Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week

This year, Family Promise of Orange County is partnering with the Orange County United Way and United to End Homelessness for National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, November 15-22, 2020.

Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week is an annual program where people come together across the country to raise awareness and draw attention to the epidemics of hunger and homelessness in the United States.

This year, it is more important than ever to educate the community on what is essential to end homelessness, as well as the simple actions that anyone can take to help make a difference.

Be sure to follow us on social media @ocfamilypromise to follow along November 15-22 and learn more about this important campaign.

For more information, you can also visit https://hhweek.org/.

Fall 2020 Program Update

Whew! It’s been a little while hasn’t it? It’s been a busy yet wonderful past few months around the FPOC office.

In August, our Annual Gala went virtual for the FIRST TIME EVER. Thanks goes out to our wonderful sponsors, our gracious donors, and supporters like you who bid on our Silent Auction items and tuned into our Live Event. When the dust settled Boots & Bling Virtual Fling raised an awesome $116,498 for our families!

Our congregational rotation unfortunately remains closed due the COVID-19 pandemic, but that has not stopped us from working tirelessly to end family homelessness in Orange County! We are currently still operating both our Emergency Shelter and Short-term Housing programs, housing our families in our two transitional housing facilities.

The stories of the families who find their way to us continue to inspire and motivate us to help as many families as we can. October brought two families with vastly different stories our way - one child lost and one child regained.

One of our families unfortunately suffered the tragic loss of their baby girl at 52 days old. Baby is survived by mom, dad, and an older brother. FPOC was there to help them during their time of grief to ensure that they had a safe place to stay. Now they are able to focus on getting a fresh start and plan to move out of state next month to be closer to their support system.

Another family that came to us in October was a single father who, due to homelessness, had been separated from his teenage daughter for over a year. Because of our program, we were able to reunite father and daughter under one roof, and now they are looking forward to getting an apartment of their own together soon.

Throughout the pandemic, Family Promise of Orange County has continued to be there for the new families who need our help, as well as for all of our graduate families who may need extra support during this health crisis.

So far this year, we have helped 43 families (194 people!) with emergency shelter, rental assistance, food, household supplies, laundry money, and gas gift cards.

We continue to support over 10 families with food and supply donations at our monthly Food & Essentials Distribution, generously made possible by a partnership with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

We were even able to give all of our kids fun Halloween buckets filled with candy and favors to make sure that they had a wonderful Halloween this year.

And despite the pandemic, we have had 11 families (43 people) graduate to permanent housing this year!

As always, we want to thank YOU for your continued support of our families. For ways that you can get involved to help end family homelessness, please see our Volunteer Opportunities or COVID-19 Donation Needs.

2020 Virtual Gala Event Summary & Totals

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our Annual Gala moved to an online format for 2020. The theme for the event was Boots & Bling Virtual Fling. We held a Silent Auction the week leading up to the Live Event, with over 40 wonderful items available for bidding. There was also a Prize Puzzle where supporters could choose a donation puzzle piece to transform a photograph online. On Saturday, August 22nd, we streamed our Gala Event live from Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana, complete with entertainment, award presentations, and other fun surprises. The event was a great success, raising much-needed funds for families experiencing homelessness in Orange County.

Thank you to everyone who donated, participated, and tuned in to the event!

The video of the Live Event can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/9Wzt0_nPtfI

The video of the 30-minute Pre-show can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/nvq-gHt2piE

2020 TOTAL RAISED: $116,498

Silent Auction Total: $10,373

Prize Puzzle Total: $4,900

2020 Volunteers of the Year: Bill and Susan Richardson, Church of the Foothills

2020 Karen Olson Caring Heart Award: Nancy Oldenkamp, Trinity United Presbyterian Church

Live Event Participants:

Rev. Nancy Brink, Chapman University (Emcee)

Cyndee Albertson, Executive Director, Family Promise of Orange County

Rev. Dr. Steve Ranney, Tustin Presbyterian Church

Marjorie Ambroise, Board Member, Family Promise of Orange County

Ryan Rosales, Board Member, Family Promise of Orange County

Melody Mosley, Board Member, Family Promise of Orange County