delicious Sloppy Joe and hot dog meal with all the fixins, many of these folks stayed the night in safe, air-conditioned space, 55 showers were provided, 22 haircuts done, 10 babies & kids joined for supper, 7 tables of clothing and hygiene items were laid out, van rides were offered, gift cards were raffled, 2 or 3 dogs including our mascot pup Orion now all grown up, a homemade breakfast casserole was special, old and new friends had fellowship, game tables were busy, and all shifts were covered with fabulous volunteers from all walks of life and faith.

To top it off, many of us joined special friends today for the baptism of another soul in our community. This was super emotional. We are all connected and everyone belongs.

God is good. And … love is a team sport.

07/11/2026