SUMMER NEWSLETTER
Kieran, age 5, came to his mother with a "dream to make come true" of serving a restaurant style meal for the people who reside at the Torres Shelter. He said he wanted, "tablecloths, a menu, nice food, flowers, and dessert!" More importantly, he wanted to provide Shelter residents with a meal served with dignity and love. Kieran’s mother, Alexandra Trent, along with the family, cooked the meal with donated ingredients and help from the entire community!
Grandmaster Azad was chosen from among thousands of candidates throughout the nation to be one of 10 Community Leaders to receive an award for their efforts to make a difference and to build a stronger community. This award from the national Make A Difference Day organization comes with a $10,000 award that Grandmaster Azad donated towards the work we do at the Torres Shelter.
SUMMER 2017 ISSUE Moving Forward
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“Keep Coming Back”
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Our Youngest Guests’
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Play Day!
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Volunteer Spotlight
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Volunteer & Donor Highlights
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Most Need Items
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Board Of Directors Rich Ober, Board Chair Holly Pladson, Treasurer Billie Kanter, Secretary Daniel Cavanaugh Kristina Carter Rob Reddemann Sandy Laver Tim Vander Heiden
Interim Executive Director Kristina Carter
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n behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to send Brad Montgomery into retirement with our gratitude for his dedication and contributions over the past 8 years while serving as the Executive Director. As the Interim Executive Director, I am thrilled to be able to collaborate with a competent and compassionate staff to serve our guests. This summer we are recommitting to excellence! We are looking at our operation with a set of fresh eyes and un-bounding enthusiasm. We are challenging our thinking and working on bold new ideas to make significant strides to be the solid foundation anchoring our guests so they can grab hold of the life vests we send their way. During this time of a potentially leaner Federal and State funding, we are narrowing our focus to our mission; to serve those who are un-housed while they reestablish themselves and seek permanent housing. Each guest has a different journey and, at the Torres Shelter, staff and guests have a partnership towards growth and making their temporary home safe, supportive and full of laughter. We invite you to come spend some time with us. Come meet our delightful guests. Come witness the wonders of change and perseverance. There is truly a place for every ‘kind’ of volunteer based on your area of interest and expertise. Do you like to garden? So do we. Do you like to craft or sing? We do too. Please come share your talent and friendship with us. Do you own a business? We have people r eady to wor k. Hir e us! Are you a retired therapist? Our staff needs your suppor t. Are you a retired social worker? Our casewor ker s need your assistance. Are you good with money? Help us budget too. Do you want to organize volunteers? Our guests want a ser vice pr oject in or der to give back..
Thank you for your help in educating the community on the value our people can bring to the community.
Thank you for your support and friendship, Kristina L. Carter Interim Executive Director/Board Member
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“Keep Coming Back. It Works, If You Work It” A former guests’ story On September 21, 2016, sixty-five year old Richard moved into a one-bedroom apartment on West East Avenue. Six months earlier to the day he was admitted to Torres Shelter for a second time feeling that he was lost in his life: “When I first was here my future looked like a television screen that was just blank, and it was hissing. I wanted to turn on a station, but I could not see anything about a future.” Richard speaks fondly about his parents and his life in Whittier, a small town in Southern California where he, his parents and younger sister moved in 1959 from Imperial Valley. He graduated from its high school in 1969, and soon after he fell in love. The young couple waited five years to marry. She was too young. Meanwhile, he worked for a trucking company typing freight bills on an electric typewriter eight hours a day at $10 an hour. He saved enough money, and a year after he married he became a fulltime student at Biola College, a private evangelical Christian School. When his first child arrived, Richard returned to freight billing for another year. It took him five years to graduate with a major in Biblical Studies and Koine Greek as well as minors in German and Philosophy. (All the while he dreamt of pursuing a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages.) Soon after graduation a second child was born. Richard took up a writing career -- first for a newspaper, and then for a printing company writing copy for their advertising layouts. During his eighteen-year marriage his life slowly changed. Richard discovered one day that a glass of wine made him more relaxed for a work appointment. The meeting was terrific. He did not see the dangers in drinking alcohol since his parents rarely drank. Slowly he became alcohol dependent. He and his family suffered the consequences, and a divorce in 1991 brought a deeply unhappy Richard to Chico where his parents and sister had settled years earlier. He worked various jobs including writing a column for the Enterprise Record. Alcohol continued to be a part of his life. His father died in 1992 and nine years later Richard went to China for three years to teach English. When he returned, he lived with his mother at the apartment complex that she managed. She was in her 80s and the work was difficult. Richard became her assistant until his mother died in 2011 leaving him alone and without a job. Richard sold all he could and this provided him only two months rent. His car became his home for the next three months before he finally approached Torres Shelter. After a couple of months into his stay, he could not resist and began drinking again.
