Happy Mother’s Day …..

To all the moms in our Ascencia Family,

To the moms everywhere who are struggling to shelter, feed and diaper their children,

To the moms who are blessed enough to give back and help other moms,

We are thinking of you with love and wish you a beautiful day.

-Ascencia

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Suffering through homelessness with children is one of the hardest things some moms go through, so we’re hoping today is extra special for moms like *Mary.

Mary and her four kids were thrown out of their apartment and forced to live in their car.

After school one afternoon, they arrived home to find everything they owned outside on the sidewalk. The landlord had kicked them out and changed the locks to the door, to their home.

It was illegal for the landlord to throw Mary and the kids out of their home that way; but with little money, the pressure to find work and take care of the kids, Mary didn’t have the resources or time to fight the illegal eviction.

So they moved into their car- a beat up old Cadillac. Two teenagers, two pre-teens, a service dog and Mary; in a car that seats five. They had nowhere else to live, so they made sacrifices and made it work. The kids learned to do their homework in the park or in the car and shower at park sinks.

Like most homeless moms, Mary made sacrifices for her children that most of us never have to consider; during the school year Mary slept in a sleeping bag on the sidewalk next to the car, so that the kids could get a good nights rest.

After four months of living in their car, Mary found Ascencia and the family was able to move into the emergency shelter and then into a transitional housing program, where they are spending their Mother’s Day.

You can help support Moms like Mary by making a donation today.

(Donations can be made in honor of your mother, too!)

Happy Mothers Day.

*As Mary and her kids are still working to get out of homelessness, all names have been changed.

We all had a wonderful day when five volunteers and their children from Christian Assembly came to Ascencia on Big Sunday Weekend to lend a hand to the agency and to our residents.

Although we have enjoyed a close relationship with members of Christian Assembly Church, this was the first time, Jonathan, Ruth, Elizabeth, Abraham and Craig came to Ascencia to volunteer. Jonathan and Ruth’s children joined us as we gathered to plan our activities together.  Craig took the reins on the shelving project and he got lots of help from our youngsters.

Our volunteer team came ready to roll up their sleeves and make hygiene kits for homeless people who lack these basic essentials of daily living. (Our Outreach Case Managers distribute these kits to homeless people they encounter as they drive around Glendale and the surrounding communities hoping they can talk to them and introduce Ascencia’s services).  Elizabeth and Ruth organized our pantry and Abraham swept our parking lot and our cul-de sac immediately surrounding the agency.  Later, Jonathan and Abraham folded clothing donations and place them in boxes according to size, age and gender.

I shared success stories with the group after we began to wrap up for the day.  I told them about our former client, Deborah Collins, who went on to be given The Woman of Courage Award from the City of Glendale for her determination to not only find employment but also to develop work skills that launched her into becoming an Administrative Assistant to the top executive at her agency.  She accomplished this as a single mom raising two children on her own.  The strides she made were no easy feat but she dedicated herself to accomplishing her goals and she did it!

- Elizabeth Tismeer, Volunteer Coordinator

February flew by and March is nearly over! We’re in Daylight Savings Time already? If you follow us on Twitter or visited our Facebook page, you know we have been busy. We hope these busy days find you well.

On March 15, 2012 the Glendale Chamber of Commerce honored Ascencia as Organization of the Year. We are very grateful for this recognition. In accepting the award it was clear I would not have enough time to do justice to all those who help us fulfill our mission. So I led an aplauso. As I clapped, I asked our Board to stand, our staff to stand, and then went down the list…the City, our Guest Chefs, our homeless registry volunteers, and so on. By the time I was done, half the room was standing. It was all the evidence we needed to show that this agency and the work we do extends far into the community and across all sectors. Thanks to all who stood with us!

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Many years ago, when I was working in homeless services in Los Angeles, our world and concerns seemed very far from those of business. While we both wanted people off the streets, there was no way to pay for the housing that was needed. Business groups were focused on public safety and dismissed proposals by advocates that promoted services and housing. Advocates maligned the business community’s proposals. Those entrenched positions impeded progress in crafting a broadly accepted plan to end homelessness.

