Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Agency Parcels $50,000 to Benefit County’s Poor

The Community Development Council, Orange County’s largest anti-poverty agency, announced Thursday that it has given $50,000 of its federal funds for the homeless to several social service groups that assist the county’s poor.

Lutheran Social Services in Garden Grove and the Orange County Center for Health in Anaheim were awarded $20,000 to provide rental assistance and medical care for the indigent. SER-Jobs for Progress in Santa Ana, a group that helps people on public assistance find jobs, received $16,000 to provide emergency shelter, food and clothing. And the Delhi Community Center, also in Santa Ana, got $14,000 to provide motel, grocery and transportation vouchers to homeless people.

CDC officials said they opted to give the money away when it became clear they could not use it for its intended purpose: to equip and operate a trailer that would go to the county’s parks and provide medical and social services to the homeless. CDC Director Clarence (Buddy) Ray said the project became too expensive to complete by Sept. 30, the deadline by which the federal funds must be spent.

The money is part of $138,000 in federal funds the agency received last March to carry out the trailer project.