LifeHouse of Orange County

What do you say to a bunch of kids to keep them out of gangs? Or what do you say to a middle school student when you find out his older brother is in prison for 6 years for robbery? Let me hear your conversation with the 13 year old whose parents have to choose between paying the electric bill or buying food. Or the 12 year old girl who has to share one bedroom with her whole family and they can only use the kitchen every other day?

The other evening we had some friends over for dinner – we gave them the tour of our food pantry for the homeless and explained what we do – we explained that it was a lot of work when you combine everything we do to feed the homeless every week. Then, an idea what born!

Eddie is a counselor and Elsie is a teacher at a high-risk, poverty stricken middle school in Orange County. The kids’ stories are very similar to what I opened this blog with. Middle school is the target age for kids to join a ‘family’ of gang bangers; these kids have seen a lot; their own siblings have run-ins with the law, some are thrown in jail. For others, their parents can barely afford the rent if they are lucky enough to be in their own apartment – but be assured, these apartments are not luxury suites. Some families may live in a bedroom they rent from a homeowner along with 4 other families. Each family gets to use the kitchen on a rotating basis so they heating plates and microwaves to cook the family meals in the bedrooms.

One young lady, named B had asked Mr. Espinosa if she could start a club – a club to help the poor. He nearly cried – because, as he put it “she is poor but she has managed to turn her life around and walk away from involvement with gangs”. This same 14 year old recently lost her mother to alcoholism and struggles with her sadness over losing her – still … she wants to help others.

Thus, their new club was formed and is called Helping Hands and LifeHouse has the privilege of working alongside these kids. We bring boxes of food and supplies to the school each week and the kids pack the bags with food, snacks and drinks. We then give these bags away to the homeless. Instead of these students going out to the yard for lunch, they stay in the class room and pack bags. Mrs. Espinosa says there are amazing conversations that take place while the kids are packing – they talk about their own lives and circumstances as it relates to being poor, they angst over making sure each bag is evenly packed, they make sure their hands are clean – they solve math problems as they have to divide so many granola bars into so many bags, they read labels, and they have fun doing it.

Once again – we are honored and blessed at the lives that are touched through LifeHouse –

Noel and Julie Cruz

Dinner served al la downpour! This was one of the wettest days on record – even tho the next day was even worse. This Sunday was our special Christmas feast with ham and turkey and all the trimmings. We didn’t know how many people would show up but we prepared for the usual amount of men and women. They were almost all there – waiting under the eaves or in the bathrooms trying to stay dry.
When we pulled up, it was beginning to rain with great intensity. Our group assembled by the bathrooms and quickly set up canopies and tables with the help of our homeless friends. When we first show up on Sundays, it’s a flurry of activity – our homeless friends jump into the trailer and start pulling out tables and ice chests and boxes of books. Everything gets put in its place unless we decide to change things around a little and they very patiently wait for the orders of what goes where.
By the time we were done serving, every one of us was soaked. As much as we tried to keep everyone dry, it was not going to happen. I actually enjoyed playing in the rain. I was so glad we were able to get a hot meal for these guys and send them away with goodies for the evening.
This has been an interesting month. We have had people passing by on the bike trail curious about what we are doing – some have stopped to ask others just ride by. One family found us by googeling “feeding the homeless in the riverbed” and they found us. They are now supporting, cooking and serving right along with us! Linda and her family have been a huge blessing to our friends in the riverbed.
We have also had some wonderful donations from individuals and companies. Thanks to a great friend Ricky – he has introduced us to a group of the most generous people wanting to help out with what we are doing. One of his friends runs a phone accessory company and they had their employees bring clothes, blankets, shoes and more to donate to our guys. They also did a raffle where they were able to generate a cash donation for us. I unabashedly promote small businesses who want to help in the community and be a part of the fight against homelessness. Check out their website www.accessorygeeks.com and buy stuff for your mobile phones from them! They support LifeHouse!
As usual, we are always looking for new/clean socks, tarps, sleeping bags, tents, warm clothes, paperback books, hygiene items – email us if you have any of these items you would like to donate or if you would like to donate money.
Changed,
Noel and Julie Cruz

Each Sunday a small group of friends comes out to the riverbed to bring food and supplies to men and women who live outside, in or near the riverbed. They don’t do it because they have to – they do it because it’s the right thing to do.

