Responding to telephone calls from people who need assistance is an important part of HUD's work, but the customer service team in the Orlando Field Office (Ileana Burgos, Marisol Agosto, and Flossie Foster) knows there is nothing routine about the telephone calls they receive. Economic factors and unexpected events can put anyone in sudden need of help to find the solution to a housing dilemma. The way we respond can make a real difference in people's lives.

Ileana Burgos, Marisol Agosto, and Flossie Foster are the first point of contact for anyone who calls the Orlando Field Office.

A recent example brings this home. When a single mom with three children called the Orlando HUD office, they were all living in her car while awaiting the outcome of a job interview. Marisol Agosto, Program Assistant in Orlando, answered the call and immediately looked into the available resources. Marisol gave the single mom contact information for a nearby Travelodge which will rent a unit to someone in her situation at a low daily rate, and also provided her with rental assistance information.

A few weeks later, the grateful mom took the time to write a letter to Marisol to share the rest of her story. She and her children stayed at the Travelodge until the successful outcome of her job interview. She how has a job, the children are in school, and they live in an affordable 3-bedroom/2-bath apartment with a kitchen "to cook meals for my children."

"I praise you for your openness toward someone you didn't even know. I thank you very much from the heart."

This is just one example of how HUD people across the region and the country are using their abilities and resourcefulness to accomplish our mission.