attend Bible study and church every Sunday. Meals were shared and daily chores assigned. Richard is grateful to The Well because it gave him accountability. A year later he graduated and continued to stay at the Well for another year with the assistance of Social Security retirement benefits. From The Well he moved to Lincoln, near Roseville, where he lived with a friend in a two-bedroom house. He was happy that he could walk to the Walmart for groceries as well as to Heritage Bible Church. This arrangement lasted eight months and it was soon thereafter that he found himself at the Torres Shelter in that dazed state with a hissing, blank TV in his head. Here, he met Melanie, his service coordinator at the Shelter. “She is not only smart, but she is friendly, helpful and empathetic . . . a Godsend.” It did not take Richard long to trust and listen to her. Strongly motivated to get his own place as soon as possible he began saving money as encouraged by the Shelter and re-enforced by Melanie. Liz and Amanda in the housing department at Butte County Behavioral Health assisted him in looking for places to live. They recommended that he wait for a grant for which they thought he was eligible since it would pay the deposit and 70% of his rent for two years. Richard discussed the matter with Melanie and she advised him to listen to Liz and Amanda. Melanie knew that a number of those who go to one-room housing, as he was first inclined to do, come back to the Shelter. He took her advice and now lives in a one-bedroom apartment that is within easy reach of the B-Line to which he pays $19 a month for unlimited use. Surprisingly he is grateful that his car was stolen because he saves money and walking is keeping him healthy. Moreover he is close to Grace Brethren Church where he feels at home. Richard is optimistic about changing his life around. Torres Shelter has given him the stability he needs to see possibilities. He says that he might not yet be able to hear the TV in his mind, but he can picture a better life. He has learned through his struggles to control his alcoholism. He believes AA’s advice: “Keep coming back. It works, if you work it.” Interview By: Judy Collins-Hamer & Maryanne Bertram
The Well Ministry of Rescue took Richard in. He was expected to
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VOLUNTEER VIEW “A KID WHO SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS” We asked the children staying at the Shelter what they thought. “The Shelter is nice because they give people homes who don’t have one.”
“I like the snacks!”
First time I met her, she was a teenager. She had been staying at the Shelter awhile but had avoided Kids Club, where I volunteer. She was notably “Goth” with an unhealthy, pale skin tone. One day, in a room packed with boisterous, elementary school kids, she came in, her sweatshirt hoodie up. She whispered in my ear, “I stabbed a friend.” Horrified, not knowing whether it was true, I reported the incident. Next time she came in, she tried to talk to the children about
inappropriate adult subjects. I kicked her out. She cursed at me as she left. Next time she entered, I informed her she couldn’t be there. She didn’t move. She just stood looking at her shoes, not saying anything. A small child came up asking for help with a toy. She knelt down and helped him. She told me the Shelter was making sure she took medication and got counselling for her mental illness. Her mother came to get her. I saw that the mother had a severe handicap. After that, when she came to Kids Club, she devoted her attention to helping the younger kids. I kept an eagle eye on her, but she was always kind and age appropriate. Months and months later, after she and her mother had moved out and gotten a place of their own, I ran into her. She was no longer Goth. Her cheeks had a healthy pink glow. She greeted me warmly with a smile. I asked how they were. She said they were doing great. I could see it was true. I can’t tell you the joy and gratitude I felt.
“I like kids club!”
“This Shelter is nicer than the last one I was at.”
“I like they serve dinner.”
“I think the people and staff are nice and polite and really interesting.”
- Mary, “Kid’s Club Lady”
In the Last Year ...
We served 134 children in the last 12 months. 58 of those children have been homeless more than once. 53 of those children have a disabling condition. 60 of those children have moved into stable housing! That’s 45% moving into a more stable living environment!