Orange County is home to some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the world, yet literally at our doorstep are men and women who for whatever reason, don’t have a roof over their heads. We hope that by showing real people, it will begin to open your eyes to real lives, real people who need as much respect and dignity shown to them as any one else. You see, this is not just about a meal, it’s about sharing your lives with others. We love the people that we serve –

Dear Partners in our Journey,

LifeHouse of Orange County was born out of the pure love from our hearts to help those in need. We are accomplishing that! Each month our small group feeds over 200 meals and provides take-away groceries and supplies for homeless men and women who live in and around the riverbed here in Orange County. We serve our friends who live outside a wholesome, warm meal on Sunday afternoon and give them clothes, toiletries, sleeping bags, tents, feminine supplies, canned goods – whatever we can get to give away to them.

There are a staggering 35,000 people in Orange County who are homeless; some just recently, others who have been homeless for years. Whatever the reason for their homelessness – we want to make certain that these people are not forgotten or stepped over and ignored. They have real lives, real stories and most of them are not that different from anyone else.

We are always asking ourselves, what can we do to help alleviate homelessness? We are finding in our search, that there are so many others who also are trying to help end homelessness. Will we ever succeed? God only knows but we’ll stay on the journey as long as we can.

Please consider partnering with us as we attempt to make their lives just a little easier. If you would like to donate towards our endeavor to help end homelessness please send your check to LifeHouse Ministry to the address below. We are a 501(c) 3 nonprofit agency.

Noel and Julie Cruz

LifeHouse
18722 La Casita Ave
Yorba Linda, CA 92886
noel@lifehouseministryoc.com
www.lifehouseministryoc.com
Fed Tax ID: 91-2168191 – Funds for Families

It’s only 2 weeks away! Time flies toward the end of the year.

Once again, we’ll be serving our traditional Thanksgiving Feast to our homeless friends –

We can use help in a couple areas;

• Serving the meal on Sunday at 3:00 (we’re moving the time after this week due to the time change
• Cooking a part of the meal
o Turkey
o Ham
o Potatoes
o Side dish
o Stuffing
o Green salad/dressing

Last year we went through 5 turkeys and 3 hams. This year we expect the same – our crowd has grown since we moved to the riverbed from 15 people to about 50 on a weekly basis. They told us the word is out that we have a GREAT feed.
Funds are way low for us so we are asking that if you can cook it, can you also buy it? Second harvest usually has items that help alleviate some of the burden but they too are suffering from low donations. This year they have no turkeys to give out!

Let me know if you are able to pitch in this year! And thank you – oh yeah… we could ALWAYS good old cold cash to buy food and supplies! know that your money goes directly to helping the homeless – no bureaucracy here !!!

Part II

We will also be looking for an outlet for back packs and hygiene items to fill the back packs with for our Christmas feed. if anyone has any contacts for this send them my way!

As usual, we’re looking for sleeping bags and blankets and clean or new socks.

I have found that people who print or embroider tshirts and jackets usually have seconds on hand – if you know of anyone in that category, let me know or let them know we can use ALL their seconds!

If you feel the urge to drop off our cards at garage sales letting them know what we need, that is also much appreciated. I go to garage sales in my area and leave a list of items we could use if they have left over – I then go a pick those items up (thus ‘local’ garage sales”) and hand them out at the riverbed.

Here is what we can use:

Blankets
Sleeping bags
Tarps and sheets of heavy duty plastic
Socks – if they’re not clean, I’ll wash them.
Jackets
Gloves and mittens
Scarves
Camping gear
Canned food
Military can openers

The homeless issue is getting worse in Orange County and the new types of homeless people are alarming – educated folks, younger, stronger – these guys we hope will only be out for a very short while and then get back on their feet. We are formulating ways and resources to help!

I have to tell you this story just to help you understand how much difference what you are doing is making in even just one person’s life. It was only about 4 weeks ago that a young man named Jeremy came to our feed. A few of you remember him – young man with a goatee – he ate with us, we joked and talked with him as we do with all of our friends and then was on his way back to his homeless life. The following week, One of the regular guys (who also works for the city cleaning up the parks) came up to us and asked if we remembered Jeremy and said that they found him drowned in a nearby lake – probably just after he saw us – what this gentleman said to Noel has been ringing in my heart ever since. He said “do you realize that you made a difference in Jeremy’s life and fed him and were kind to him. You people are different, you seem to love what you are doing here in the riverbed and you’re here EVERY week. You touched Jeremy’s life”. This man could see who we are – that we LOVE those who Abba loves… it’s that simple.

Thank you Abba for the quality of friends that we have who are serving your poor – and who demonstrate an amazing amount of generosity and compassion.

