FOUR-CORNERS, Fla. — A mother-daughter duo in Four-Corners are doing the job of many. What started out as a food pantry, turned into a safe place for kids to go after school. Now, they’re asking Lake County to help with expanding their mission.


What You Need To Know

  • Growing up in New York City, a community center changed Evelisse Bookhout's life

  • Seeing at-risk youths going in the wrong direction, Bookhout wanted to create more resources in the Four-Corners area

  • She's continuing to work with Lake County Commissioner on funding, but nothing has come from it yet


It’s an issue Evelisse Bookhout says local leaders ignored for years in the Four-Corners area.

She’s talking resources in Lake County, or in her words, the lack of resources, especially for kids in South Lake County.

“I believe they need a safe place for them to grow, learn, and thrive. A community center was part of my life growing up. Growing up in New York City, there was a bunch of community centers, the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA,” Bookhout said.

For Bookhout, a community center changed her life for the better.

"When I was in New York as a teenager I found myself in a lot of trouble. I found myself in gangs, I found myself hanging around in the wrong crowd. Partaking in drugs, just going in the wrong path," Bookhout continued.

But the support system around her helped change her direction.

"I went from a high school drop-out to a kid with dreams and purpose. I joined the army, went to college, and became a social worker dedicating my life to serving kids," Bookhout said.

Now she wants to pay it forward and make the same difference in the lives of Lake County children. Over the past 10 years, she’s pleaded with Lake County commissioners for a community center in the Four-Corners/South Clermont area.

After years of nothing, she did it herself. Creating the non-profit, Hands of Hope America. It was an idea that started out as a food pantry in her mother Maritza Garcia’s garage.

"The two and a half years that we’ve been here this continues to grow, it just doesn’t, we don’t see it lightening up. It’s getting worse," said Garcia. 

The two told Spectrum News 13 they’re receiving 40 new applications for their services a month. The mother-daughter duo are constantly seeing more unmet needs. Especially with the lack of after school programs.

"If you get them off the streets, it gets them off trouble. Me being in law enforcement, I can seriously tell you a lot of the children, they don’t have these things," said Garcia. 

The two got a grant from the South Lake Community Foundation. They purchased a unit in a strip mall in the heart of the area. The goal: building that much needed after school program.

"Taking that initiative, showing the impact, showing how it’s changing the lives of these children. Somebody had to do it," said Bookhout.

Right now, the after-school program has a waiting list and 35 kids signed up for the summer camp program. It’s a small step toward a bigger goal.

"It’s a passion of mine and I know it changed my life I wanted to implement that," said Bookhout.

A passion she hopes Lake County commissioners will recognize and grow to support, sending the feeling of a community forgotten, but more importantly leaving a positive impact on the kids who need it the most, much like the help that changed her life. 

In a Lake County commissioners meeting a couple weeks ago, Hands of Hope America spoke asking once again for a community center.

While some commissioners were on board with finding a solution for that area, Commissioner Josh Blake said community centers aren't the core business of the county.

"We can’t afford to put a community center in every place in the county that’s 10 miles from something," said Blake. 

Spectrum News 13 reached out to Lake County and Blake regarding that comment, but the news station has not heard back from either of them.