MSN_041119

4 | April 11, 2019 | Malibu surfside news news
malibusurfsidenews.com
County recognizes Malibu woman’s work with the homeless
Barbara Burke
Freelance Reporter
An important figure in
Malibu’s community service
culture, Carol Moss,
bright-eyed and quickwitted
at 89 years young,
has led efforts to serve the
homeless community and
to address environmental
issues.
She leads by doing, conceives
out-of-the-box solutions
to challenging obstacles,
knows how to get
things done and has won
the respect of many community
leaders.
“If someone is in need
and one can do something
to lessen suffering, that’s
the only standard of conduct
there is,” Moss told
Malibu Surfside News
after the Los Angeles
County Board of Supervisors
recognized her during
a luncheon April 2 at the
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
as a volunteer of the year
for her community service.
“The event at the Dorothy
Chandler was amazing
and I was very honored.”
Moss said. “It was
full of bells and whistles
and the county has always
been very supportive of
our efforts here in Malibu
to address homeless
issues.”
Equally splendid is
Moss’ bright, cheerful
home, including her tea
room where she is surrounded
by pots and,
bright Tibetan flags that
hang across her living
room gently swaying in
the seaside breeze as if to
ensure tranquility in the
home that serves as Moss’
base for advocating for the
greater good.
It is here that Moss has
hosted meditation meetings
for 18 years, an endeavor
that she said has led
to a group of well-intended,
insightful people starting
efforts to address challenging
community issues.
It is here that she incessantly
works on emails
and calls attempting to
address homelessness
in Malibu, and it is here
that she enjoys her grandchildren
and her many
visitors.
Although demure, Moss
is determined and effective
when it comes to implementing
action plans that
help address obstacles to
serving the homeless while
still taking into account
varying viewpoints regarding
how that should be accomplished.
She founded the Community
Assistance Resource
Center, a Malibu
organization that for years
has provided homeless
dinners, medical, dental
and vision screenings and
“connection” days aimed
at coordinating outreach
efforts by community resource
officials with the
homeless clients who need
such services.
“People shouldn’t be becoming
homeless, but they
are doing so all the time,”
Moss said. “It’s a huge,
vast shift from where
America was to where we
are now and when I started
CART, it was intended to
serve as a creative vessel
to help.”
Moss grew up in Chicago
and was 20 when she
came to Southern California.
She spent time abroad
during the Cold War.
Reaching out to others and
synthesizing information
about obstacles to doing
Carol Moss proudly displays her pottery and wears her
medal conferred upon her by the Los Angeles County
Board of Supervisors on April 2. Photos by suzy Demeter/
22nd Century Media
so has been her perennial
focus.
“I worked for the Holland
Dutch International
Radio as a journalist and I
also worked with refugees
in Berlin,” she said. “I also
taught preschool in Los
Angeles.”
Moss and her four young
children had to fend for
themselves when Moss’
husband died unexpectedly.
Undaunted, she responded
to that tragedy by caring
even more and it bolstered
her resolve to make a difference,
to help others, to
further the greater good,
to look beyond herself so
as to further a vision for
a better community, state
and world.
“There I was a widow
with these four kids,” she
said. “Unfortunately, I
also suffered from chronic
health problems, so instead
of traveling abroad
to address global issues, I
decided to work on local
efforts.”
Moss obtained a law
Volunteer work aside, Carol Moss is also skilled at
pottery.
degree at the University
of Southern California.
Then, she used that skill
set to organize all kinds of
projects and to spearhead
many community service
efforts.
“I’m especially proud
of a big international conference
that I organized to
address issues relating to
the Central American Wars
in 1986 as it was a pretty
exciting conference,” she
said. “I also helped to inform
people about the
14,000 tons of low level
radioactive waste that was
dumped at Fort Hueneme
in the late 1970s.”
In the 1990s and early
2000s, Moss focused on
other environmental efforts.
She won some, she lost
some, but she always kept
a broad perspective.
“I was a champion for
addressing issues regarding
the lagoon and for
fighting against development
in Central Malibu,”
she said. “Those efforts
did not go my way but
what is most important is
that everyone in Malibu
understands and appreciates
the fact that it is so
important to preserve this
precious community so it
remains a paradise that we
can all enjoy and that we
can share with others.”
In recent years, however,
serving the homeless
has been Moss’ key focus.
“People are afraid,” she
said. “It’s that simple, but
they need to understand
that the most important
thing is to look a homeless
person in the eye and to
connect with her — to ask
how she is doing as being
homeless is terribly isolating.”
One does not know what
one does not understand,
Moss said. Practically,
Moss’ primary goal over
the years is to provide an
organization that transcends
misunderstandings
and catalyzes changes in
how homeless people are
perceived and served.
Long a Buddhist, Moss
finds that her belief system
affords her “peace, calm,
balance, perspective,”
Please see moss, 7