WE DESPERATELY NEED YOUR HELP!

Food donations have gone way down this summer and the demand for food has gone way up! We are happy to say that we have moved 56 homeless men, women and children into the Village of Hope, but that also means we have many more mouths to feed! Summer also means that homeless children, who would have received at least a lunch at school, now don’t have that meal to depend on!

Because of this critical shortage, our warehouse food supply has reached its lowest level in years and we do not have enough food boxes filled to deliver to the hungry in our community. THIS NEED IS IMMEDIATE!

Please consider personally donating food and encourage your church, home owners association, employer, etc. to sponsor a food drive. You can deliver food you gather to the Warehouse of the Orange County Rescue Mission located at the Village of Hope at One Hope Drive, Tustin, CA. If you are interested in conducting a food drive to help supply this need, follow the instructions below or download the instructions and materials you need from our Web site. For more information, you may e-mail our Volunteer Department or call 714-247-4326.

How to Conduct a Food Drive

1. Select the dates of your drive. Three to five days is ideal, but plan to receive donations two to three days after the due date.
2. Make some noise! Publicity is the key to a successful drive.
3. Distribute printed publicity materials.
4. Announce the drop-off point for donations.
5. Collect, collect, collect!
6. Deliver the Food to OCRM (One Hope Drive, Tustin, CA 92782)

Download Food Drive Materials Here

• How to conduct a food drive
• Food drive needs list
• Food drive announcement flier
• Drop off location poster (8.5 X 11)
• Drop off location poster (11 X 17)
• Food drive advertisement poster (8.5 X 11)
• Food drive advertisement poster (11 X 17)
• Download all materials in one zipped file (2.4 MB)

Thank you in advance for responding to this critical need! So many hungry men, women and children are counting on your help!

Abandoned by her dad and ignored by her mother, Eunice had to learn to raise herself. By age 10, she was making her own decisions about whether to go to school or smoke pot, and by age 18, she was on her own with no place to live. A family friend took her in and before long they got married and had a daughter. That’s when the abuse started.

For years, Eunice felt like she could not survive without him, so when he started beating her, she put up with it and told herself it would get better eventually. But it didn’t get better. After her husband beat her with chains, strangled her, cut her throat and put her in the hospital, Eunice still couldn’t bring herself to leave him, even though she knew she must. But where could she go? How would she survive?

Without your support of the House of Hope, she might have gone back. Today, Eunice knows she can be strong on her own. She realizes she can make a living, and survive, and raise her daughter without her abusive mate. She wants to earn her medical certificate so she can be a phleboMikeist, someone who draws blood in a doctor’s office.

Eunice is working hard to break the chain of violence. Right here. Right now. Make no mistake — your gifts are not only impacting this generation, but the next generation as well. Thank you!

Although previously stated that Mike’s mother had died, we are happy to share with you that Mike’s mother is alive and healthy and that they are enjoying a great mother/son relationship as he continues his journey toward self-sufficiency.

Steve was a designer for 25 years. After a change in the economy, he decided to make a career change. But none of his plans worked out. His life started sliding downhill. He bounced from job to job — from bus driver to carpet salesman to carnival worker. During one really bad stretch, he came by the Mission for a meal — a meal your gifts helped provide. He got hooked on the preaching and kept coming every Sunday. He wanted to know this “Jesus” he kept hearing about.

Your gifts made it possible for Steve to join our men’s discipleship program. He began studying the Bible. “For the first time in my life, I feel connected to God,” he says. “This is a real Christian community here. To me, the Mission is proof that Jesus Christ is real in people’s lives.”

Rhonda Ecker says she gives her time and money to the Orange County Rescue Mission for four basic reasons:

1. She believes in our mission.
2. She sees us as good stewards of her money, especially when she gets reports showing how efficient and well run the Mission is.
3. She knows it helps people right here in Orange County — in her own backyard.
4. She feels that by helping women, she is helping families.

