Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet
SANTA ANA, Calif. ― As winter has made its presence known in Southern California with low temperatures falling into the high 30s and low 40s, the Cold Weather Armory Emergency Shelter program has provided a much-needed reprieve for many people who don’t have a place to call home.
Snacks are laid out for clients before the evening meal is served at 7 p.m. at the Santa Ana Armory. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
The two armories, at 612 E. Warner Ave. in Santa Ana and 400 S. Brookhurst St. in Fullerton, are operated by Santa Ana-based nonprofit Mercy House. Doors are open from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily, and clients are offered a mat, warm food, clothes and a place to shower and sleep for the night.
“I don’t like being homeless, but sometimes we can’t help the situations that we fall into,” said Julia Smith, 65. “I come here every day at 6 p.m. and shower so I can be ready for dinner by 7 p.m. Being homeless is no cakewalk.”
Before the armory opened its doors for the season on Nov. 30, Smith, along with many others, used outdoor spaces to sleep. People who come in from out of the cold must go through metal detectors and must fill out forms to help Mercy House staff determine what help they can give.
Julia Smith, 65, has been coming to the emergency shelter since Dec.3. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
“The end of December (marked) one year for me,” said 21-year-old Curtis Evanich, one of the youngest people staying at the shelter, said during the holiday season. “I’m transitioning in a youth group and they’re trying to find me housing… I’m crossing my fingers.”
Evanich said he had been sleeping in spaces he found around the city, adding the cold weather was unbearable.
Curtis Evanich, 21, is one of the youngest homeless people staying at the shelter. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
“I would sleep on the streets and try to find a safe place that no one really knows about,” Evanich said. “It just gets so cold and I’ve woken up and my lips are purple. And my hands are numb and so are my toes, even with shoes on.”
Families with small children are assessed, enrolled in Mercy House’s Family Redirection Program and offered shelter at a private, off-site location. Mercy House Executive Director Larry Haynes said the armory program is a tough program to run because it is one of the largest operations of its kind in the county.
Clients wait in line for a hot meal, which is served at 7 p.m. each night. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
“We are a low-threshold program, which means we take in people with severe mental-health and physical disabilities,” Haynes said. “We take in people who are active substance (abusers); it is open to all. Everyone is welcome.”
That provides challenges in making sure the environment is safe and comfortable for all. While the facility prohibits any drugs or alcohol on the premises, people do come in high or intoxicated, and treating those visitors with kindness and compassion goes a long way, he said.
“It is not allowable for you to use drugs or alcohol on the premises but the truth of the matter is, some people come in who have been drinking,” Haynes said. “What we do try to do is manage their behavior while they are there.”
The Emmanuel Residence, one of many permanent housing locations that Mercy House runs. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
A private security firm patrols the armories, and members of the National Guard are charged with protecting them. Mercy House has run the emergency program, which is funded by the county and through private donation, for eight years. The armories stay open until funds run out, and projections call for them to have enough money to stay open until early April.
Free transportation to the armories is provided from three shuttle bus locations in Santa Ana, Anaheim and Fullerton. People can take the shuttle or line up outside the armories before they open.
Volunteers give out clothes, jackets, socks and underwear to anyone who might need it. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
“When you come and do the work here, it’s really an eye opener,” said Mercy House volunteer and board member Tom Conway, 53. “You realize how blessed we are to crawl into bed every night under warm covers, and these people are just happy to get out of the cold.”
Last season between mid-November and mid-April, the winter shelters in Santa Ana and Fullerton combined to serve 2,777 people collectively. Some are repeat clients who come for the duration of the winter season while others pass through. It takes approximately 14 people per night, called upon from a roster of 2,000 volunteers and Mercy House staff, to clear the armory before 6 a.m. ― the time that the building must be cleared to allow normal operations to resume.
A homeless man comes in from out of the cold for the night at the Santa Ana Armory. (Photo: Thuy Phan/Nguoi Viet)
“We have to be perfect, Haynes said. “We have to be perfect every single night, and we have been for the past eight years. When 6 a.m. rolls around, there has to be no trace anyone was here and somehow, our team does it, night after night.”
While the armory program provides immediate relief for those who need it most, it is not the long-term solution that Haynes is working toward: permanent housing. Evanich hopes for that, too.
“I encourage people to not push themselves to be homeless like me,” Evanich said. “It’s not right. You feel hopeless. I usually bawl and cry myself to sleep every night. You have to fend for yourself. Out here, it’s about surviving.”
For more information about the program, you can call (714)836-7188 ext. 131 or go to http://mercyhouse.net/portfolios/oc-armory-emergency-shelters/.
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