1) Group Shelter, including Seasonal, Day, Case Managed, and Shelter Voucher
2) Food- Supplemental (pantry) & Congregate (served)
3) Rent & Mortgage and Utilities Assistance

Catholic Charities will provide the fiscal administration of the funds on behalf of the local board.

The information below details eligibility and application information for each of the programs.

1) Group Shelter

To be eligible for group shelter funds, you must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Non-profit, tax-exempt status
• Recent history/track records of providing emergency shelter services within the last two calendar years
• Complies with fire, safety and health standards
• No religious rituals or requirements attached to receipt of services
• No individual, family, or household may be charged a fee for service with relation to assistance received under EFSP
• Funds can only be used to serve the homeless in general rather than targeted groups (gender, age and family composition are not considered targeted groups)
• Compliance with local and state zoning requirements

To apply for group shelter funds, it is required that your organization attends application training. Trainings will be held on Monday, January 29, 2007 and Wednesday, January 31, 2007. Contact Marion Keller at MKeller@ccdsd.org to RSVP and for location details.

2) Congregate & Supplemental Food

The funds for Congregate Food are for food and limited amounts of consumable supplies essential to mass feeding (plastic cups, utensils, detergent, etc.). The funding is intended to provide for daily, basic, nutritional meal costs on an ongoing basis. If you are awarded funding for your congregate food program, payments will only be made to vendors, not to your agency.

The funds for Supplemental Food are used to purchase pantry items such as: beef stew, peanut butter, green beans, canned tuna and baked beans. Agencies can apply to be allocated a certain amount of food items for their pantry program.

Eligibility requirements for both food programs are as follows: organizations must have non-profit status for at least one year; have a functioning board; have an established accounting system; conduct annual audits; provide non-discriminatory assistance to needy individuals in the organization’s zip code (Note: if you have clientele requirements or restrictions, such as age, you do not qualify); demonstrate ability to deliver said program; and provide case management or referrals to case management agencies.

To receive an application, please e-mail Nani Oesterle- woesterle@uwsd.org or call 858-636-4178. In addition, application training will be available for organizations to receive technical assistance:

EFSP Congregate and Supplemental Food Technical Assistance (TA) Workshop
DATE: January 30, 2007
TIME: 9:00 - 10:00 AM
LOCATION: Alpha Behavioral Health Services
4069 30th Street (Upstairs Conference Room)
New applicants are required to attend; previous applicants are encouraged. Applications may be obtained at this training. Please RSVP to: Scott Suckow at ssuckow@mhasd.org

3) Rent & Mortgage

The Emergency Food and Shelter Program provides assistance to individuals or families who are in danger of losing their residence. Limited emergency rent, mortgage, and water utility assistance is afforded for individuals or families provided certain criteria are met as established both nationally and locally. Agencies interested in participating in this program must attend a mandatory training. The training will be Wednesday, February 7th from 9:30 am-3:00 pm at the United Way. You must contact Mary Ryan (mcryan26@yahoo.com) or Ruby Featherly (rubysf659@aol.com) to RSVP in advance.

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For any additional questions or information on the EFSP Board, please contact Nani Au Oesterle at the United Way of San Diego County at woesterle@uwsd.org or 858-636-4178.

image courtesy of Economic Roundtable.

Currently the Homeless Ministry is striving to build personal relationships with every homeless person in Downtown San Diego, through meeting them where they live to provide physical, emotional, and spiritual fulfillment.

For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’ Deuteronomy 15:11

The Bread of Life reaches out on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights throughout the year, except on holidays. They meet together in the parking lot behind the First Presbyterian Church downtown at 3rd and Elm Street between 7:30 and 7:45pm. The primary task of the outreach is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ (the Great Commission).

Moreover, according to Matthew 25, Jesus invited those who cared for the poorest and least among us, into the Kingdom of Heaven. Providing for their basic physical needs is an integral part of the ministry, allowing us to establish a relationship with the people we meet on the streets. Thus opening a door for the Gospel based on trust and consistency. We also encourage and invite those we come in contact with to attend Church Without Walls in Balboa Park.

Please feel free to bring the following items:

Clean socks (new or used)
Blankets
Water, juice, etc…
Clothing items appropriate for the homeless population
Pre-packaged cookies etc…

If you would like more information about the Homeless Ministry, and/or how to get involved then contact Bread of Life.

The City’s Homeless Adminstrator represents the City on regional homeless committees, including the San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless, the San Diego Regional Continuum of Care Council and the East Village Redevelopment Homeless Advisory Committee.