Mark Horvath is on a one-man mission to give a voice to the homeless through video.
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InvisiblePeopletv

Over 15 years ago, Mark Horvath slept his last night on the pavement of Hollywood Boulevard and drank his last sip of alcohol. Today, Horvath is off the streets, but hasn’t forgotten what it felt like to struggle. His personal battle with homelessness inspired the creation of InvisiblePeopletv, a charitable grassroots project he launched in late 2007. His goal? To give a voice to the voiceless — those without a home.

As part of project, Horvath set out on two road trips across the U.S., documenting these stories along the way and using YouTube to spread awareness. And the awareness — and subsequent action — has spread with individuals stepping forward to provide shelter to homeless in their communities to Pepsi Refresh awarding him with a $50,000 grant to support his work to Ford Motor Co. providing Horvath with a car for his travels. In fact, Horvath completed amajor milestone yesterday — his second road trip yesterday with a presentation at the 140 Characters Conference for social media enthusiasts in Los Angeles.

(Here is an interview from the author of this article)

Kindness: What inspired you to launch InvisiblePeopletv?

Mark Horvath: I know what it’s like to be homeless, having experience it several times over the years. I’m still experiencing today. But there are two things you can do in this situation. You can give into ‘blanket time’ or do something about it. Since I’ve always been a firm believer that you don’t waste a good crisis, I decided that it was time to get up and do something. There is magic in helping someone less fortunate that you. Your problems actually end up going away.

The government has also done a horrible job educating the general public about homelessness. About 30% are under the age of 18, and about 80% of individuals and 90% of families are homeless due to economic reasons. Homelessness was never a career path for me. I don’t believe anyone says they’ll end up homeless.

Kindness: Why did you choose video as the medium for this message?

Horvath: Video changes the perceptions of homelessness. Non-profits traditionally only share success stories, and people end up detached from them. I wanted to show the truth. I also have a gift for video, and just felt like this was the right way to go even if I didn’t have the right hard drive or editing software. Who knew that so many people would want to watch videos about the homeless?

Kindness: Why did you choose YouTube as the platform?

Horvath: YouTube has a mobile application, which is great as 25% of our videos are being watched by phone. YouTube is also non-profit friendly, and has a partners program specifically for non-profits which allows you to raise money through donations and will feature your work on occasion. If fact, they featured us on the homepage for a day, and we surpassed 2 million views. It’s also a community with it’s own social network, which unfortunately, I haven’t had time to tap into.

Kindness: What kind of impact have you seen so far from you work?

Horvath: The greatest impact has been in housing. I met people that are no longer homeless because of my road trip this year. In Fayetteville, Ark., 40 acres of farmland have been set aside by local farmers for use by the community as long as it was to help the homeless. I try not to have any expectations about this work, and never would have dreamed that the farm would happen.

Kindness: What do you think has contributed most to InvisiblePeopletv’s success?

Horvath: We have a trust deficit in this country. People in today’s society are grasping for someone to trust. Who should we listen to for the solution? The bottom line: bureaucracy is killing people. For us, authenticity has replaced production value in our videos. They’re not edited. It’s reality. Viewers get that it’s the person’s story, both the good and bad. Homeless services often only want to tell a certain side of the story. But let’s just be real about it and tell the truth. I don’t have an agenda. I’m trying to help all non-profits. We all have to work together if we’re going to make a huge dent in poverty.

To learn more about Horvath’s work, visit InvisiblePeopletv.

To learn more about YouTube’s Non-Profit Program, visit http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits.
Tags:
YouTube

More amazing work for the homeless. check out invisible people and watch the videos

September 10, 2010
Dear Partners in our Journey,
LifeHouse Ministry of Orange County was born out of the pure love for our hearts to help those in need. And we have accomplished that! Each month we feed over 200 meals and provide take-away groceries and supplies for homeless men and women in the riverbed here in Orange County. We serve them a wholesome warm meal on Sunday afternoon and give them clothes, toiletries, sleeping bags, tents, feminine supplies, canned goods – whatever we can get to give away to them. We also provide groceries for about 160 family members each month who shop each week in our home. Some of these families have to choose between paying the utility bill and buying food. We have enough food to help make sure there is food on the table and things to pack in their kids’ lunches for school.
Although Noel and I spend some of our own money, we need others to partner with us in this endeavor. You can partner with us by sending us money! It costs us approximately $700 per month to run our ministry – this includes food from Second Harvest or other stores, gasoline, supplies that we have to buy, etc. 95% of our funds goes directly to our mission of providing food and supplies.
We are a 501c3 and we can write you letters of contribution for your tax write off. Please consider donating as much money as you can!
Forever grateful for your love, prayers and support.

