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He lost his job, lost his trailer, lost all his instruments. He had a daughter he hadn’t seen in five years. When he came to Huntington Beach to find her mother, she said, “You’re in bad shape. I’m taking you to the Mission.” He wasn’t ready. That holiday season, he ended up homeless on the streets for three months. He tried going back to Big Bear and he tried rehab, but nothing worked. He decided to give the Mission a try. “I knew God wanted more from me,” he says. He’s been here for 12 months and has worked himself up to a managerial position. He feels like he has pulled his life together. This Christmas James will be serving others and serving the Lord, instead of getting stoned. And it all started with a hot meal — that YOUR generosity and compassion provided. God bless you this holiday season as you bless others! |
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We need your help! OperationOC was receiving about 10 people a day at its facility at the Village of Hope in Tustin. That number has increased to more than 50 Orange County residents per day. You might ask why? Well, we saw this happen with Hurricane Katrina Evacuees. Once the shock of the disaster wears off, the evacuees then begin to search out assistance so that they can get their lives back together. As of today, we have served 351 evacuees with critical resources. This means that we need your help immediately to provide non-perishable food items, grocery gift certificates, fast food certificates and gas cards. We are currently providing approximately $5,000 a day in resources to our Orange County neighbors that have been affected by the wild fires. Please drop these items off at the Orange County Rescue Mission between 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday through Friday, at One Hope Drive, Tustin, California, 92782. For additional information, please call (714) 247-4300.
Jim Palmer, President Led by the Orange County Rescue Mission, OperationOC has these non-profits as its partners: |
OperationOC is Orange County's collaborative private/public partnership which has been re-activated to meet the needs of the |
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When Adelia's mom passed away, she just shut herself off and sank into addiction. She didn’t even pay bills or care for her child, and ended up living in her car for seven months. She would stay with people here or there, but Adelia was sinking deeper and deeper. By last Christmas, she knew she had to either give her daughter away and go into the gutter, or make a big change. Someone gave her the phone number for the House of Hope, and she arrived there on December 7 where she was accepted without judgment, given her own room, her own bathroom, her own everything. All that was asked of her was to learn about God. Last Christmas was wonderful for her. When her daughter climbed up the ladder to decorate the tree, she was thrilled — laughing, giggling, being a little girl. Adelia has been at the House of Hope for a year. She's not drinking or doing drugs, and she has no man in her life, but she says her heart feels full! |
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Key sponsors of the event included Pinnacle Communities, Inc., Eric & Jackie Nowlin, Whittlesey Doyle/Distinguished Communities, Bank of America, Clarient, Inc., Shulman Hodges & Bastian LLP and LandAmerica Commercial Services. The 17 live auction items included a lavish New Zealand getaway and private-suite seating with star right-wing forward Teemu Selanne for a Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks hockey game. William Lyon of William Lyon Homes matched the $130,000 that was raised, bringing the total to $260,000. Organizer and sponsor Jackie Nowlin said that the money will be used in part to complete the Village of Hope chapel. Just as importantly, she says that many people showed great interest in becoming involved in the Village on a regular basis. Congratulations and thanks to those who worked so hard to make this annual event such a great success! |
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Heart for Hunger
Socks From Jocks This is not the first time that Socks From Jocks, a community service organization based in south Orange County, has put their hand to the plow to serve the homeless. These high-strung, high school athletes combined a door-to-door campaign for bags of food with a grocery store scavenger hunt to accumulate 2,190 pounds of food. Socks From Jocks has got game! Patterson Jewelers
When it was all over, over 1,550 pounds had been collected for the Least, the Last and the Lost of Orange County. Thank you to all who participated by bringing in food items. And thank you, Patterson Jewelers. You're a real gem! Feed the Children Within 48 hours of being notified that OCRM was reinstating OperationOC in order to meet the needs of the evacuees of recent Southland wildfires, Feed the Children had an 18-wheeler loaded with supplies and were on the road to the Village of Hope. When it arrived, our warehouse team unloaded over 18,000 pounds of food!
Throughout the years, Feed the Children has proven to be a faithful partner in the cause to feed the hungry and homeless of Orange County. Thank you! |
The latest Heart for Hunger food drive, led by Saddleback Church's Tom Ketchum on November 3, mobilized a large contingent of volunteers to collect food from 11 Orange County supermarkets. Workers stood outside the doors asking people as they entered if they would like to buy something for the homeless while they were shopping. Apparently, there are a lot of OC folks who have a heart for the hungry. At the end of the day, 
Dotty Patterson of Patterson Jewelers in Tustin said she wanted to use her business to benefit a local charity and she chose the Orange County Rescue Mission as the beneficiary. Here's how it worked: points were awarded, among other things, for bringing in canned and packaged food items to benefit OCRM. At the end of a six-week period, the top six point winners would receive prizes ranging from “his and her” signature watches to a two-carat diamond tennis bracelet valued at over $3,200.
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Folks around the Mission share some holiday dreams...
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Community groups, churches, families, individuals, and businesses — here’s a great way to help homeless families stay together while they rebuild their lives and become self-supporting: Adopt a family suite or a room at the Village of Hope! The Village of Hope is an innovative, faith-based, transitional facility that will keep homeless dads, moms, and kids together, while giving parents 12 to 24 months to work on job training and life skills. To make this dream a reality, we must complete the transformation of two existing military dormitories into 128 rooms for homeless families. A plaque with your name, or your group’s name, will be placed in the room. More importantly, your group will be part of creating modern-day miracles in the lives of hurting families in Orange County. Please e-mail Joe Wheeler or call (714) 247-4325 for more info. You can also check our Web site for volunteer work dates, construction needs, prayer requests and more. |
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Why do we want homeless people to have a wonderful, beautiful environment? If our facility was like an institution, jail cell or shelter they’ve bounced through, they would see themselves as only worthy of that kind of life. It says to them, “That’s as good as you are.” What incentive or vision do they have to strive for more? We see it already at the House of Hope. Women are overwhelmed when they come in. They feel someone cares enough about them to create a place like this for them. We are teaching them that they are worthy of it. You can see their self-esteem rise. This is an exciting new chapter for us. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come. We’re not just a place that hands out an emergency sandwich anymore. We have the facilities and capabilities to give a whole new life to homeless men, women and families. They, their children and their children’s children have a chance to break the cycle of poverty once and for all. What a fabulous Christmas present you are giving them! Thank you and God bless you this holiday season. In His service,
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Dear Friends, Many of you have asked if there is some way you can designate your United Way contributions to be used to benefit homeless families and individuals in Orange County. Well, I'm happy to tell you, yes, there is! If you already give through the United Way, you can now designate your dollars to be directed to assist the Least, the Last and the Lost. When you fill out your United Way donation form, simply fill in “Orange County Rescue Mission” as the designated recipient and include the following address: One Hope Drive Thank you for your heart to reach out to those in need. God bless you! Jim Palmer, President |
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The Orange County Rescue Mission offers an exciting Vehicle Donation Program. When you’re ready to put that old vehicle to good use, call us and we will conveniently come pick the vehicle up, handle all of the DMV paperwork and provide you with a 100% tax-deductible receipt. Best of all, 100% of all net proceeds will go directly to serving the Least, the Last and the Lost of Orange County. Now THAT is a wise investment! |
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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. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, click the link below.
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Copyright © 1963-2007, Orange County Rescue Mission. All Rights Reserved
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