How We Started
Tim Johnson, Senior Pastor of Orlando World Outreach Church, founded He Got Up to unite Central Florida and bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots in response to growing division and community crises across the nation.
A 2013 federal study ranked Orange, Seminole, and Osceola Counties first in chronic homelessness for regions of similar size—a figure that doesn’t include the many families living in area hotels, as highlighted by 60 Minutes.
“The homeless numbers are staggering, but the need extends beyond the homeless,” Johnson said.
“The greatest poverty in our society is being unwanted, unloved and uncared for. Our goal with He Got Up is to address this incredible need in Central Florida by demonstrating our love for our neighbors in a dignified way by showing them we care through this day of celebration and service that addresses many of their spiritual and material needs in one location.”
Both He Got Up 2016 and 2017 began with an uplifting Sunday service that featured celebrities, inspirational speakers and talented musical acts. The events continued with a separate community services fair which connected people in need. These services included a host of legal, medical, clothing, shoes, hygiene and other resources, as well as onsite job fairs with the goal of helping lift more families out of poverty.
Based on our success and learnings from those events, we are now focusing our efforts on a smaller scale in targeted areas of the Central Florida community. We will leverage community and neighborhood centers to facilitate some of these services, with an emphasis on compassionate restorative justice.
Since The Beginning...
9025
Guests Served
17076
Volunteer Hours
496
Community Partners