Agency for Homeless Marks 10th Anniversary

Jim Miller’s effort 10 years ago to help a group of families living in Garden Grove Park find housing has blossomed into a full-time commitment to combatting homelessness.

“I started this organization because I felt there was a need out there,” said Miller, a former Huntington Beach accountant who founded Shelter for the Homeless in 1985 and serves as the organization’s executive director. “It sort of grew over the years, but there’s still a lot of needs.”

Miller’s small grass-roots effort has grown into one of the area’s key organizations for the homeless, with 25 shelters across Southern California. Miller, who once conducted a solitary program to get transients off the streets, now heads an organization that has 30 staff members, 300 volunteers and a $1.2 million annual budget--90% of which goes toward providing services.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Westminster-based organization, about 100 staff members, volunteers, clients and other advocates for the homeless gathered for a picnic Sunday at Liberty Park.

“We’re here to honor Jim for his commitment,” said Gayle Bloomingdale, who works as a consultant for the nonprofit organization. “He’s a real hero. He started out bringing people to his home. And he still drives around town, picking up people living under highway overpasses.”

Miller first began taking food to homeless families at Garden Grove Park in 1984. He formed Shelter for the Homeless a year later and received his first $14,000 grant from the city of Westminster in 1986.

Last year, Shelter for the Homeless provided more than 85,000 nights of emergency and transitional shelter to about 2,700 homeless people in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The agency also provides counseling, job training, education and self-esteem classes for its clients.

“They point a lot of people in the right direction,” said Bruce Monson, who lived behind a church before he was directed to one of the agency’s shelters in Westminster last year. “Without a program like this, I could very well still be on the streets. It’s been a total blessing.”