To donate, simply go to the “how to donate” page and click on the paypal link. it’s easy!

Noel and Julie Cruz
LifeHouse Ministry of Orange County
www.lifehouseministryoc.com
info@lifehouseministryoc.com

For those of you who are reading our blog on a regular basis, you’ll notice a few changes. We no longer put pictures of our friends on the site. Even tho we always ask if we can post their pix, we respect and honor them at all times and sometimes it’s not such a good idea for them to have their faces on the internet. It’s just better to leave them off. But I will be more creative in my choice of pictures. I love hands and feet so you might see a bunch that actually belong to our homeless friends…

Now, on to our Sunday at the riverbed. What an amazing group of friends we have. Both the friends who help us from our church and the friends who come and share a meal with us. This Sunday I experienced an outpouring of love and grace from our homeless guys, more so than usual.  Some were missing for a few weeks and we found out that hospital stays and jail time was the cause of that. But they are back and for that we are glad. We had simple sandwiches this time but a boat load of sugar-laden cheese cakes and cream pies. We also gave out a lot of canned foods that our friends can take home to their camps in case they miss a meal at Mary’s Kitchen. When we have any leftovers, we give them to a gentleman who is s sponsor for a group rehab house down the street. So the food and supplies that we have touches so many people!

Half way through the lunch, a  couple came up on bikes and saw the large crowd gathered there and wanted to know who we were and how they too can help. So many people just want to be generous and want to find a way to show compassion. We want to be the bridge for those with a generous and compassionate heart but no place to express it. We will continue to build a bridge between communities and help people to see first hand the great personalities and people on both sides of the lunch table!

The weather is getting cooler so we’re now looking for more sleeping bags and tents. They also do sweeps along the riverbed and throw away these items.  Although they get warnings sometimes folks dont get the messages till it’s too late and then they are left without any shelter. If you can help us with small tents and sleeping bags, check out how to donate page above.

And lastly, even tho we get negative attention at times, we feel so much mercy, love and compassion from our homeless friends who really see the motivations of our hearts.  Nothing feels quite like the hugs we get when we get there and when we leave. My cup is full when I drive away! And if that’s selfish, then I am one totally selfish person!

Thanks for reading! and if anyone out there knows how to un-push the insert picture button on WordPress…. lemme know!

Hugs



Surprised (again) by the Holy Spirit

We have a pantry set up in the garage to house all the food we serve to the homeless community in the riverbed. And since we do, why not open it up to serve families that we know who are struggling to make ends meet – after all, we have plenty of food – fresh, frozen, canned …

We currently have 12 families that come each week. One of the more interesting stories is there was a Hispanic family who just happened to be driving by and noticed food in our garage. She asked Noel in Spanish if we sold food. No, we don’t but do you need food? He proceeded to explain what it is that we do and invited her to take food for the week – she’s been with us ever since – shopping weekly. Today, she came to shop with her elderly mom. A little lady from a small town in another country – she hugged me and said something in my ear that sounded suspiciously like a blessing – but I don’t speak Spanish so she could have been saying, “your zipper is open” for all I know. After this family shopped she asked me  if she and her mom could pray for us. I had another friend with me so we all held hands and she began to pray – these women prayed a prayer that deeply touched my soul. I have no idea what they said but they were interceding for me and Noel and this ministry, praying fervently to Abba. Tears welled up in my eyes and my friend touched deeply as well.

My life has become a freeway of very interesting intersections – you’re not supposed to slow down on the freeway, but in this metaphor, but that’s what seems to be happening. I go my this highway at a rapid rate of speed – doing good, what we think God has called us to do but sometimes missing the scenery around us/me. Then comes the intersection and the stop sign and a ginormous blessing from the most unlikely sources! She didn’t speak my native tongue but spoke the ancient language of the Holy Spirit.

While I’m on the subject of being blessed. We were at the riverbed a couple weeks ago – we bring lunch to the homeless community on Sundays when the local soup kitchen is closed. While we were driving by to make the u-turn, one of our friends who I call The Captain, was peddling feverishly in the opposite direction – we got to the park, set up and began to serve when he came flying up on his bike to us with a package in his hand…. Breathlessly he said – “here, I caught some BIG ol’ (expletive) catfish and I thought you’d like these!! He handed us two big fillets wrapped up. Ah… again, my heart swells with joy from these amazing encounters…none of them expected and all of them change our lives.