Bringing Homeless Out of the Cold : Volunteers Staff Armories, Show They Care

It was a little before 6 p.m. Thursday, and Tom Martinez normally would have been home in Orange--”probably sitting around the fire with my family,” he said. It was going to be fireplace weather, about 33 degrees, according to the forecast.

Instead, Martinez was at the National Guard Armory in Santa Ana, where he would stay up all night while 125 homeless men and women slept there.

Martinez is one of the small corps of volunteers who staff the armories there and in Fullerton when they are opened to house the homeless in bitter weather. They’ve been opened for 6 nights now in reaction to an unusual cold snap throughout Orange County.

“Why am I here?” Martinez said, echoing the question. He paused to consider.

“Can you imagine what it would be like being out when it’s 36 degrees? This is just an opportunity to contribute to the well-being of people less fortunate. It’s just one night. It’s not a big deal. The only difficult thing is to stay awake.”

Then why don’t more people volunteer? “I think a lot of people care,” he said. “I think people just don’t get a lot of opportunities like this.”

Martinez got his opportunity because county government gives its employees time off to compensate for the volunteer time they spend at the emergency shelters. It’s more than a nice gesture. It means that at 6 a.m., after 12 hours as “site supervi

sor,” he can go home to bed instead of to his job with the county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department.

Jane Salem, a supervising county probation officer and the other volunteer site supervisor Thursday night, was busy explaining to three men seeking

shelter that only two beds were open.

“This is one of the programs where you can help,” she said, explaining why she was not at home Thursday night. “The homeless are a problem and they need the help. It’s a deserving cause. That’s why you do it. The need exceeds what’s provided.”

And more than just volunteer time is needed, Salem said.

“We need food, blankets, heavy jackets. We’re full, (the) Fullerton (armory) is full. It’s 6:15 and people are still coming. We need more places. We don’t have sufficient emergency shelters.”

Outside, men were smoking and waiting to see whether, somehow, a space would open up. Inside, men were lining up at folding tables, where volunteers spooned food onto platters. They came back for seconds, some for thirds, until the food ran out.

In the armory office, Joan Nelson, an elementary school teacher from Costa Mesa, was performing her first duty as a volunteer: calling other full-time shelters to find a place for a man and his two children. No children are allowed at the armory in Santa Ana.

“I just placed them, after many, many calls,” she reported. “The Salvation Army will make special accommodations.”

During her first night as a volunteer, Nelson said she already had learned that homeless people “are not what we used to think they were--what people used to call shiftless. They’re diverse.

“Some want to be out there. But a lot have families and just lost their jobs and have run out of money,” Nelson said. “And the longer you stay out there, the harder it is to stabilize and come back, I’m told.”

Nelson came Thursday night “because a friend recruited me, and I just couldn’t say no,” she said. “It’s so cold, and it bothers me to see people out walking around in it. I’ll help with anything they need help with.”

Margaret Y. Beck, program manager of the county’s adult and family day-care licensing center, said that people volunteer their help because they are concerned about the homeless.

Beck, who has been assigned, without pay, the extra duty of administering the emergency shelters at the armories, turns up at one or the other almost every night they are open.

“Basically, I’m a volunteer,” she said, adding: “I have to get home pretty soon so my husband will stay married to me.”

She said volunteers are scheduled for each night but actually work only if the armories are opened on that particular night. With the exception of Monday night, the armories have been open since last Friday night to shelter people against the rain and frigid temperatures.

Marsha Eldridge of Anaheim Hills, vice president of a mortgage company, was behind the serving table watching her husband’s homemade cookies disappear, along with the fish nuggets, macaroni and cheese, vegetables, rolls and chocolate pudding. She was among the group of volunteers that night from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Orange.

“I’ve never had any contact with street people before this,” Eldridge said. “You feel real good about helping them. If we, who are so fortunate, just donated a couple of hours a week, we could really help. They’re basically just good people down on their luck.”

Debbie Loyd of El Toro, a real estate advertising manager, said that Thursday was only her second night at the emergency shelter, but that she had decided to volunteer for the entire winter. “I’ve found this to be a joy, not an inconvenience,” Loyd said. “It’s more constructive than shopping or watching television. I enjoy it--just the idea that I’m helping. It makes you realize how much you have.”

Beck said that such volunteers will be called upon throughout the winter season. The armories are opened at night when temperatures are expected to fall below 40 degrees, or below 50 degrees if it is raining.

Those who help the homeless try to get them to help themselves. Life, Page 1. A list of places where the homeless can get help. Life, Page 2.

HOW TO HELP Those wishing to donate money, goods and/or their time for emergency shelters for the homeless may do so by contacting:

Homeless Issues Task Force, (714) 740-1157.

The task force provides volunteers to staff emergency shelters in Santa Ana and Fullerton National Guard armories. Beside volunteers, the task force also needs donations of blankets, jackets, coats and other warm clothing.

Feedback Foundation, (714) 220-0224.

The foundation, which regularly provides meals for the elderly, also provides meals at emergency shelters for the homeless. The foundation prefers cash donations, since it purchases most of its food. But it appreciates donations of food as well, especially juices, turkeys, roasts, coffee and sugar.