Matthew’s Hope accepts donations at 825 Forrest Ave. in Cocoa, next to Wells Fargo. The ministry lists drop-off hours as 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday on its Brevard County page.
Items the ministry is requesting
The current request includes jeans, T-shirts, hoodies, running shoes, backpacks, tents, sleeping bags, hygiene supplies and non-perishable food, FOX 35 Orlando reported. The station also reported that donations had started arriving, though some items did not match the ministry’s needs or could not be used.
FOX 35 reported that flooding in Brevard County left hundreds of people experiencing homelessness without belongings, including clothing, food and shelter equipment. Matthew’s Hope was seeking supplies for people affected by those losses, the station reported. Its services include food, clothing, showers and laundry assistance; the ministry says guests can work with a personal shopper to choose clothing and hygiene items on service days, according to its Brevard County page.
A separate measure of homelessness
The flood-related losses are distinct from Brevard County’s annual homelessness count. Florida Today reported that the county’s 2026 Point-in-Time count identified 1,039 people experiencing homelessness, 2% fewer than the previous year. The count was still roughly 26% higher than in 2016, when 827 people were counted, the newspaper reported. Those countywide figures describe a broader trend; they do not count people affected by this flooding.
The Point-in-Time count is a one-night snapshot, not a running total. HUD Exchange says it covers sheltered and unsheltered people on a single night during the last 10 days of January. It therefore provides context about homelessness in the county, but does not establish the number of people who lost belongings in the flood.
