Cornerstone Honors Those Who Help Care for Homeless

Fran Hart considers herself fortunate.

And that, she said, is one reason she has spent 14 years as a volunteer working on behalf of the mentally ill in the San Fernando Valley.

“I’m one of the fortunate people in the world, and it gives me a good feeling about myself . . . to help others,” said Hart, 65, of Woodland Hills.

Hart was one of 10 individuals and businesses honored this week by Cornerstone, a Van Nuys program that each day provides 60 or more mentally ill homeless people with food, a shower, a place to wash clothes and advice about where to turn for other services.

Hart spends four days a week at Cornerstone helping clients apply for Social Security disability benefits. If those applications are rejected, as they often are, she helps the clients assemble the medical records and other documentation they need to win an appeal.

“She’s very good,” said Ludelia Cowan, Cornerstone’s executive director. “She wins 99% of her cases because she gets them well-documented.”

The wife of a retired military officer, Hart volunteered for the San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center before working at Cornerstone.

“It gives me something to do,” she said.

Other honorees were: Roseanne Cameron of Van Nuys, who for the past year has answered telephones and assisted clients; Ivan Perry of Burbank, who has helped serve meals and assisted the program’s clients with writing tasks for the past seven months, and Odell Williams of Pacoima, who uses his truck to transport donated foods to the center.

Business honorees were: Hughes grocery stores in Sherman Oaks and Van Nuys, for donating vegetables, fruit and baked goods; The Good Earth restaurant of Northridge, for donating pastries; Dr. Deli and the Salad Queen, a Van Nuys restaurant, for donating salads.