Silverado Canyon, Calif. – Looking out the classroom window, Raymond Arzola reflected on how he ended up being a part of the Double R Ranch, the newest outlet of the Orange County Rescue Mission (OCRM) that connects former homeless people with a ranch-like environment to build new skills and be surrounded by the great outdoors.

The Double R Ranch comes equipped with a gym facility, along with a cafeteria area where several men were cleaning and organizing the kitchen ahead of the oncoming dinner hour.

“This has been such a great place to learn and grow from where I was at before,” Arzola, of Santa Ana, California, told The Epoch Times while gazing across the ranch property.

“Before I came here, I was sleeping in cars and waking up to people overdosing next to me.”

Arzola and about two dozen other men with similar backgrounds have been living and working at the Double R Ranch, less than a 20-minute drive to the city of Lake Forest, tucked away in the canyons of Southern California’s Santiago Mountains.

Arzola, 56, told The Epoch Times that he spends his days doing everything from taking classes to tending farm animals to doing maintenance projects that he learned through teachers who volunteer with the OCRM.

The 33-acre property offers a “holistic, dignified process” that equips the enrollees to break the cycle of homelessness through housing, counseling, hands-on training, and life skills classes that equip participants with anger and time management skills. The men have also been taking personal budgeting courses and learning to save their earnings, according to OCRM leadership.

“When I lived on the streets, I did not have the backing I needed to push forward with my life,” Arzola said.

“Since accepting the opportunity to get into the ranch here, I’m now working on my GED (General Education Development) certificate, and studying to be a concrete or metal inspector someday.”

As of Aug. 4, women currently enrolled in OCRM programs at the Tustin location will have the opportunity to live and work on the Double R Ranch, and according to OCRM leadership, these opportunities could not have come at a better time.

Of the nation’s 771,500 people experiencing homelessness, more than 187,000 were located within the state of California, according to 2023-2024 statistics completed by the California Public Policy Institute.

Two out of three homeless people within the state were “unsheltered,” comprising nearly half of the total of listed unsheltered homeless individuals within the United States.

“They’re out there, they need help, and they need to get back on their feet again,” OCRM CEO Bryan Crain told The Epoch Times.

“Some of these numbers are families with kids, and they need to have a safe place to go; we supply that.”

On Aug. 4, not only will the Double R Ranch begin to house women, it will also provide weekend getaways for families currently enrolled in the OCRM Village of Hope program, a transitional emergency housing facility designed to help homeless families and individuals rebuild their lives and help achieve self-sufficiency, Crain said.

“Single moms or dads and kids enrolled in our programs will have a chance to have a quick getaway together where they can experience a peaceful environment,” he said.

“We call it The Serenity House and we can house up to six families at once on a single weekend.”

Children also have the opportunity to see farm animals – horses, goats, and chickens – that are cared from by those enrolled in the program.

Just a short walk from Serenity House was the framework of a small home with a fresh layer of sawdust that trailed to a workshop area containing both manual and power tools.

“Firm Foundations is led by one of our volunteers and is an intro to construction training here at The Ranch,” Crain said.

“It’s a 12-week course where people can learn everything form house framing to plumbing and electrical work.”

The Double R Ranch comes equipped with a gym facility, along with a cafeteria area where several men were cleaning and organizing the kitchen ahead of the oncoming dinner hour.

As the late afternoon approached, a man working through the program zoomed on to the property on an e-bike. He was wearing a suit. As other similarly dressed men trickled into the parking area, Crain said they were all coming from job interviews that included both actual and mock sessions.

Arzola said he is a changed man.

“I was an angry man when I first arrived here, but now, I’m surrounded by people who love God and support my future,” he said.

“This place gave me the structure that I needed, and I’m no longer that guy who arrived a year ago.”

In Orange County, homelessness increased by 21 percent, according to 2023-2024 statistics from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.