'Quiet ambassador' Danielle Moore honored by The Lord's Place for her efforts to end homelessness
Palm Beach Mayor Danielle Moore was honored Thursday for her efforts to prevent and end homelessness in Palm Beach County.
The longtime president of the Palm Beach-based Mary Alice Fortin Foundation was presented with the Ending Homelessness Award by the Lord's Place at its annual Ending Homelessness Breakfast at the Kravis Center.
The Lord's Place, a nonprofit social services organization based in West Palm Beach, spreads awareness and raises funds to provide the resources, programs and services needed to break the cycle of homelessness in Palm Beach County.
Related: Palm Beach Society: Annual Ending Homelessness event stays virtual to aid The Lord's Place
Its services include supportive housing, graduate housing, employment and training, clinical and care coordination, and prevention services.
A longtime supporter of The Lord's Place, Moore gave a $4 million lead gift to its Home for Good Campaign through the Fortin Foundation, a private family foundation she has led since 1993.
"This is a great organization," Moore said Thursday. "We're passionate about helping end homelessness in Palm Beach County. The goal is this organization wouldn't have to exist, but it does. You see, in the area that we are, that the homelessness problem is increasing. We're just happy to be able to help in any way that we can."
Launched in 2019, the Home for Good Campaign will allow the Lord's Place to expand its main campus in West Palm Beach and build multi-generational women's housing in Lake Worth Beach.
Last summer, the agency began building a 25,000-square-foot building on the footprint of its main campus at 2808 N. Australian Ave. Expected to open in March, it will offer supportive housing, job training and placement, a catering kitchen, community engagement services, outreach and a re-entry program.
It also will be home to a newly remodeled Café Joshua, a restaurant setting where those who are homeless are treated with respect and dignity, and are encouraged to enter the agency's programs, said Diana Stanley, CEO of the Lord's Place.
The campus will be renamed the Fortin Family Campus.
"Dani is one of those individuals who has just stayed with us throughout it all, and the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation has been one of our biggest supporters," Stanley told the Daily News. "We all know what an amazing leader Dani is. She's just this incredible leader who has changed the landscape of politics and policy.
"But what some people don't know is what a great heart she has. She's got this very gentle, sweet, kind heart. I love the fact that she always understands how somebody could end up being poor or homeless. She doesn't judge that. That's the part of her we wanted to honor."
Moore accepted her award during a sold-out breakfast event that included presentations from Stanley and other Lord's Place executives, as well as testimonials from Palm Beach County residents who were helped by the agency.
More than 600 people attended the event, which traditionally is held the week before Thanksgiving.
"This event is really about the community coming together," Stanley said. "It kicks off the holiday season with gratitude. We're able to listen to stories of hope and redemption. We always give out our Ending Homelessness Award, and Dani was a no-brainer. She's been this quiet ambassador beside us for years."
For information on the Lord's Place, visit https://thelordsplace.org/.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach mayor Moore honored for efforts to end homelessness
