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EARLY-MARCH 2009
Continued from page 10
Each homeless adult is assigned a professional
case worker to help with job and
other issues. The homeless can remain in
the program for three to four months and
they must get a job within 30 days.
However, said FIES board president
Jennings, the 30-day requirement can be
extended “because the economy is so
rough right now.”
If the adults in the FIES program have
no children, they can find shelter at participating
churches that provide dinner,
breakfast and a place for the homeless to
sleep inside their buildings for two to
three weeks.
After that, the homeless adults in the
FIES program move to another church
that provides the same services. In
Fullerton, the churches are First
Christian, St. Paul’s Lutheran,
Orangethorpe Methodist and First
Presbyterian. St. Angela Merici Roman
Catholic church, just across the border in
Brea, and St. Paul’s Episcopal in Tustin
and First Presbyterian in Garden Grove
also are part of the program. Other
churches and organizations often prepare
meals and help out with the shelter program,
organizers said.
Temple Beth Tikvah housed the homeless
as well until last year and members
still are actively involved in helping FIES
and those in need. One special role the
Temple took on was providing shelter
specifically over Christmas to give the
Christian denominations a break during
the time of celebration.
Volunteers at the temple brought in a
potted Christmas tree that the homeless
decorated and held a small party. The tree
later was planted on the temple’s grounds
where it still grows, said Miriam Van
Raalte, the temple’s administrator and
education director. Their volunteers regularly
take food to the shelter churches and
work at the armory, continuing the tradition
of taking the Christmas shifts so that
Christian volunteers can go to church and
be with family members.
“The temple always steps up to the
plate,” said Jennings. Thus the name,
“Fullerton Interfaith.”
The interfaith spirit of cooperation and
support is what holds FIES together, said
a number of volunteers. And although the
organization is faith-based, “we do not
evangelize,” said Bambas.
For homeless families with children,
FIES works with government agencies to
assign motel vouchers or house up to 12
families at a time (roughly 48 to 50 people)
at the New Vista Transitional Living
Center, where caseworkers help families
get back on their feet.
And when money is available, said
Jennings, FIES offers help with rent and
utility payments. In the long run, she
said, it is less expensive to keep a family in
its home and help the adults find jobs,
than to let them become homeless,
bounce children in and out of schools,
and force them to start all over.
All of this costs money and the support
agencies are seeing donations flatten in
the same way the economy is causing
individuals to cut back.
The religious groups continue to support
FIES, along with some government
grants, donations from PTAs, staff at the
Fullerton School District and many other
organizations.
The Phelps Foundation has offered a
$15,000 challenge grant and FIES has a
year to match it.
The Armory
The National Guard Armory can house
350 and is open from Dec. 5 through at
least mid-April, said Lawrence G. Haynes
Jr., executive director of Mercy House,
which runs the shelter under a contract
with the county.
The county began opening the Armory
to the homeless during bad weather about
20 years ago, but this is the first year
Mercy House has held the contract.
All homeless can come in, get a hot
meal, sleep on a cot and have a continental-type
breakfast. “This is open to people
who are living on the streets,” said
Haynes.
Ongoing volunteers helping out with
the program include members of the
Unitarian Universalist Church in
Fullerton.
Hot Meals
Monday through Saturday, the homeless
and others in need can find a hot
meal at one of six Fullerton-area churches.
Business is booming at Orangethorpe
Christian Church where Debbie
Campbell, co-director of the Hot Meals
Program estimates the 16-year-old weekly
dinner program now draws an average of
200, many of them elderly or low-income
residents of nearby apartments.
The numbers are up from the 150 a
year ago who came on Monday nights for
turkey pot pie one week, sloppy Joes
another or maybe enchilada casserole.
Along with the main course there’s a vegetable,
salad, bread and butter and
dessert.
Four generations of Campbells serve
those in need, Debbie’s mother Edna
Skeen, who’s lived in Fullerton 56 years,
Debbie’s daughter Christina Campbell,
the co-director of the Hot Meals program
and Debbie’s granddaughter, 7th grader
Adena Bentley.
The congregation at Orangethorpe
puts on the dinner one week during the
month and the other weeks are sponsored
by other churches in the area: Yorba
Linda Presbyterian, Anaheim Freeform,
Orangethorpe United Methodist and the
Korean congregation at Orangethorpe
Christian.
Albertson’s and Trader Joe’s frequently
donate food and Panera on Sunnycrest
sends bread. Supplies also come from
Orangethorpe’s sister church, First
Christian, which offers its weekly hot
meal on Wednesday nights.
The hot meal program isn’t a part of
FIES, but the churches that host the dinners
generally are members.
One of the oldest weekly hot meal programs
began in 1988 when 15-year-old
Brian Coleman and other members of the
Youth Group at St. Andrew’s Episcopal
Church were studying homelessness and
poverty in the third world.
After the class, they headed across the
street toward the Carl’s Jr’s. But, said
Coleman, now an Episcopal priest in
Battle Creek, Michigan, as they crossed
the church parking lot, he noticed “in the
doorway of the church hall there was a
homeless man curled up in a ball, sleeping.”
Coleman bought the man a hamburger.
“It got us to thinking. There are people
right here who need help.”
So Coleman and classmate Cindy
Freeland organized a hot meal for the
homeless program at St. Andrew’s.
Today, it serves about 130 people each
Friday night, according to volunteer
director John Mignot. Albertson’s and
Henry’s provide the bread and desserts
and the church and its members donate
the food. “Fullerton is a caring community
because if you need to, you can eat
every day,” he said.