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We talk about our guests all the time because of how wonderful they are but we would also like to acknowledge just how amazing our staff are! Each day they come to work to help people recover their lives . To celebrate their successes and to be a listening ear after a hard day. It can be very emotionally draining. We took the time in May to work on teambuilding and have some FUN!!! Staff were broken up into four teams, decorated a banner and named themselves with names like “Mean Green” and “Cool Julio and the 3 Sharks”. Each team then participated in games, much like the popular tv show “Survivor”; walking on planks, finding keys in sand to unlock locks, and solving a wooden block puzzle that read “Attitude Makes the Difference”. It was a GREAT afternoon and when it was over, we made our way back to the Shelter to greet our guests, feeling refreshed and ready to make a difference!
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Volunteer Spotlight: Casey Doran 1. How are you involved with the shelter? How long? I've helped with guest services for the past 8 years. This includes giving guests their bins, shower set ups and anything else they might need along with taking care of their laundry. 2. What motivates you to volunteer at Torres Shelter? My mom raised us to volunteer in your community. The first time I came to the Shelter I was helping serve dinner with my mom and some of her friends. The people at the Shelter were so nice and it made me feel good. I guess that’s why I do it, it makes me feel good.
we so need more recovery centers in this area. There are so many people out there that I feel are sick and tired of being sick and tired but they don’t have the means to get into a good facility. 6. If you could send one message about Torres Shelter and what we do in our community, what would it be? The staff at Torres Shelter are giving people a chance, a helping hand to get them off the street to a place they can feel safe, help them get services needed, find a job so that they can make a life for themselves in their own home. Back to a place where they have control of their life.
3. How has your definition of homelessness changed with your experience at Torres Shelter? We have people from all walks of life who end up here and need help, from the person/family who has lost their job and ran out of money before they found another one, the individuals with health and mental issues, the ones out there trying to stay straight and then the women and children that have left an abusive situation with only the clothes they are wearing. They all want a better life and a place they can feel safe. 4. Big or small, what is your most memorable interaction at the Torres Shelter? A few years back at Christmas before the addition a group of cub scouts came in and brought homemade cookies and planned a sing a long. The tired guests had gone back to their dorms and did not want to come out. But then the small boys started singing and before you knew it the guests were in the small lobby and along the hallway picking up the music sheets and singing along. I ended up with tears running down my cheeks, it was so beautiful. 5. We are always trying to bridge the gap between guest, community, and Torres Shelter. What would you like to see added to our services? I don’t know if you are able to influence the powers that be but
Monitor Assistants/Daily Living Services Assists the Monitors in providing services for the guests. There are both morning and evening volunteer shifts available. Meal Providers An evening meal is served each evening at 6:00 p.m. Meal providers prep, cook, serve, and clean up. This is a great option for groups of volunteers! Activity Volunteer There are many additional onsite services our guests would benefit from: haircuts, chiropractic care, kids’ activities, games or recreation activities, musical events, and classes (e.g. crafts, resume help, etc.). Special Project/Event Volunteer We have dozens of special projects and events every year. This could include: spring clean day, gardening day, or helping out at events at our table by providing information to the public about what we do! 6
Phi Chi Theta, a business coed fraternity, consist of a total of 78 students. Members complete volunteer hours in their community to get into the fraternity. This last month, volunteers from the fraternity came in and painted the hallway and the men’s dorm! Thank you, PHI CHI THETA!
A faith based group spent their 4th of July at the Shelter! Guests were treated to a good old fashioned 4th of July celebration with homemade ice cream, games, music and fireworks!!!! Huge thank you to Cathy Frost for getting the group organized!
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Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID
Chico Community Shelter Partnership
Chico CA
101 Silver Dollar Way
Permit No. 1718
Chico, CA 95928
GREETINGS FROM THE TORRES COMMUNITY SHELTER Help can come in all shapes and sizes! We strive to provide our guests’ with daily hygiene and basic need items free of charge! Every penny saved for them is a step closer to housing!
The Shelter is always in need of the following items: -Shampoo -Body Wash
Success Story Saturdays Volunteer View
-Deodorant -Razors and Shaving Cream -Earplugs
Community Lights Event Updates
-Towels/Twin Size Blankets -Coffee/Sugar/Creamer
Most Needed Items
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