2 Community Relief Agencies Teeter on Edge of Insolvency : Social services: El Monte food bank gets temporary help, but Azusa residence for homeless is far behind in its mortgage.

Thanks in part to an anonymous donor, an El Monte social service center evicted last month after failing to pay rent is back in business. But in nearby Azusa, a church-based homeless shelter mired in its own financial morass nervously awaits foreclosure.

The financial instability of the two private facilities is typical of many similar centers countywide that are teetering on the brink of insolvency in tight economic times, a social service advocate said.

In El Monte, Interfaith Community Outreach began doling out food bags and medical services last week from its new office at 2457 Durfee Ave., which is half a mile from the old facility but more than four times smaller. An anonymous donor contributed $5,000 to help pay the first three months rent, executive director Sylvia Franco said.

“I really, truly believe that if you’re doing good things in the community, there are lots of good people who will respond to you,” Franco said of the mysterious benefactor, who contacted El Monte Mayor Patricia Wallach about the donation. “I hope to God I don’t disappoint them, and that I can get this program to a place where we have our own money coming in.”

When a five-year seed grant from the San Gabriel Valley Presbytery dried up last spring and the Presbytery severed formal ties with Interfaith, the organization found itself sorely short on cash, Franco said.

Three months--or $6,600--in arrears on rent, Interfaith was evicted Jan. 6 from its location at 2140 Durfee Ave. The agency still owes all that back rent.

Interfaith is preparing to submit several grant applications, but Franco concedes that she is uncertain where the money will come from to keep the new building open after the $5,000 gift runs out at the end of April, even though rent at the new facility is somewhat cheaper at $1,600 a month.

“We have just got to go with it. We have to bite the bullet,” said Franco, optimistic that community members like the anonymous donor will continue to support her efforts.

The move to a smaller office has affected Interfaith’s services. Franco served hot meals daily out of the old building, but Interfaith’s new home has no cooking facilities. Franco hopes to put coolers and a commercial-size stove under an awning in the concrete parking lot.

Regardless of the setbacks, Franco said she is optimistic that Interfaith will rebound from its financial crisis.

A church-based shelter for homeless men operating the last eight years in Azusa may face a more uncertain future. Peregrinos de Emaus has not made a payment on its mortgage in nine months, and could face imminent foreclosure.

Founded in 1985 with support from St. Frances of Rome Church, the shelter at 449 N. Soldano Ave. has taken in more than 400 men over the years, said Matilde Paez, a Nicaraguan woman who launched the project after housing troubled youths in her garage for two years.

Eight to 10 men typically live for short periods at the shelter, which offers religious instruction and a strict environment that prohibits alcohol or drug use and requires residents to participate in upkeep of the house, said shelter spokeswoman Charlene DesRochers.

The organization has relied for years on church funding and small donations from low-income Azusa residents, but Paez said the money has all but dried up, as many community donors find themselves jobless.

“Now it’s hard. Nobody is helping,” said Paez, 55. “Eight years of work could disappear.”

Paez and clergy members who supported her formed the organization and purchased the house for $86,000 in 1985, with a steep 16% loan rate, she said.

Peregrinos has not made the $1,140 monthly housing payment since May, said Gladys Aguilar, a loan officer with Westwood-based Advanced Funding. Although Aguilar said she had no indication when a notice of default might be issued, investors will take action at some point.

“It’s up to the investors to make the decision. So far, they’ve been willing to wait and see if (Peregrinos) can come up with the money,” Aguilar said. “They are being extremely tolerant in this case. But you never know. People like to get some return from their money.”

Peregrinos is having a benefit dinner, at $25 a person, at 5 tonight at the Baldwin Park Hilton, where two church choirs will perform, DesRochers said. Information: (818) 303-5187.

Although Azusa Mayor Eugene F. Moses said the city has no money to offer Peregrinos, he has been busily stumping for private donations for the shelter and plans to attend the benefit along with several other city officials, councilmen and clergy.

The shelter has done a lot for the people of Azusa, Moses said. “If (it) were to close, I believe it would not only be a loss for the city but for the federal government and all governments in unity. Without these private entities, it would be hard to say what’s going to happen in the future.”

There are dwindling public programs to help pay off mortgage and other costs that shelters face, according to an official with Shelter Partnership Inc., which provides shelters and other service providers throughout the county--including Peregrinos--with legal advice and directs them to funding sources.

“We try really hard to get them public monies so they don’t have any debt service at all,” said Ruth Schwartz, executive director of Shelter Partnership in Los Angeles. “It’s really hard to run a free shelter if you have to pay a lease or mortgage payments to a bank.”

The state’s Emergency Shelter Program has a $2-million statewide budget this fiscal year, compared to $25 million a few years ago, Schwartz said. And the budget of the Federal Emergency Shelter Grant program was cut from $73 million last year to $50 million this fiscal year.

At the local government level, Schwartz said, “We’ve seen major cuts in programs, and city and county budgets. I think we’re going to see more shelters closing.”

As for private funding sources, like those Peregrinos and Interfaith have relied on, “That’s not going great guns either,” Schwartz said.

The agencies find themselves in a bind, she said. “They’re forced to spend 150% of their time on developing their services. Doing public or private fund-raising often requires a full-time person, so that function oftentimes goes unfilled.”