LAGUNA HILLS : Saddleback Outreach Can Break the Slide

The people helped by the Saddleback Community Outreach are just average folks. Most of them are former middle-class homeowners, “the kind of people who could be and were your neighbors,” said Ray Havert, who founded the Laguna Hills charity four years ago.

“The reality of today is that there are far more people living on a hand-to-mouth basis than just a few years ago,” Havert said. “These are people living on a hand-to-mouth basis and then, when any little thing happens, boom, they’re in a world of trouble.”

The economic slide begins with a drama that has become mind-numbingly familiar: The breadwinner loses a job and/or some family member has a major medical problem. The bills don’t get paid, then the utilities, then rent and food. The family faces hunger and eviction.

This is where the Saddleback Community Outreach steps in.

“We provide housing assistance to south Orange County,” Havert said. “We try to keep people from being evicted, and if they’re already evicted, we try to help them find a new place to live.”

For those who need clothes, the group provides vouchers to local thrift stores. When a utility shut-off notice is received, the charity can help. If a person needs gas to get to a doctor or look for a job, Saddleback Community Outreach is there.

There are limits to what the group can do. They can’t cover a $3,000 monthly mortgage payment. Their entire monthly budget for helping the desperate rent cases is about $1,000 to $2,000.

Yet somehow, the charity helped about 300 families in 1992, paying out about $78,000 in rent, lodging and loans. The group received about $128,000 in donations last year, Havert said, with the balance going for food, clothing, other assistance and administrative costs.

Most of the families helped by the group are single women with children, but many two-parent families also find themselves at the charity’s door. All families--minority, single parent or otherwise--are welcomed.

Their numbers are growing every year, Havert said. So far in 1993, the group is seeing a 25% increase in demand for its services.

Unfortunately, donations are not seeing a proportional increase. Like many other charities, the state’s economic decline has sent the Saddleback Community Outreach scrambling for donations.

“Looking at our monthly budget for emergency rental assistance makes me feel bad,” Havert said. “The sad thing is that one individual could probably write a check” of $2,000 to cover the monthly rental budget and then some.

What the charity does have is a network of about 125 volunteers who help organize fund-raising events throughout the year.

“Our mission is to help people who help themselves by giving them hope,” Havert said.

Anyone looking for help from the charity or those wishing to make a donation can contact the Saddleback Community Outreach at (714) 380-8144.