SOS Lacks $93,000 to Buy Building

With only a week to go before it must come up with $750,000 to buy a new building, the Share Our Selves charity finds itself $93,000 short, its director said this week.

“We have told our broker that we are short and to put the owner on notice,” said Jean Forbath, founder and executive director of the 20-year-old Costa Mesa charity. “We’ve made contacts with several people and are sending out (funding) proposals. Hopefully, there will be a quick response.”

The charity must raise about $93,000 by May 2 to buy a $1.4-million industrial building on Superior Avenue.

If the agency does not raise the money, it will consider getting a loan for the amount, Forbath said.

Even if the money is raised by then, the agency may be forced to close for several weeks if it is evicted from its current home at the city-managed Rea Community Center. The city served the group with an unlawful-detainer notice Friday, Forbath said, so disruption of services is possible.

“In the best of all worlds, we probably couldn’t finish renovation (on the new building) for at least six weeks,” she said. “If we do close, it will give us a chance to make a fresh start. But the important thing is, we will open again.”

An attorney representing the city said SOS has been given three weeks to respond to the notice rather than the usual five days.

The agency, which provides food and clothes to the poor and homeless, has been on a roller coaster ride the last several years, buffeted by criticism that it has grown too large, and its clientele too disruptive.

Most recently it was rocked by news that a former chairman, Scott Mather, had accepted thousands of dollars for insurance premiums from several shelters in Orange and Los Angeles counties but failed to provide coverage, using the money for himself. SOS is among the charities Mather has admitted taking money from.

Forbath and other SOS directors have said they are concerned that the matter could harm fund raising.

So far, Forbath said, no supporters have backed away from the charity, but many potential donors have demanded a more detailed accounting of its business practices.

The business and religious communities have contributed to SOS’ cause. The Newport Beach-based Fieldstone Co., Fieldstead & Co. of Irvine and the United Way of Orange County pooled resources to offer SOS a $200,000 challenge grant; they will match up to $200,000 in donations.

The charity has received a $25,000 donation from developer Kathryn G. Thompson; $10,000 from Western Digital Corp. in Irvine; $75,000 from St. Joseph Health System of Orange; $100,000 from John Michler, vice president of Hunsacker & Associates, and $100,000 in contributions from anonymous donors.

The group also received a grant of $44,000 from Irvine to cover costs of renovating the new building.

And a group of religious leaders have organized the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council to rally support for SOS and to raise money toward the challenge grant. The group is calling on congregations to take special offerings for SOS during the first week of June.