CLEARWATER, Fla. — Quanice Robinson and Sheryl Presley say they know what it’s like to be homeless and hungry — a few years ago they and their children were all homeless.

Presley says she was left without a home when she left an abusive relationship.

“He jumped on me while I was pregnant," she said. “He was arrested. I ended up packing up and moving out when he was gone. I had nowhere to go. I had kids.”

Around the same time, Robinson had a job when she got pregnant with her second child. At a point during the pregnancy, she was no longer able to work and was left to make a very tough decision.

“So, I lost my job," she said. “I was also at the time right in the middle of gong to school, and I was using my job to pay for my school and I had to make a very big decision to pay my last semester of college or to pay the back rent. Ultimately, I made the decision to pay for my schooling, so me and my daughter — at the time she was 1, and I was 7 months pregnant — we were sleeping in our car.”

According to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data, Florida has the third largest homeless population in the country. Closer to home, according to the Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initiative, the 2022 point-in-time count done earlier this year showed the number of people living on the street or in shelters in Hillsborough County increased by 4% since last year.

“And it’s not just because of the pandemic or the occasional crisis. The reality is this is a problem for our country year round," said Hope Villages of America CEO Kirk Ray Smith. 

Hope Villages of America works year round to combat hunger and homelessness, but this is National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week and Smith says with the holidays approaching, he wants to remind people that giving never goes out of season. 

“Unfortunately, I don’t think that homelessness will be eradicated, nor hunger, but I think we can mitigate the chances of it and cut into it — no pun intended — sort of bite into the issue the best that we can," he said.

Robinson and Presley say Hope Villages certainly stepped in to help them.

Thanks to donations, they’ve both moved their families from shelters to homes, gotten better-paying jobs and Robinson's decision to pay her tuition instead of her rent has paid off, as she is now a college graduate.

“I rent two bedrooms, two baths," she said. “My kids have their own bedrooms, so as we were stacked on each other in the car, now she can run free in the backyard. So definitely, it was the best decision I could make looking back.”

“No matter how hard it gets, there’s always going to be a light at the end of that tunnel," Presley said. "Never give up. Just keep pushing. Strive for what you want. Go hard and get what you want.”