By Jan Pudlow
Senior Editor

As a Florida Bar Board of Governors member, Mary Ann Morgan checked into the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa on South Ocean Drive in Hollywood, and was “bumped up” to a suite because the hotel was overbooked.

What a surreal contrast to just a week earlier, when Morgan and her 10-year-old daughter Bethany stretched out under the I-4 bridge in downtown Orlando, participating September 18 in One Homeless Night, sponsored by the Orlando Union Rescue Mission.

There they were, mother and daughter, huddled atop cardboard, along with about 500 others, raising money and awareness about the challenges homeless people in their community face every night.

“It was very eye-opening,” said Morgan, who has done pro bono work for the Coalition for the Homeless and is the BoG liaison to the Pro Bono Legal Services Committee.

“It was uncomfortable and hot. We ended up getting ant-bit, and I woke up with a crick in my neck. My pants got wet, and I’m grumbling.”

Bethany reminded her mom: “Homeless persons can’t go home and change their clothes when they get dirty.”

Real homeless people, they knew, have to worry about being pushed off and moved to another spot when they settle down to try to catch some shut-eye.

Morgan and her daughter talked about how the experience alerted all five senses:

Feeling hot and uncomfortable curled up on concrete.

Squinting from bright lights in their eyes.

Smelling gas fumes of passing cars.

Trying to tune out the sirens blaring throughout the night and the sound of cars and trucks zooming overhead.

Missing the taste of refreshing cold water and good food.

Homeless folks walked by, wondering what these make-believe homeless people were up to. Morgan and her daughter raised $600 in contributions, out of approximately $25,000 collected that will provide 1,011 nights of housing and food at $24.72 a night. The Orlando Union Rescue Mission serves 300 homeless people a day, dishes out eight meals a day, and also helps the homeless find housing, education, and jobs.

“I volunteer at the Coalition for the Homeless to cook and feed the homeless groups that come in,” Morgan said.

“You would be surprised by the families, the women and children. It’s frightening, because you see people who look like you and me coming through.”

After a fitful night of sleep, they were awakened at 5 a.m., to find Bethany had taken her mom’s pillow case to drape over her legs when she got cold during the night.

“It was the first time in my life I was actually happy to be up at 5 in the morning,” Morgan said.

The next night, when Morgan laid her head on her pillow in the comfort of her own home, she said: “I had this rush of feeling blessed — more so than I ever, ever have.”