Experienced Help

Five years ago, a homeless man showed up at the door of Covering Wings seeking a little warmth.

Workers at the Huntington Beach agency gave Bob O’Brien a specially designed survival blanket, some clothing and other necessities, then sent him on his way. But he kept coming back.

O’Brien returned to Covering Wings not for more help but to lend a hand to others who are homeless.

Although O’Brien’s whereabouts at night are often a mystery, almost every weekday he can be found in the agency’s cramped offices, sorting through bags of old clothing, greeting clients, stuffing envelopes and doing odd jobs.

“He does whatever needs to be done,” said Eddie Teague, director of operations for Covering Wings. “I suspect he’s not really a person. I think he’s an angel.”

Volunteering at Covering Wings has given O’Brien a newfound purpose, he says.

“I like the place; I like the spirit of it,” he said. “And it’s something for me to do.”

When homeless clients enter the offices in the 9000 block of Adams Avenue, O’Brien can share survival skills and direct them to local shelters and food kitchens where they can get a hot meal. He puts them at ease in a way not possible for volunteers with homes to go to at night.

“There’s been a couple of times I didn’t know where to go to eat,” O’Brien said.

He can also show homeless people how to use one of Covering Wing’s survival blankets--he sleeps on one himself.

“These things are a trip,” said O’Brien, unsnapping the stiff silver canvas. “They’re really handy, and they’re warm.”

In 1985, Covering Wings founder Ray Fico and his wife, Sarah, decided that, instead of exchanging Christmas presents, they would buy blankets for the homeless. Fico, who at the time lived in Anaheim Hills and owned an appliance store in Huntington Beach, then discovered another way to spread some warmth.

“We noticed that when it rained, [homeless] people were getting wet,” Fico said. “Regular blankets would get soaked through, so people would just throw them in the dumpster.”

Fico built a better blanket, designing a waterproof polyethylene model he called “The Protector,” which could be converted into a poncho or pup tent in case of rain.

Now 79 and retired to Palm Springs, Fico still visits Covering Wings once a month and serves as the agency’s advisor.

Meanwhile, thanks to a growing network of 5,000 individuals and church groups, the blanket giveaway has grown. The agency distributes more than 20,000 blankets a year, not only giving them to street people all over Southern California but also selling them at little or no cost to other shelters.

“You can pretty much go into any area populated by the homeless and see those silver blankets,” said Lisa McDaniel, director of Red Wagon, a homeless outreach program operated by Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa.

Volunteers from Red Wagon give away six protectors and six cotton blankets every Monday to homeless people who live near the Civic Center in Santa Ana. The agency pays Covering Wings $2 to $3.50 a blanket to cover costs, a fee sometimes waived when Red Wagon’s funds are short.

The people at Covering Wings are “always trying to see what more they can do to make the lives of the homeless easier,” McDaniel said.

On Red Wagon’s blanket days, there’s often homeless people waiting in the Civic Center parking lot.

“We have a gentleman who gives out the blankets, and he gets swarmed sometimes, especially this time of year,” said McDaniel said, adding that has seen homeless people pushing carts covered by the silver blankets, protecting their belongings.

O’Brien says he uses his blanket as a ground cover during the warmer months and rolls himself in it during the wet, cold months of winter.

With his bushy salt-and-pepper beard, O’Brien looks older than his 46 years. Living on the street has been hard, but he says he’s been homeless by choice for nearly two decades.

“It’s a preference for me; I like the outdoors,” he said.

Recently, he’s been spending nights on the grounds of a local church.

Everything he owns--his mess kit, a few pieces of clothing, some freeze-dried food, a tiny camper stove--fits into a backpack. He collects and recycles cans for pocket money. When the urge hits, he can pick up and go where he wants, he says, heading up the coast to Northern California or back East to Massachusetts, which he still considers home (he was born there, and his family moved to California when he was 3).

O’Brien is hazy on some details of his life. He said that a stint working at a shelter in Barstow ended abruptly when he was asked to leave, and he talks of a bout with cancer that may or may not be in remission.

Covering Wings’ Teague doesn’t care about O’Brien’s history, only that O’Brien is reliable, helping around the agency as if he were a paid employee.

“Just his being here makes it easy for me,” Teague said. “If I have anything else I have to do during the day, I can leave him here by himself to guard the place. He’s so trustworthy.”

Since starting Covering Wings, Ray Fico has welcomed homeless volunteers to sort clothes and do other tasks. Some like to work in exchange for a blanket.

“It makes them feel they’re wanted, and that they’re somebody,” Fico said.

Yet none has given more time, or stayed as long, as O’Brien. He has helped Covering Wings expand, sorting and stocking items and building shelves for donations. The small headquarters in the back of a strip mall is crammed.

O’Brien helps clients pick through bins of socks, knit caps, hotel soaps.

Cold weather sends more people to the agency in search of socks, jackets and blankets, making the holiday season especially busy.

“Unless you’ve been stuck out there with nothing, you don’t know how to get anything,” O’Brien said. “That’s when it’s difficult.”

To volunteer or to make a donation of food, clothing or funds to Covering Wings, call (714) 968-3358. The agency, at 9065 1/2 Adams Ave., Huntington Beach, is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays for distribution, and other hours by appointment.

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