Your gifts provide a path to a new way of life...

As part of his job designing and installing interior shutters, Dennis Mitchell had to drive about 40,000 miles a year in L.A. traffic. The stress finally got to him and he abruptly quit to find a better job. Just then his father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, so Dennis thought it would be a good time to move in with his parents to help them both during this difficult time.

When his father passed away, his mom sold the house and moved to Portland. Dennis was sure he had enough cash to last him until he found a new job. But Dennis is a worrier. His mind spins all night. As he went longer and longer without a job, it began to get to him. He became depressed — and became even more dependent on the alcohol and cold medications he was using every night to help him sleep. Pretty soon, it started affecting his health. He had four seizures in five months.

During his last seizure, he ran his car into a building — an accident that cost him his car and his license. He hit bottom when he ran out of money and became homeless. An internet search led him to the Orange County Rescue Mission. “I have nothing but positive things to say about this place,” he says.

Dennis has always been a believer, but like so many people raised in church, he never really read the Bible or learned how to apply it to his life. Now, when he hears the stories of life transformation in other men and women, he yearns for that transformation to take place in himself. Dennis knows he has many bad habits and has made many bad decisions. He wants to learn a new way of life. The idea that God has a plan for his life and that he can feel safe and loved appeals to him.

“Wouldn’t it be great if you really could turn over all your worries to God?” he wonders. “I’ve only been here a little while, but I have hope. If God can do so much for other people, maybe he can change me, too.” Thanks to your gifts, Dennis and so many others have the opportunity to leave a destructive lifestyle and experience the life-transforming power of God. Thank you!

Like so many of the men who come through our program, Brian Beliveau started smoking pot when he was a young teenager. He was bored, hated school and had no direction. He started drinking at age 17 and then moved on to hard drugs.

Of course, his parents objected. They tried to straighten him out by sending him to rehab, but Brian didn’t want to stop using. By age 21, he had had enough. Consumed by problems with money, the authorities, friends and family, he decided he was totally sick of the drug lifestyle — and wanted out! His parents flew him out to a new rehab center in Laguna Beach. It worked for awhile, then he relapsed. For three days, he was homeless, sleeping on the beach. “I was freezing, miserable and hungry,” he says.

Then he got a referral to the Orange County Rescue Mission. In the five months he’s been here, Brian says his life has been transformed. He has no craving for drugs. He is learning to control his anger and he’s ready to set some goals and start on a career path. His parents are amazed at how much he’s changed. What’s the difference? “The Lord,” says Brian. “This place is teaching me how to let God handle my life. That’s a much better idea than how I was managing it!”

Rena Calloway and her husband were separated. In an effort to save the marriage, she gave up her business in Nevada, packed up her 3-year-old daughter and followed her husband to California. She thought they were making progress until, out of the blue, he kicked them out. She was literally standing on the street with only her suitcase, a few boxes and her toddler.

With no car and little money, she just stood there in shock. A piece of paper blew by on the sidewalk. For some reason, she picked it up and put it in her pocket. It was the phone number of the House of Hope.

Needing immediate shelter, she decided to walk to her sister-in-law’s house — 17 miles away. She had a new job in less than a week. But with no car or day care for her baby, there was no way she could begin working. She couldn’t see herself as someone who needed a “shelter” — but for the first time in her life, she was desperate. Fearful, she came to the House of Hope.

“Now, I know it was God’s plan for me,” she says. “I needed to figure out what had gone wrong in my life, to get my spiritual life on track, to deal with the anger I had over my husband’s behavior.” Then she adds, “Now I need to learn how to be a single mom! This place is wonderful. Thank you.”

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was founded with the mission of eradicating breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and treatment. Since 2003, it has been a collaborative partner with CASA de SALUD, the Orange County Rescue Mission's stationary medical clinic, offering funding and strategic resources in the fight against breast cancer.

For the year 2006, the Foundation granted CASA de SALUD $66,479 to provide breast health education and breast cancer screening to low-income, under-insured Latina women of all ages. As a result, CASA de SALUD provided breast cancer screening services to 14 women, and mammograms to three women at our June 29 Community Outreach Clinic. In addition, the onsite mammography clinic provided a totol of 23 mammograms for the month of June.

Many thanks to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for their generosity!

About three weeks ago, Jeff Hollett, Facility Manager of the Men's New Life & Emergency Shelter, mentioned that the guys at the shelter were asking for some fresh milk. Until then, they had been getting by on the powdered variety. He and Robert Howse, the Kitchen Supervisor, sat down and prayed for God to provide their need for fresh milk. Jeff spoke to Donna Naccachian of our Development Department, and with this in mind she returned to her desk wondering if there might be someone she could call who would want to meet this need.

Well, Donna wasn't sitting in her seat more than a few minutes when she received a call from Julia Simpson of the Great American Lunch Box, Orange County's largest provider of private school hot lunches. She was calling to find out if the Mission could use a donation of 200 cartons of — you guessed it — milk!

What a coincidence — NOT! God, who gives us innumerable pleasures for no other reason than simply to please us, is keenly interested in even the most seemingly insignificant details of our lives. So the next time you're running low on moo-juice, and can't afford to replenish your supply, lift you eyes up to heaven and, with all due respect, say, “Got Milk?”

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

Every Christmas we are flooded with food, clothes, gifts and good wishes. Thank you! Christmas brings out the best in everyone. Then the new year begins and giving drops off as people go back to their daily routine. By July, all the surplus food is used up. Yet the hungry men, women and children are still lined up outside! And there’s even more need for food in summer since the poorest children no longer get free lunches at school.

For the last few years, we’ve called on our most faithful givers to help us celebrate Christmas in July — and you’ve responded! Your Christmas gift lists have included canned food, fresh produce, diapers, interview clothes, hygiene items and generous checks.

Your summertime gifts have meant the world to us and have had a major impact on many lives. Thanks to your generosity, we are able to provide healthy food to hungry families throughout Orange County. Your kindness provides nights of shelter to many desperate people — and a second chance at life for those seeking recovery from destructive habits. A little help. A little compassion. A little love. A little hope. It means more than you can imagine to many hurting people. Yes, it feels as good as Christmas! Please send a generous gift today. Thank you.

In His Service,

Have you ever seen a homeless person standing on the street corner with a sign saying “Will work for food?” What should you do? Should you give them money? Should you buy them food? These options provide only temporary relief, but at the Orange County Rescue Mission, we want to suggest a way that you can make a permanent difference in homeless people's lives:

Refer them to us!

We have downloadable and printable cards with the services we offer and a map to our emergency/transitional facility in Santa Ana. Click here to download the cards in PDF format. Print them out, keep them in your car and hand them out to the homeless people you encounter.