Rhonda says she sponsors a room at our House of Hope because women have many spheres of influence — as mothers, sisters, daughters and wives. For four years, Rhonda has also organized a monthly “Encouragement Day” at the House of Hope. She brings a group of women to the House for a wonderful social time — crafts, a lunch, even a makeover day! Rhonda brings her children, too, and loves that her kids are learning how to give back. “It’s win, win, win for everyone,” she says.

When 27-year-old David left active duty in the Marine Corps last year, he knew he wanted to serve people. He already had experience, helping in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Now, your gifts have given him a new channel for his compassion: volunteering at the Orange County Rescue Mission.

“So far I’ve helped at Thanksgiving, delivered Christmas gifts to children, handed out food and water to families after the Orange County fires, delivered food and Bibles to motel families and given gift cards for necessities like gas to families on the edge of homelessness,” says David.

David always thought of Orange County as affluent, so he was surprised to learn so many families here are out of work and struggling. Thanks to your generous response to the needs of the homeless, David has seen that “food and spiritual help can go hand-in-hand in an inviting, compassionate way.”

For seven years, the Orange County Rescue Mission operated the New Life Mobile Medical Clinic, a 37-foot, customized motor home with two fully-equipped onboard medical examination rooms, providing medical care to homeless persons at over 31 sites in Orange County.

Due to a loss of funding and a desire to consolidate the Rescue Mission’s health care programs, the mobile clinic program was placed on hold. A recent joint collaboration with the County of Orange Health Care Agency, Kaiser Permanente, the Sisters of St. Joseph Healthcare Foundation and Pacific Life Foundation will allow the mobile clinic to operate 1 day a week. Funding is being sought to add additional days and sites.

“Mike’s father was an atheist who worked in the pornography industry. It’s no surprise that Mike’s life led him to drug use and homelessness. Nor is it a surprise that when Mike heard the Gospel message, it grabbed him. Unfortunately, the church Mike joined was extremely legalistic. Mike got the message that God’s standard is perfection and you have to follow the rules to earn God’s love. For a very imperfect recovering addict, that was an impossible faith. He slid back to the streets.

Then, in a Mission chapel service, Mike heard about grace. It took a while for him to fully grasp the concept that God loves you — just the way you are! Struggle and mistakes are part of life, but God’s grace covers all sins. Today, because of your support of the Orange County Rescue Mission, Mike is a successful salesman and very involved in ministry.

Thank you for helping move men like this from bondage to freedom!

“Corporations today are judged on their merits as employers and on the value they create in communities through the use of their resources to address important social issues”, states Patrick R. Gaston, President of the Verizon Foundation. Since 2007, the Verizon Foundation has invested more than $400 million to improve education, literacy, family safety and healthcare in the United States and around the world. The Verizon Foundation accomplishes its commitment to “deliver technology that touches life” through strategic partnerships with non-profit organizations, replicating successful programs in diverse communities throughout the county.

This last December, the Verizon Foundation provided the Orange County Rescue Mission with a grant of $12,550 for the House of Hope, an 18-24 month transitional housing program for homeless women and children, many of whom are victims of domestic violence. Verizon Foundation funds were used to support core programs at the House of Hope, programs such as parenting, financial management, job search, anger management and drug and alcohol recovery classes. These life skills programs provide the women of the House of Hope with the tools they need to successfully transition to the larger community.

Thank you, Verizon Foundation, for touching the lives of the women and children of the House of Hope and for using your resources to effectively address the issue of domestic violence and homelessness in our community.

Over 60 students and chaperones from Portland Christian Center volunteered for five hours on Tuesday, June 17 at the House of Hope, the Village of Hope and at three Orange County food drives.

Here's what they accomplished:

• Collected nearly 1,200 pounds of food and over $200 of donations and gift cards
• Planted rose bushes at the Village of Hope
• Cleaned and prepared rooms for clients at the Village of Hope
• Organized the linen closet at the House of Hope
• OCRM vehicle car wash at Village of Hope

In addition to the above, the students treated the clients of the Village of Hope and House of Hope to a concert choir performance. Thank you, Portland Christian Center!