Mission House
Lori Delgado Anderson of Mission House was our guest speaker at the May 10th meeting held at Hilton Garden Inn.
Mission House’s new director, Lori Delgado Anderson, admits that the beaches homeless shelter had an other than stellar reputation, but that is changing. Focus is now directed at getting them off the street into permanent housing (sometimes a call to a long lost relative is all it takes) and supplying them with the tools to help them get jobs. A tall order. Our beaches homeless consist of some rather formerly successful people including NFL players, artists, construction workers.
MH employees start from the ground up, providing showers, clean
clothes, food, IDs, assistance with mental health needs and physical
needs. They do not take children directly, but they have helped put 15
single mothers with multiple children into emergency housing (usually
motels or hotel14,000 Meals for the Hungry!
Mission House operates successfully only with the assistance of more than 500 volunteers, plus 7 paid staff members, who are all greatly appreciated by those served. It is not just a soup kitchen any more. Once a week, a veterans representative comes to MH and explains the benefits to which more than half of our homeless are entitled.
Their Wish List has changed dramatically too – they have all the soaps and shampoos they can use for the next 9 months. Now they need personal care items and as always, food.