Mercy House

In his post today on TIME.com, reporter Kevin O’Leary wrote about a variety of options that people have available to them when facing homelessness.

He spoke with Mercy House Executive Director Larry Haynes to get a broad view of the types of programs that are available for homelessness-prevention and housing, and also interviewed Mercy House client, Jennifer Santana, to get a very personal view of what it’s like to be unexpectedly and suddenly homeless with your children for the first time.

After her husband left her, Jennifer Santana lost her job. When she was evicted from her apartment, Santana, 37, held her family together by living with a friend and then in her van. But as the nights grew cold in early December, she stood huddled with her three children in front of the Orange County cold-weather shelter in Santa Ana, Calif. “There were long lines of men and women, and the people were laying out mats on the floor. It was scary. I could not believe I was standing there with my kids.

Read the article in tday’s TIME.com article: The Feds’ Homelessness-Prevention Program

Barbara Giasone of the Orange County Register visited the National Guard Armory in Fullerton, Calif., one of two locations housing the Orange County Cold Weather Emergency Shelter Program operated by Mercy House.

She met with Monday night’s regular volunteers comprised of nearly 20 people from St. Juliana’s Catholic Church and Knights of Columbus in Fullerton. Volunteers lay out and sanitize 125 plastic mats on the Armory floor for sleeping, serve meals and snacks, and bring in and distribute warm clothing for those seeking shelter for the night.

Read the story “Families seeking shelter find a holiday gift” in The Orange County Register.

Yesterday, Mercy House received a grant of $50,000 from Orange County United Way to pay for families with children over the age of six- years-old to be redirected immediately from the National Guard armory emergency shelters to motels.

Continue reading ‘Mercy House secures funding from OC United Way to keep ALL families with kids out of the armory shelters’

Read today’s lead story in The Orange County Register by Kimberly Edds titled “Shelters in Squeeze.”

The piece features insightful commentary and statistics from Mercy House Executive Director Larry Haynes, and from other community partners who are leading the charge to battle this growing problem.