Eleven years later, when Bergen County reached “functional zero” chronic homelessness — a federally recognized benchmark for measurably solving homelessness in a community — Orlando was honored as the community’s Distinguished Citizen of the Year. The award celebrated her role in helping house Bergen County’s most vulnerable.

“People were very angry at first,” she recalled. “Communities need to feel you’re providing a service. We all have a role to play in ending homelessness.”