THOUSAND OAKS : Church Volunteers Plan Winter Shelter
A group of Thousand Oaks church volunteers plans to open a winter shelter despite problems finding a location to house the homeless one day of the week.
The shelter will be open from Nov. 15 to Feb. 28, said Dick Farkas, vice chairman of the Conejo Homeless Assistance Program, a group of volunteers from 20 churches and synagogues.
The group had planned to open the shelter at a different church each night of the week. But the Church of Scientology decided last week to pull out of the program, Farkas said.
With temperatures expected to drop to 40 degrees, volunteers are concerned about finding another site to house homeless people Wednesday nights.
Plans to convert a house on Los Robles Road into a year-round shelter and social services center fell through after the property owner decided to bulldoze the building instead of leasing it to the group, Farkas said.
He said it is unlikely a new site will be found before the year ends.
Thousand Oaks churches began searching for a permanent facility last year when they opened a temporary winter shelter.
Last year, about 70 people were housed and fed at seven participating shelters during the 3 1/2 months they were open.
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