CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. — When the weather drops in Citrus County, those who are homeless have nowhere to go. 

The county doesn’t have a permanent cold shelter facility, but resident Vikki Spiller is working with other local agencies and local government to change that.

She is part of a task force, set up by the Citrus County Emergency Management Division, to help find places in the county that can serve as cold shelters.

For Spiller, who also owns a local nonprofit, helping the homeless started years ago when she started collecting gently used items and donated hygiene items to hand out to people living on the streets or in the woods. 

“I have some household items," she told Bay News 9's Katya Guillaume. "For a while, I was getting furniture and stuff, but then I got so many other donations and I just didn’t have room.”

Spiller has a storage facility near her home which is stocked with items, even food, that she hands out daily.

“I have a hard time getting rid of this because the homeless, because they can’t cook,” she said, pointing to food items that would require a stovetop to make.  “We try to keep it down to the things that people can live in the woods, walking on the streets, tennis shoes, jeans, shorts, in the summer, T-shirts."

Anything she can find, she grabs to help the county's homeless population, but her focus these days is a little bigger.

“We’ve had people come into the cold weather shelter, we’ve had to soak their socks off of their feet," Spiller said, fighting back tears. "I don’t think people understand. They say, this agency, we gave them clothes two weeks ago … well that’s great but they’ve been wearing the same two pairs of socks for two weeks.”

Spiller said she was happy to be part of the task force looking for locations and people to help the county's homeless during the winter months. 

“I’ve been blessed to be invited to come in and try to be part of the solution, but the county’s not going to actually do any shelter or anything," she said. "They’re looking for people in the community to step up to either give buildings, churches, to rotate.” 

According to our partners at the Citrus Chronicle, back in October, Salvation Army officials announced they would no longer be able to offer the organization's facilities as a cold-weather shelter. 

That decision left local organizations, and people like Spiller, to quickly figure out how to help. 

The task force is still in its early stages, but Spiller told Bay News 9 that she would love to see at least five churches that can provide some space. 

Salvation Army officials did say that they will provide cots and meal services for the new facility, regardless of where it is.