SAFE HARBOR SANCTUARY COMMUNITY
OUR STORIES
TELL US YOUR STORY:
SHELTER FROM THE STORMS OF LIFE
There are times in life when there just are no explanations for certain situations. Homelessness is one of them at times. People just simply need help right then and there and not not need to be questioned or told what they did or are doing wrong. They just need a Smile, Compassionate Care and their Basic needs met. A hot meal, hot shower, clean clothing and SOCKS and a clean warm bed and a fluffy CLEAN Pillow. For a moment they can rest their weary mind, body and soul. No inquisition, no judgement, just LOVE and Compassion. Simple as that. WE at safe harbor sanctuary aim to lift each girl or woman who walks through our doors and first help them feel safe and secure, protected and meet them where they are, even if we have to sit and hold their hands or sit outside of a shower door so they can feel safe.
When girls and women are beaten down so far feeling helpless and weary they need a Miriam to lift their spirits and even sometimes step in to help them with something as simple and bathing and washing their hair. We will do whatever it takes to help our clients have their dignity and faith in humanity restored so that they know they are valued and are important. Just the feeling fresh and clean can instantly changes a persons constitution and outlook on life. Water feeds our bodies as we can not survive with out drinking water and bathing is a universal language we all understand some countries better than others but we Americans have come to know a bath a day as being the norm and some of us more than one when able.
Water flowing over ones body is cleansing, then to put on warm clean clothing and then into a clean sanitary bed is peace of mind personified and that is what we aim to do each time a women comes to safe harbor sanctuary for shelter. Her basic emergency needs will be met immediately by our loving staff. Having the gift of helps is a must have quality to work at safe harbor. Compassion at all cost will be mandatory when working with clients even when working with one who seems broken beyond help. It is they who need our love and compassion the most. For they will know we are Christians by our LOVE!!!!!
HOMELESS OUTREACH & FEEDINGS
Living on the streets is great, I am having the time of my life, this is what I always dreamed my life would be like SAYS NO ONE!!! Being homeless is not a extended Camping Trip for those who like the outdoors. It is a social sickness many have come down with by happenstance not by dreaming of it. Most of those living on the streets are sick from Mental illness, Veterans with PTSD, Substance addiction and some just by sheer living pay check to pay check lost a job and lost their homes. No on is on the streets because it is FUN or they want to be there!!! We at Safe Harbor do not care what was the cause or why they are there. Our Purpose and Passion is to show Kindness, Compassion and LOVE period. WE come in Love with Kind smiles, words of encouragement, Food and Care packages no judgement. Dignity and Respect for all is paramount and we all should be afforded this from any and everyone at all times. Our Street outreach teams fans out all over So Cal to deliver Food, Care Toiletries Bags, Clean Clothing and a kind word, maybe a impromptu song and dance or just a moment of silence to remember a time of wellness for them. Whatever it is we come bearing Love, Peace and Joy. Your Kindness could be the difference between life and death for someone. Reach out to us to Volunteer. Volunteers are the Heart Beat of any Non Profit. WE need you!!!! WE Want YOU!!!!! Inquire today about Volunteering if this is your calling as well.
SHOWER & LAUNDRY OUTREACH
WE collect donations year around and prepare Shower Bags as well. Some of the Local Los Angeles Pools that are open year around allow the homeless to come in and shower for $1.00 or $2.00 . Our goal is to have stations all over the city for a few hours a day to offer Shower Bags for those who wish to take a shower and a lunch. Our Dream is to buy Mobile Shower and Laundry Trailers so we can go to encampments and allow them to shower and wash a couple of loads of cloths for them. Dignity should never be optional. Sometimes just a shower will even for a moment restore ones dignity and well being if but for a short time. Have you ever just felt grimy from a long day and just want to take a Hot Shower or Bath, then after you come out that feeling of wellness you feel after a Long Hot Shower or Bath????
