Door of Hope Offers Homeless Shelter, ‘Life-Changing Renewal’

Raul Anon was ashamed. The proud 39-year-old husband and father of two had no money, no food for his family and no place for them to stay.

Anon had spent the last of the family’s money on a hotel room.

With hope dwindling, Anon squared his slender shoulders, gathered his wife, Elsa, and their 5-year-old twin sons and went to the First Nazarene Church of Pasadena. There, Anon broke down and sobbed as he told church members about his problems.

Through the church, Anon learned of a place where he could temporarily house and feed his family free of charge.

Not an Institution

This was a different sort of shelter, he was told, more like a home than an institution. And unlike most shelters, which house mostly single people, it took in entire families.

More important, it required residents to save all the money they received during their six-to-eight-week stay in preparation for their departure.

This haven for the troubled is called the Door of Hope, a rambling nine-bedroom building with a spacious lawn and garden in predominantly minority northwest Pasadena.

After two months on a waiting list, Anon and his family finally moved into the Door of Hope in mid-October. Three weeks later, he had saved nearly $1,000 toward a security deposit and rent on a home for his family.

As Anon stood in the large, sunny living room of the Door of Hope on North Los Robles Avenue last week, it was apparent that the gloom that had sent him to the church had given way to hope.

“I am proud to be in this house,” he said.

‘Reason for Me to Be Here’

“There is a reason for me to be here. If I had not come here, I would not have learned what I have learned,” said Anon, who added that he has become a stronger Christian during his stay at the Door of Hope.

Anon said one of the greatest benefits has been the chance to save money while he was living in the home.

“I’m fatter now than I was three weeks ago,” he said, hugging his sons, Adrian and Fabian.

The nonprofit, non-denominational home, which operates on donations from individuals and churches in the area, has been open for about a year and gets inquiries about admittance from about 15 individuals and churches a day, said its director, Roy Peterson. Most families are referred by local clergy and none are accepted “off the street,” Peterson said.

To get in, parents must agree to look for work every day, turn all income over to Peterson, follow a regular meal schedule and attend Bible classes at the home twice a week. Parents and their children also are required to attend the church of their choice on Sundays.

Substance abuse is prohibited, and residents must abide by a nightly curfew. The residents also contribute to the care of the home.

“There are rules,” Anon said. But he said he told the staff when he moved in, “OK. I’m in your hands now.” And the rules are not hard to follow, he said.

‘Every Cent’ Returned

“When they leave, every cent of their money is turned back over to them,” said Peterson, whose goal is to “return families to productive lives in society through a new relationship with Christ.”

Peterson, a minister affiliated with the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles, got his divinity degree from Biola University in 1981. He left his job working with Skid Row drunks after nine years to fulfill his dream of working with poor people in the suburbs.

“Anyone can ‘warehouse’ people by giving out food and clothing,” he said. “The Door of Hope is interested in life-changing renewal.”

Peterson said he hopes his facility, which he believes is the only one of its kind, will become a model for family shelters elsewhere.

“It is a home atmosphere and we want the people here to think of this as their home,” said Peterson.

‘Keep Families Together’

“We keep families together,” Peterson said of the shelter. “We want them to get their lives together.”

Peterson said that the first Door of Hope opened in August, 1985, in a three-bedroom home in the northwest Pasadena and, because the waiting list was so long, moved last month to larger quarters purchased by a Pasadena businessman who thought that Christian compassion should encircle the homeless.

“The word is getting around and more people are finding out about it,” Peterson said.

Since it opened, the Door of Hope has served about 20 families, of which about 15 have had some success in living on their own. “They’re in a better position than when they came in here,” Peterson said.

The home’s three other staff members, including two divinity students, work with the families, teaching them such things as the fundamentals of money management and car repairs.

Communal Meals

Peterson said it costs nearly $12,000 a month to run the facility, which can accommodate up to eight families at one time.

Peterson said that each family occupies a bedroom furnished with bunk beds and that they take their meals, brought by members of area church congregations, together in a large dining room.

He acknowledges that this is not a ideal situation for a family, but said the homey atmosphere is preferable to that of most shelters. And having all members of a family in one bedroom provides an incentive to move on.

But even then, “sometimes families get too comfortable here. There is sometimes a little bit of fear about going back into the outside world,” he said.

Although any fears Anon may have had about going “outside” seem to have dissipated, it was different when he moved into the Door of Hope, penniless and unsure where to turn.

Came From Argentina

He said he was full of confidence when he came to the United States 10 years ago, seeking more opportunity than he could find as a salesman in his native Argentina.

And at first, he and his wife did well, making good money as a custodians. They got their own apartment and were able to save a little money and spent leisure hours learning English by watching television and reading books.

“We never went to any English classes,” Anon said proudly. “Just like babies learn to speak gradually, is the same way we learned to speak English.”

After two years, Anon returned to his first love--sales--and got a job selling cookware to Spanish-speaking people.

‘Great Time’

In 1981, he took a job as sales manager for a company that sold insulation to homeowners who received rebates from a utility company for having it installed.

“It was a great time. There were lots of sales and we had 50 salespeople,” he said, smiling at memories of his $1,500-a-month paycheck that covered all the bills, with a little left over.

He left that job to take what looked like a better one, as sales manager of a smaller firm.

“Although we couldn’t compete with the big companies, we were still doing great,” he said. But the rebate program ended in 1985 and with it that job.

Temporary Work

It took him three months to find another, this time a temporary job with the U.S. Census Bureau. But his $300 weekly paycheck was barely enough to cover the family’s $675 monthly rent and other expenses.

When that job ended last February, he and his family moved in with his parents in East Los Angeles. But that did not work out, and he and his family stayed with friends and in a hotel until space opened up at the Door of Hope in October.

He said the $1,000 he has saved came from selling insurance afternoons and evenings and from money he has received from the federal Aid to Families With Dependent Children program, which is administered by the county.

More important than the $1,000 is the restoration of his self-esteem.

His wife has also gained confidence during their stay at the Door of Hope.

‘So Much Love’

“I feel very comfortable here,” she said. “Very special. There is so much love, even more than we get from relatives and friends.”

That love was apparent on a recent Saturday when members of the Young Marrieds Class at Arcadia Presbyterian Church turned out to work on the house, pruning trees and planting flowers.

Members of the class have set aside the month of November to help those less fortunate.

Said Herb Robinson, a member of the class who was sprawled on the limb of a tree, trimming it:

“Rather than just stuff ourselves on Thanksgiving, this is doing something much more tangible for people who have much less than we do.”