The Homeless Services Program is part of the Community Services Division of the City’s Community and Economic Development Department. The City works in a joint collaboration with the County of San Diego to provide mainstream resources to establish a continuum of care for episodic, transitional and chronic homeless individuals and families in the area.

For specific shelter and service information, call the homeless service agencies directly or call the INFO LINE of San Diego

The Pregnancy Care Center exist to provide help for women and teens struggling with a crisis pregnancy. Volunteer receptionists, medical support and peer advisors interact with clients on a daily basis, offering a listening ear, accurate information, referrals, and emotional, spiritual and physical support.

East County Pregnancy Care Center
677 South Magnolia Ave.
El Cajon , CA 92020
619-442-4357
www.ecpcc.org

The law is there to protect people from unsafe food, we can not ignore it because it does not suit us. God has put the authorities in place for the welfare of the whole society. Our ministry was not so much about feeding them food (for many are not lacking) but to bring them the Gospel. If we can not bring the Gospel without a home-made burrito, then we were never bringing the Gospel at all.

My eternal gratitude to those who have helped make many a burrito these past 18 months. Starting out in a kitchen too small for all of us to fit into, to a kitchen that could be used to feed the entire church (which it has). This has been an amazing journey.

The next step for burritos and socks is unclear. We will still gather together to go downtown with whatever supplies we are permitted but what that develops into is yet to be seen. I encourage all of you to join us as we continue this ministry in its new season.

Also, we will be moving Burritos and Socks to Monday nights next week. We will still meet at the Goodmanson’s this week on Thursday but will meet at Marc Hutchinson’s the following Monday. Consiquently, the Monday night group will now meet at Marc’s on Thursday (next week)

From BurritoAndSocks.com

Can I sell food I make at home?
No. All food sold or given away to the public must be prepared and stored at a commercial food establishment with a valid public health permit.

Romans 13:1-7 says “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment…”

Therefore, are we in sin because we willinging violate the local laws established by the God appointed authorities? At the same time, are we to submit to tyrants and evil-doers? Were those who helped free slaves, sinning? What about those who resisted the Nazis?

According to the California Uniform Retail Food Facilities Law, Division 104 Environmental Health, Part 7 Retail Food, Section 114015 Returned Food/ Food Prepared in Private Homes, Paragraph 4

(4) Nonperishable, prepackaged food maybe given away, sold, or handled from a private home. For puposes of this paragraph only: (A) “nonperishable food” means a food that is not a potentially hazardous food, and that does not show signs of spoiling, becoming rancid, or developing objectionable odors during storage at ambient temperatures; and (B) no food that has exceeded the labeled shelf life date recommended by the manufacturer shall be deemed to be “nonperishable”.

More “facts”…

114015. Returned Food - Food Prepared in Private Homes
(3) Except as provided in paragraph (4), a private home shall not be used for the purpose of giving away, selling, or handling food at retail, as defined in Section 113875.113875. Retail
“Retail” means the storing, preparing, serving, manufacturing, packaging, transporting, salvaging, or otherwise handling food for dispensing or sale directly to the consumer.

114435. Donations of Food to Charity
Any food facility may donate, free of charge, food to a food bank or to any other nonprofit charitable organization for distribution to persons free of charge.

114440. Definition of Nonprofit Charitable Organization
For the purposes of this article, “nonprofit charitable organization” means any organization that was organized and is operating for charitable purposes and meets the requirements of Section 214 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.

It could be argued that since we are not “dispensing to the consumer” we are not violating any laws. But is consumer defined as the person eating the food? If so, then we could not feed our families from our own home.

The other issue is, if we are violating the law, are we justified? It’s good to feed the homeless but we don’t have to make burritos to feed them. We could buy pre-packaged food to hand out, but we can make more burritos than we can buy for the same money. But who are we serving then, us or God?

Recent statistics show that there are over 2000 homeless teens, throwaways and runaways roaming the streets of San Diego. To make matters worse, a number of these teens are pregnant. Can you imagine a homeless teen bringing a baby into the world with little or no help? Who will help these homeless teens? We will. - Care House

Care House is a Christian organization dedicated to serving homeless teens, teens in crisis and young moms in crisis pregnancies throughout San Diego county. They meet the kids where they are, love them unconditionally, provide for their needs as best they can, and tell them about Jesus. They do this through a network of churches, faithful supporters, and people like you.

Find out more by visiting the Care House Life Ministries website. This is the first in a series of “In the Spotlight” articles. Future articles will be more indepth but you have to start somewhere. If you have an orginization that you think would be good to spotlight, let me know. We have plenty of need for more information.

3940 4th Ave. #130
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 299-2777
http://carehouselife.org/