Volunteers for that hot meal program
also come from Morningside Presbyterian
Church. Members of First Presbyterian
Church make up sack lunches—two
sandwiches and fruit—for the homeless
and others to take with them to make
sure they have something to eat later on.
by Anthony Columbo
Homelessness could be remedied if
society increased its togetherness and
improved its methods of offering support.
The homeless are fragile not only
because of their inability to defend themselves,
but also because they are so easily
dismissed by society. For the month of
January I have volunteered with the
Mercy House working at the Army
National Guard Armory, 400 S.
Brookhurst in Fullerton, and my job was
to fold blankets that the homeless slept
on during the night.
The first morning, I left my house at
4:22am. For breakfast, I had a piece of
zucchini pound cake. I arrived at the
dark Armory and it was already swarming
with homeless people entering, leaving,
smoking cigarettes, and just sitting
around. A JFK transportation bus
arrived and some loaded in. I was greeted
by two security guards; one was busy
speaking Spanish to a lady in a wheel
chair. The Armory consisted of an empty
grey cement floor, and a roomful of people
sleeping, getting dressed, or packing
their belongings for their departure.
I was immediately introduced to Gino,
a skinny young man who wore a green
beanie, and Albert, a middle aged, tall
man with a thin mustache. They are
both paid employees that supervise the
Armory for the winter months.
Albert directed me to a task of folding
the sleeping blankets so the laundry service
could retrieve the blankets, wash
them, and return them for the next
morning. Gino and I folded a total of
140 blankets, stuffed them in duffle bags
with ten to a bag. The bags would be
counted and picked up by the laundry
service. We had 14 duffle bags, and one
trash bag full of towels. Albert noted
that 141 people had slept in the Armory
that night, and one blanket had gone
missing. As I was folding the cotton
blankets, I noticed that some of the blankets
were still warm.
After I finished the folding task I took
a broom and swept the cigarette butts
and trash outside. I begun sweeping cigarettes
when I heard an older woman’s
voice, “Are you American?”
I turned. There was a small lady no
more than 5’3”, with a huge birth mark
on her face.
“Yes, what are you?” I replied.
“Chinese. Do you know when the
bus is coming? Does the Armory give
out bus passes?” She asked.
“I don’t know, let me find out.” I
turned and went back inside the Armory.
I found the security guard and he told
me that two buses come, one at 5:15am,
and the other at 5:30am. The current
time was 5:41am.
I returned to the lady, “The second bus
already left, I’m sorry.”
“Do you know where I could buy a bus
pass?” She inquired.
“Yes, 7-11 sells them, Ralphs sells
them, and I think you could buy them
from the bus driver if you have two
bucks.”
She was staring at me blankly. I felt as
if I was shouting into an empty cave, but
not hearing an echo. Was she understanding
me? I wasn’t sure.
She then explained her story to me.
Her parents were immigrants who died
and left her without a place to go. She’s
had a few jobs here and there, rented a
place in Fullerton, but as of recent times
she is left without a job, and no home.
She talked a lot about money. One
thing she distinctly said was, “See when I
was paying rent, time would go so fast,
but now, time goes too slow. Tonight,”
Fullerton Observer Page 11
What It’s Like to Be Homeless
she shook her head, “tonight felt like
eight days.”
I just stood and listened to the lady.
Albert sent me home at 6:36am. When
I returned home, I fell asleep before I
could wash my hands.
The second morning I arrived at the
mercy house a little late, around 5:21 am,
and looked for Albert. He was already in
a busy rush trying to organize the cleaning
of the coffee area, the folding of the
blankets, and the organization of the
sleeping mats. I was assigned to load the
sleeping mats on a pull cart, and stack
them in a cargo bin outside, which was
locked each night. Chris, my spotter,
helped me lift the mats and move them
into the cargo bin.
I asked the manager Albert, “how
many people did you have spend the
night last night?” He said, “151”. “About
what were their age?” I questioned.
“Most of them were between 22 and 35,”
he paused, “we had some close to seventy,
and another that was a junior in High
school.”
What causes homelessness? I think the
Chinese woman was indirectly telling me
the answer. In fact, I think she had a
death in the family (both her parents),
and struggled finding a decent job that
provided for her needs. She was an immigrant
that spoke English with a thick
Chinese accent. She mentioned money,
“if I had money, I could pay rent...” and
also she mentioned, “and traveling all the
time, it is tiring.” Homelessness is
change of circumstance that takes its
affect on a person down on their luck.
People think homelessness only effects
people who are struggling with no means
of assistance; some lack proper identification,
social security cards, or driver’s
licenses, but statistics from the OC
Health Care Agency show that a majority
of the homeless work full time but
cannot afford to pay rent on what they
are paid. Others have been laid off and
with unemployment rising past 7.2 percent
perhaps the task of “getting a job” is
much more difficult than imagined.
The promises of America are to stand
for justice, equality, and holding close the
“tired, weak and weary.” But, sadly, there
is even a debate as to whether helping the
homeless is a right thing to do; the common
perception against not providing
alms to the poor is either because they are
substance abusers, or they need to
empower themselves in order to “stand
on their own two feet” and “get a job”.
In the month of January, a total of
3,842 homeless people stayed at the
Armory. The overall age group of the
people staying the night ranged from 18
to 60 years old with the median group
age between 30 and 40 years old. This
does not include children who stayed
with their parent or parents. We can
change that if each of us does our part.
If You Want to Help
the Homeless or Know
of Someone Who Needs
Help, Contact:
• www.mercyhouse.net or contact
volunteer coordinator Ashleigh
Camba at 714-836-7188
•www.fies.us or call 714-871-3032
• www.211oc.org or dial 2-1-1
or (888) 600-4357
• www.officeonaging.ocgov.com
(714) 567-7418
•www.ocpartnership.net
(714) 288-4007