Countywide : Aid Program Taking Grant Applications
The Orange County Emergency Food and Shelter Program is accepting applications for 1993 grants to supplement and extend existing local programs.
About $1 million in federal grants is available, according to Mary Stacey, chairwoman of the local Federal Emergency Management Agency board, which administers the program, and a United Way of Orange County employee.
Stacey said that so far, more than 38 nonprofit organizations or local government agencies have requested grant applications.
The grants are used to provide emergency food and shelter only and cannot be used for administrative expansions.
“We have to make sure the money will be used to feed the hungry and house the homeless,” Stacey said.
Since September, when Santa Ana city officials banned the homeless from sleeping on the grounds surrounding the Civic Center, most county emergency shelters are filled by early evening.
“It’s just going to get worse once the cold weather hits,” Stacey said. “Most shelters are over-impacted now. One million (dollars) is not enough to meet the needs for emergency shelter in the county, but it’s all we have.”
The deadline for grant applications is Nov. 13. Applications may be obtained at the United Way of Orange County, 18012 Mitchell Ave. South, Irvine. For more information, call (714) 263-6104.
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