These differences have not been completely erased, but as Home for Good shows, Los Angeles has made progress.In Glendale, we have not been experiencing that divide. In fact, business has been a crucial supporter to the work we do. Our greatest supporter has been Pacific BMW, but many other businesses have supported us over the years financially and as Guest Chefs. It is important to us that local business understands that we want the same things – we don’t want people living on the streets either. We are, in fact, a service to business and to the larger community. If a business sees a homeless person on its doorstep, the staff can call us and we’ll send out an outreach team to help the person. This first step can save precious law enforcement resources for more critical needs.

It was also an honor to be recognized by the business community because nonprofit organizations are often perceived as being fluffy entities, run by a bunch of do-gooders.

Yes, we are a bunch of do-gooders. But we have to be competent do gooders. We have an extraordinary amount of requirements to fulfill to retain our nonprofit status and the public funding we receive. We also have a responsibility to our private funders to ensure we are fulfilling our mission and spending their donations wisely.
Much credit goes to our Board of Directors for all they do as stewards of this organization, as well as to the staff who work tirelessly to fulfill our mission to end homelessness in the greater Glendale area, one person, one family at a time. Cue the applause!

- Natalie

Being homeless is not easy; being a woman and being homeless, is even less easy.

Today is International Women’s Day. Among other things, I find this day significant because of how difficult homelessness can be on women, physically and emotionally.

As the keeper of Glendale’s Vulnerability Index, I can tell you most of the homeless women living on Glendale streets will die prematurely if they are unable to get adequate housing and medical treatment.

I can also tell you that approximately one third of the homeless women we have surveyed have been victims of violent attack while being homeless. As violence against people who are homeless is not uncommon, I’m sure that this percentage is about the same, if not higher, in other communities.

Homelessness is difficult on everyone who experiences it, but women experience a heightened vulnerability while living on the streets.

In honor of International Women’s Day, I’d like to share one woman’s story with you. This woman exemplifies the courage of many of our clients.

Blanca was beaten by her husband for the last time when she was four months pregnant. She left; taking with her a one year old daughter and five year old son. She had no money and only the clothing on her back. She was homeless.

With nowhere else to go, Blanca found a domestic violence shelter where the family stayed until she gave birth to her third child. Baby A was born two months prematurely, weighed only two pounds and was given only a 60% chance of survival. While her son remained in the hospital in intensive care, Blanca temporarily recuperated at a friend’s home, but needed another place to stay.

Ascencia, then PATH Achieve Glendale, was the closest shelter to the hospital where Baby A was being treated, so Blanca and her children moved into our Emergency Housing Program. Though still tiny, after a few weeks, Blanca was able to bring Baby A ‘home’.

Just a few weeks after uniting her family, Blanca was able to move them into an apartment through Ascenica’s Transitional Housing Program. Staff and volunteers furnished Blanca’s new apartment with donations and provided legal advocacy, tutoring and encouragement. Blanca found a job, enrolled in school and began picking up the pieces.

Last year, Blanca and her three healthy children moved out of our Transitional Housing Program, and moved into her very own apartment. She works part time while attending college to pursue a career in criminal justice and continuing to build a better life for her family.

Everyday, women like Blanca come to Ascencia for help. Many arrive with their children, desperate for shelter and safety; others arrive completely alone, tired from years of abuse on the streets. And on any given day, women out number the men in our Emergency Housing/ Shelter Program.

That’s why for International Women’s Day, we’re thinking of all the homeless women who have rebuilt their lives- and especially thinking of those who are still homeless.

- Christina

P.S. To celebrate all of Ascencia’s strong, courageous women, we put up a few pics.

December blew in this year with hopes and tension, stress and elation. We have the unscripted moments that lift the heart…volunteers singing, gifts that magically appear and a beautiful tree and lights to brighten the shelter. And we have worry, because so many people need our help.

And so, on December 21st, the longest night of the year, we remember with sadness both our friends and strangers who died on the streets. Later we celebrate hope and joy with the children and families we shelter.

To all our supporters, thank you for your warmth and encouragement and may you have a beautiful holiday.

If you would like to attend Glendale’s National Memorial Day for Homeless Persons, please join us on December 21st in the Chapel of the First Baptist Church of Glendale, 209 N. Louise Street at 5:30 p.m.