Center Offers Hope for the Homeless : Services: Project Understanding has helped thousands, providing food, shelter, clothing, health care, bus tokens, haircuts and incentive.

For 10 years Brian Davis lived recklessly, scrounging in the streets for survival or serving time in jail for late night robberies he committed to support his cocaine and alcohol addictions.

Homeless, penniless and frustrated by a series of fruitless encounters with social service agencies, Davis turned to Ventura’s Project Understanding, a nonprofit center for the homeless.

Now, with the support of a new program at the center that helps the needy get government aid, the 32-year-old is drug-free and has a home. And soon he may be entering a training program to gain office skills to help him get a job.

“I really couldn’t have done it without them,” he said, sitting on the sofa in his apartment on a quiet street near Ventura Avenue.

Davis was helped by one of the ever-expanding range of programs provided by Project Understanding, a church-supported center housed in an old fire station along Ventura Avenue.

“We’re constantly challenged to do more with what we have,” Executive Director Rick Pearson said. “If someone is willing to volunteer a service, we’ll take it.”

Project Understanding serves thousands of homeless people each year with a staff of 10 and a corps of volunteers, Pearson said.

Those seeking aid can find a range of services under the center’s large umbrella of programs.

In addition to food and shelter, the 16-year-old center provides free showers, laundry facilities and clothing, a mail and message center, bus tokens, health care and haircuts.

The agency oversees operations at the 18-bed Vince Corner Family Shelter next door, the only homeless shelter in Ventura. Volunteers from the 27 churches in the Project Understanding network alternate weeks staffing the shelter, which is open from September through May.

“Sitting in here for a day is like a crash course in social work,” said Bob Costello, one of two case workers who helps those trying to find housing or qualify for government aid. “You see everything--AIDS, drugs, marital problems--and you try to help these people, as long as they want to be helped, without judgment.”

Three times a week the center’s pantry, called Focus on Food, provides the needy with bread, fruit, peanut butter, rice, beans and other groceries.

The back half of the building houses an afternoon tutoring program for neighborhood children. During the summer, volunteers teach the children crafts and take them on field trips to the zoo, the beach and the library.

“We really wanted to do something for kids in this community,” said Mary Pat McDonald, a high school student from Ojai who volunteered to work a week at the center.

And the needy can get vouchers redeemable for free clothing at the center’s thrift store on Main Street near Seaward Avenue.

“Of all of the programs available, Project Understanding offers the most diverse range of services,” said Jewel Pedi, executive director of Food Share. “They are saints wearing many halos.”

Food Share, the county’s largest food bank, began as a tiny food distribution center at Project Understanding.

“They are a very caring group of people and very practical-minded,” said Mary Ann Decaen, coordinator of community services for Catholic Charities of Ventura County. “They get things done and don’t wait for the bureaucracy to pass by.”

Despite the range of services offered, the center helps only a fraction of the county’s estimated 4,000 to 6,000 homeless people, Pearson said.

On a recent morning, a flood of hungry clients rushed into the center, crowding around a table laden with bread, a large tub of peanut butter and several toasters.

Deanne LoBosco, 26, rolled up on her bicycle, deposited her 2-year-old son Garrett at the table and headed for the bathroom. Each day LoBosco straps an oversize helmet on her son and pedals up from the Ventura River bottom, where they live, to shower and pick up her mail.

Many of Project Understanding’s clients live along the river bed, a brambly, overgrown thicket dotted with homeless encampments.

LoBosco said her main goal is to find a place to live so that she can retrieve her 5-year-old daughter, who is now living with relatives in San Bernardino.

“With the help of this place, I know we will all be back together soon,” she said.

Across the hall in the men’s room, a man named Bill, who wouldn’t give his last name, hummed while shaving.

The 35-year-old lives in a wheezy old Buick station wagon and relies on the center for his daily shower. He said he has been working for a month as a mortgage banker in Oxnard but has not made enough money to get an apartment.

“As soon as my first deal goes though, I’ll be back on my feet,” he said, running a comb through his wet hair.

Moments later he emerged from the restroom, smelling of after-shave and smartly dressed in blue-striped shirt and khaki pants, two brightly colored ties thrown around his neck. He decided on the more subdued one and sat down to work on the knot, while revealing sockless, loafer-clad feet.

“I’m just waiting for the socks to dry,” he explained, getting up to check the dryer. Outside, James LaCaine, 40, immersed himself in a dog-eared science-fiction novel perched on top of a shopping cart packed with clothing and books. A large brown dog strained at its leash, anchored to the cart, while another dog and her litter snuggled nearby.

LaCaine was waiting to get food for his pets, another service provided by the center. “I’m trying to give them away,” he said.

As the sun beat down, Tom Martinez, 22, stretched out sleepily in a sliver of shade against the side of the center, his head resting on a small black and red bag containing his toiletries.

Martinez, who has been homeless for about three weeks, said he had just been hired as a waiter at a local hotel, and is hoping to be off the streets soon.

“It’s been interesting,” he said. “But I’m ready for a warm bed.”