Had it been around in 2022, Wesley Armstrong, 37, might have been a passenger on the Rotary Connection, the free bus service that launched in Fort Lauderdale this week.
Armstrong was homeless at the time, an ex-con, unwanted by family who had frankly had enough of his cycle of addiction and the illegal conduct that accompanied it. Just three years later, Armstrong is clean. He has a job and a permanent place to stay. And he volunteers as a driver for the Rotary Connection bus, operated by Fellowship Recovery Community Organization, the outreach group he credits with rescuing him from despair.
The bus service started operating on Monday, offering rides to homeless people from downtown Fort Lauderdale to 40 locations, each designed to provide needed services to people and families without permanent housing.
“This once was me,” said Armstrong, looking at dozens of homeless people who attended a weekly community court near the bus terminal in downtown Fort Lauderdale. “I just thought, I got the help I needed when I needed it. I just need to help other people get to the services they need.”
As a member of the Rotary Club of Fort Lauderdale, Gwynne Beatty had the same idea. Looking at the club’s array of good deeds in the community, she said she approached then-Rotary Club President Rick Riccardi with a question: What does Fort Lauderdale need?
Riccardi, who is also CESO of Fellowship Recovery, had a ready answer:
“The homeless need a bus to get to needed resources,” he told her. “And they need it to be free.”
Beatty went on a search for funding, securing $35,000 from Florida Blue and Go Therefore Ministries to acquire and paint the 14-seat bus. The Rotary Connection’s route starts at the Fort Lauderdale Bus Terminal on Northwest First Avenue just north of Broward Boulevard at 8:30 a.m.
Stops on the route include the Department of Children and Families, Legal Aid, the Housing Authority, Henderson Behavioral Health and Lifenet, as well as several church and hospital organizations.
The Rotary Connection relies on no government funding.
An American Heritage High School student, Sam Danzig, won a contest to design the exterior of the bus.
“I wanted to make it inviting,” said Danzig, 18, who avoided colors associated with law enforcement. “I understood what services need to look like. I wanted to give them no reason to think they can’t get on that bus.”
For information about the route and schedule, contact Fellowship Recovery Community Organization at 954-249-5589.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda.