Mercy House

Samantha Alvarez, 9, and her brother Timothy, 5, wait inside the Santa Ana armory as their parents fill out forms on Dec. 1, when the county of Orange opened its cold weather shelter program for the first night this season. The program, operated by the Santa Ana nonprofit Mercy House, is offered at two sites: the California Army National Guard armories in Santa Ana and Fullerton. YVETTE CABRERA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

On Dec. 1, Orange County, Calif. opened the Cold Weather Emergency Shelter Program at the National Guard Armories for the 2009-2010 season. The Alvarez family is one of six placed in motels as part of the Family Redirection Program run by the shelter’s operator, Mercy House on that night.

Orange County Register columnist Yvette Cabrera wanted to know where homeless people and  their families went for the night. Read her story in story in Tuesday’s paper titled “Here’s where homeless are sleeping.”

The Orange County Cold Weather Armory Emergency Shelter Program is a collaborative effort of the County of Orange, State of California Army National Guard, the participating cities of Fullerton and Santa Ana, and Mercy House Living Centers and other non-profit service providers to provide emergency shelter, food and supportive services to homeless men, women and children throughout Orange County. The County of Orange Housing and Community Services Department (HCS) contracted with Mercy House Living Centers to provide services at the Santa Ana and Fullerton National Guard Armories. The County’s armory program was established in 1987.

Services provided include:

• Provide up to 400 beds per night
• Provide nutritious meal at dinner time and breakfast
• Provide a warm shower
• Donations of warm clothing and other basic needs items
• Provide referrals to Mercy House wrap-around services
• Onsite Orange County Service Providers

For more information, go to our Emergency Shelters page.

Mercy House Executive Director Larry Haynes

Earlier this week, Larry Haynes met with The Laguna Beach Independent reporter Rita Robinson to share some insights on homelessness in general, and what is possible if everyone works together.

Laguna Beach’s two local non profits, the Friendship Center and the Laguna Relief and Resource Center, will be the primary operators of a planned overnight shelter for the homeless, with Mercy House acting as a consultant to assist in getting the program underway.

A nonstop mother lode of refreshingly candid information, Haynes was the original employee of Mercy House, which started with a single rented home in 1990 that provided transitional shelter for 10 men. Mercy House corporation now offers a range of shelters and services for a wide-range of homeless people in Orange, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties. As executive director, Haynes, 45, has established 10 transitional houses serving single men, women, families and HIV AIDS patients. All have the same goal: get people off the streets and back on their feet.

Read the story in The Laguna Beach Independent titled Expert on Transitional Housing Joins the Team.

The holidays are a busy time of year for everyone.  If you want to help the homeless, but just don’t have the time to shop for gifts, please visit the Mercy House Target Wish List to purchase a gift card that will be distributed to the homeless men, women, and children staying in emergency shelters, or to those who visit our Emergency Walk-in Centers.  Gift cards are available in $10, $25 and $50 denominations.  The larger denominations will be used to purchase items for hygiene kits and breakfast bags.

Mercy House Executive Director Larry Haynes spoke with The New York Times’ Peter Goodman about people who have experienced foreclosure, and are now finding themselves homeless and seeking shelter for the first  time.

“These families never needed help before,”  said Larry Haynes, executive director of Mercy House in Santa Ana, Calif. “They haven’t a clue about where to go and they have all sorts of humiliation issues. They don’t even know what to say, what to ask for.”

To read the whole story in today’s New York Times, go to “Foreclosures Force Ex-Homeowners to Turn to Shelters.”