Shelter Melts Away One Night’s Fears : Homeless Come in From the Cold

Mike Whelan, a 32-year-old painter, took the bus from San Diego to Santa Ana on Wednesday and had no place to stay.

That was until Orange County officials opened up a National Guard armory to the homeless.

More than 30 of the county’s homeless were trickling into the emergency shelter Wednesday night. They were handed a hot meal of macaroni and cheese, a gray wool blanket and a cot to sleep on.

The county became the first in California to take advantage of Gov. George Deukmejian’s move Tuesday to open National Guard armories to the homeless when temperatures drop to 40 degrees. There are four such buildings in Orange County that could technically become available to shelter the homeless.

Bob Griffith, chief deputy director of the county’s Social Services Agency, said the National Guard armory on Santa Ana’s East Warner Avenue can house up to 100 homeless men and women until 8 a.m. today.

If the temperature again drops below 40 degrees tonight, he said officials may decide to reopen the armory, depending upon the availability of space in private shelters in the county.

The guests Wednesday night came from shelters packed to capacity by the winter chill and soggy skies.

Inside the gymnasium-like shelter in Santa Ana, where state flags hung from the ceiling and a lighted Christmas tree stood at the entrance, volunteers from the county’s Social Services Agency, Red Cross and National Guard listened to their guests’ tales of woe.

Whelan said he left San Diego because someone had beaten him up. If the armory hadn’t opened, he said he would probably have spent his last $6 on a bottle of wine and slept on the street without a blanket.

“I’m an alcoholic,” Whelan said. “I would’ve just knocked myself out to keep myself from the misery. I would’ve had to anesthetize my mind with alcohol.”

Some of those staying at the armory immediately sought the comfort and warmth of the cot and blanket and fell asleep. Others milled around drinking coffee or went outside to smoke a cigarette.

Richard Van Buren, 28, just made his first trip to California from New Mexico five days ago to look for work. He was looking at spending another night in his 1969 Pontiac Catalina, until the armory opened.

Van Buren came to Orange County with a friend who promised he knew people who would give them work, but police arrested his friend for outstanding warrants, and Van Buren was left on his own in unfamiliar territory.

“I’ve had to hook up with the street people to learn my way around,” said Van Buren, dressed in cowboy hat and boots. “I came to sunny California to get out of the snow in New Mexico. My main problem has been keeping food in my belly.”

Van Buren, who has worked as a construction foreman, said that if he can’t find work in California, he’ll go to Florida, where he has friends.

“Luck is what people make of it,” he said. “If you push hard enough, something’ll break. I just want to get back in a nice warm place.”