Aid Providers See Big Gap When SOS Stops Serving Needy

The demise of the Share Our Selves charity will place a tremendous burden on other welfare groups that already are faced with a growing clientele and too few resources to serve them, officials said Thursday.

“It looms like a horrible headache and dark cloud,” said Debby O’Connor, executive director of FISH Inc., a volunteer group which provides food, shelter and other assistance for needy and elderly people.

“We are completely overburdened. We don’t have the manpower, space or money to fill the gap left by SOS (Share Our Selves). I know the need is there, but I don’t know what is going to happen to these people. They will have to do without.”

Warren Johnson, business manager for the Orange County chapter of the Salvation Army, also said his group is already feeding and sheltering as many clients as it can handle.

“I don’t know if we can shoulder any more,” Johnson said, adding that the organization gives shelter to about 300 people a night and serves meals daily. “We are greatly disappointed that this has come about. (SOS) has been a mainstay in the delivery of services to a variety of people in need.”

Share Our Selves, a 20-year-old, all-volunteer agency that provides food, shelter, clothing and financial assistance to the needy, is being evicted from its home at the city-managed Rea Community Center on Jan. 15.

The Costa Mesa City Council on Wednesday voted 4 to 1 not to spend city money to help SOS relocate and denied a request to extend the agency’s stay at the community center.

Medical and dental programs operated by SOS will remain at the community center until 1991 and are not affected.

The charity and its founder, Jean Forbath, have become almost an institution in Costa Mesa and Orange County, serving more than 60,000 families a year.

Ironically, its death may have been hastened by its success as a private, nonprofit alternative for the needy--many of whom are too poor to afford the county’s high cost of living but make too much money to qualify for government aid.

Residents of the residential area where the charity is located had complained about alleged disruptions caused by SOS clients.

“There is a disproportionate share of social welfare organizations on the West Side . . . that attract an element that a prudent person would describe as undesirable,” resident Pat Dolan told the council Wednesday.

Yet, social welfare officials said getting rid of SOS will not make the homeless go away.

“The sad thing is we want the private sector to do these things because they do a better job; they do it more efficiently. The government cannot provide the kinds of services that SOS can because of the nature of those services,” said Councilwoman Mary Hornbuckle, the only member who favored supporting SOS.

“I suspect it will mean more and more people out on the streets,” said Sam Boyce, co-director of Newport Beach-based SPIN or Street People in Need.

SOS and SPIN provide money for emergency shelter, such as motels, for homeless families.

“People who previously used SOS will be hitting harder on organizations like us for those services,” Boyce said. “But we have limited resources. There will be more children and families on the streets at night who might otherwise have been put up in a motel.”

Donald Swanson, 45, said he has sought assistance at SOS every day since he arrived in Orange County from Las Vegas two months ago. Swanson, who grew up in Laguna Beach, said he has been sleeping on the streets in a sleeping bag since he returned here and relies on SOS for all of his meals. He also uses the center’s address, 661 Hamilton Ave., to receive his mail.

“I can see some of their points, but why punish everybody?” he said, referring to the community’s attitude toward SOS. “I don’t ask anybody for nothing, I don’t panhandle. The only time I talk to someone I don’t know on the street I just say ‘good morning’ or something. It (the shutdown) is going to hurt.”

SOS officials said Thursday that they will hold a rally on Jan. 13--two days before they are to vacate the community center--and will invite homeless people from around the county to show their support.

Times staff writer Tony Marcano contributed to this story.