Well.....Imagine not bathing for months at a time and not having even any clean clothing to change into. WE are doing all we can to help in this area and need your help. Blessing Bag with Hotel Size items are perfect and always needed. Deodorant, Toothbrush and paste, Baby Wipes, Wash Cloth and Towel (goodwill and Salvation Army perfect to buy cheap towels as well as call all of your friends and we all have a couple of old towels we can part with.) shower shoes, SOCKS!! Socks are the most requested item in shelters and for those on the street. Brush and Combs little ones, lotion, soap, and baby oil. I found that if you give larger bottles, they sell them or barter with them or others steal and take it from some. So if you have smaller items that is what is best. I aim to contact a small bottle manufacture in the future to garner donated little bottles we can fill for just such a purpose as this. A shower and a meal will change a person at least for a day and that is all worth it to me how about you? WE all can be the Change we wish to see...we all can make a difference daily!!!!
DONATIONS
PLEASE HELP US!!! THIS IS OUR BOTTOM LINE !!! Opening a Shelter is daunting but we are not discouraged. The work is hard, doors slammed shut, told to go here and there and still being told now we can't help, we are out of funds, you have to be established for two years, you have to work under someone else. NO the need is now, immediate and great. I am not waiting two years or longer for red tape to clear to help women like Ms Joyce or Maggie Jo come off the streets.
Darnell is missing, she is out there somewhere cold, alone and God I am praying she is not dead. It has been 3 months now since I saw her last when I would see her almost daily outside my own door. I fed her daily and I have a shower bag here ready waiting on her as I type this. I go outside every day looking for her so I can pay for her to go take a shower at the Olympic Pool at Expo Park here in Los Angeles. I pray she is OK. I just made a break through that day with her and gathered her information as she is a two time re-enlisted Army Veteran.
She is 50 years old was married and you can tell she was a beautiful lady. She served in the Army for 20 years . Her first husband died of illness and she was devastated then her 2nd husband committed suicide and she said she just checked out of life. She states that this is when she began drinking heavily and using marijuana. She stated she re-enlisted in the service and then after being honorably discharged the first time, she was dismissed the 2nd time after being caught with weed, she was less than honorably discharged this 2nd time. She just gave up after that she stated.
She is alone, has short term memory loss, she reminded me of Dori from Finding Nemo because we could talk and 3 minutes later she is amazed I remembered her name and she is asking me mine again. She is tiny in build maybe 5 feet and 100 lbs, teeth missing and what she had left were nubs and rotten. She said she could not remember the last time she had a shower and I know it had to be at least 3 or four months because she had on the same clothing. We are in the trenches, we are the outreach foot soldiers feeding and clothing those women who are literally living in the streets and we need your help.
Many are mentally ill and many are addicts. Some are just down on their luck and lost jobs and homes with no familial support. And yes we have encounter women and children in encampments and tent cities. As a Social Worker and Clinician, I have to weigh the cost to both the child and parent when I have these encounters. What might seem like a Black and White decision is not necessarily the case. My work is to save lives period, separating a child from a parent by force could break a Woman and child for life. Yes being on the streets is bad but believe it or not when in survival mode some make it work if only for a time with their children on the streets. I had a family of 8, mother and father married and living with their 6 Children in a Mini Van. Mother a US Citizen and father a DACA youth brought here as a child. He graduated from High School but no one will hire him because he does not have his proper paperwork because his mother has not been honest with him as to even the state he was born in, in Mexico. So his identity is in question. There are so many stories I cannot begin to tell them all. Imagine working and living in a Mini Van with 6 Children ages 10 to 10 months.....Yes a infant. They now have a 4 Bedroom home and Mom is working but Dad still is fighting to prove his identity and maintain his dignity.
Again stories are not always Black and White.
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WE cannot open the doors of Safe Harbor Sanctuary with out your help. Please make a donation today and help us help them!!!! One person can make a difference and save lives I am living proof of that as the Founder and President of Safe Harbor but imagine all of us collectively moving mountains to help Women come off the streets to safety. Please make a donation at this link and share our Website and our Go Fund Me page. A little become a lot if many give what they can. Please click on the link below or copy and paste in your browser and give as you are lead to help us help those women who cannot help themselves. God Bless you and thank you in advance.
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