Homeless Warming to Shelter Program

With word about a shelter program circulating and cold weather descending, Ventura’s homeless women and families began slowly to seek some relief.

“One of the things about being homeless is that you don’t necessarily have access to the same channels of information as others,” said Rick Pearson, executive director of Project Understanding, the nonprofit homeless services agency that is coordinating the shelter among five churches and one synagogue in Ventura.

Workers at county and other local agencies that provide services to the homeless have been handing out fliers and telling clients about the shelter program since it began last Tuesday, Pearson said. Under the program, one of the churches or the synagogue serves as a shelter site each night, providing sleeping room for up to 25.

A mother and her 13-year-old son and another woman sought relief Sunday at College United Methodist Church on Baylor Drive. And they got more than just a warm meal and a mat to sleep on.

Sunday, the first night the church served as a shelter site, was also the night for the church’s annual Christmas celebration.

“It is a privilege to have these guests from Project Understanding,” said the Rev. Phyllis Tyler. “It was an opportunity, in a sense, to have a cross-cultural experience . . . of people who have homes and those who don’t.”

Pearson said he heard from agencies Monday that indicated more people will be looking for relief from the cold temperatures, which forecasters predict will dip below freezing in many areas.

A shelter for single men is expected to open in Ventura in mid-January after asbestos abatement is complete.