Shelter Grows to Offer Aid to Local Women

Lori Burgess, 38, said she was known only as the crazy lady under the freeway.

Shawn O’Neill, 29, lived away from her 10-year-old son in shantytowns and under bridges. Gisele Clayton, 35, and her two daughters had never slept through the night.

These women are tenants at Lighthouse Family Transitional Center, an Oxnard-based shelter offering homeless women a fresh start by giving them counseling, legal help and a chance to reunite with estranged children.

Since opening eight months ago, the shelter has grown to house 10 women and 10 children.

With a full house and a growing waiting list, Lighthouse broke ground Monday on a new facility at 150 N. Hayes St. in Oxnard.

The new facility, which will double the shelter’s capacity, is expected to open in 60 to 90 days.

“Too many women in Ventura County are caught in a vicious cycle of poverty, homelessness and despair,” said Suzie Hobba, director of Lighthouse.

The transformation of the residents there is no less than a miracle, Hobba said.

Only three months ago, Burgess lived under a freeway offramp near Simi Valley. During that time, her life as a housewife and mother of three dissolved into madness.

Now Burgess is the resident manager at the center.

“Today I have a peace that I’ve never had before,” Burgess said.

O’Neill had similar problems.

After getting involved with drugs, she said, she lost her job and her home. On days when she had no money, she would go to the supermarket and begin stuffing food in her mouth, not caring whether she got caught.

Homelessness finally led her to live under a bridge in Oregon, one of the lowest points in her life, she said.

“I don’t want to feel like I felt that day. I felt like a piece of trash in a dumpster,” O’Neill said. “Now I feel great. I feel like myself again. I feel like I can conquer the world.”

Clayton, a battered wife, feels much the same. “This place was a godsend to me,” she said. “My girls have never really slept the whole night through until they came here. Now I know things are going to be all right. I feel safe here.”