Dignified Life

Domestic abuse and physical disability led 56-year-old grandmother Sandy Moore to homelessness. "I wrote a long time ago that the definition of ’homeless’ is unwanted, disposable human life," she recalls. "Being handicapped, in a wheelchair on the street, I was such an easy target. I’ve been beaten up before." Moore believes she wouldn’t be alive today had she not found the Alpha Project for the Homeless.

Though Moore sought assistance from various places, it was difficult to find the resources to put homelessness behind her. One shelter only offered overnight residence, which meant Moore spent days on the streets. Another limited her stay to six months, and Moore says, "you can’t really save up enough in six months to get a place, with first and last month’s rent, and all that. So when it was time to leave, I’d be right back where I started."

Moore eagerly accepted the opportunity to secure housing through the Alpha Project’s Living With Dignity program, designed for homeless people who have chronic or terminal health problems. Kyla Winters, chief development officer for the Alpha Project, explains that homelessness makes the chances of premature death three-and-a-half times more likely. Living With Dignity offers a preventative outreach program, as well as comforting care for people with illness.

"The people at the Alpha Project really care," says Moore. "You can call on them any time if you have a problem — and they’re there." In Moore’s experience, Bob McElroy (founder/CEO), Winters, and the rest of the staff have been quick and thorough in responding to her needs. Those needs have been as simple as getting extra blankets in the winter, and also as challenging as finding extra rent money after Moore was robbed outside of a 7-Eleven.

Winters attributes this efficiency to the Alpha Project’s committed staff. "We don’t have much turnover — I’ve been here nine years, and so has a lot of our staff," she says. "People stay for a long time, and make connections with our residents and clients. It has a lot to do with our boss, Bob McElroy. People love working with him."

Moore calls McElroy "my bud" and says, "He never makes you feel like you’re inferior. He makes you fit in. He’ll walk up to you, and he doesn’t care if you’re dirty or not, he’s got a hug for you. He doesn’t treat you like, ’ew, you’re homeless, you’ve got cooties.’ The only man in my life — besides my father — who ever put a roof over my head is Bob McElroy."

Moore does everything she can to contribute to the community that supports her. She donates her own old clothes to people in the shelter, and even saves up her extra cans of food to give to people who may have missed a meal. She also helps McElroy and Winters with client outreach. "Sandy wheels down to the shelter all the time to tell people about the program," says Winters. "She is very helpful in that way. She does have a familiarity because she was on the streets for a while, so people know her. To see her being independent and helping others is inspiring for a lot of people."

In her nine years with the Alpha Project, Winters has observed drastic changes in the demographics of homeless shelters. "Now, we see a lot of people on fixed incomes, not necessarily just drug users, or alcohol abusers, but people who just can’t afford to live in San Diego." In addition to shelter and food, the Alpha Project helps connect people with medical care, recovery programs, legal assistance, and educational opportunities.

For Moore, having a place of her own has made all the difference. "I have a phone, my grandchildren can call me any time they want. I have a physical address, not just a mailing address, which is so, so important. I guess you’d have to not have one for a while to really know what I mean."
— JJ Hall, photography by Vincent Knakal


Alpha Project For The Homeless

Year Founded: Founded in 1985 by Bob McElroy; incorporated as a nonprofit in 1986

Overall Mission: To empower individuals, families, and communities by providing work, recovery, and support services to people who are motivated to change their lives and achieve self-sufficiency. Alpha Project strives not to manage homelessness, but rather to end it for its clients. Alpha Project breaks the cycle of homelessness and provides an alternate direction for its clients — out of hopelessness and despair, and into a life of responsibility and dignity. Alpha Project serves over 4,000 men, women, and children every day with affordable housing, HIV/AIDS outreach, residential substance abuse treatment, supportive housing for people with special needs, basic and emergency services for the homeless, transportation assistance, mental health counseling, employment training, preparation and placement, emergency shelter, and community services.

Current Funding Objectives: Raise funds for the Living With Dignity Program — a supportive housing program for terminally and chronically ill homeless persons.

Donation Administration Cost Ratio: Administration is 6.5 percent

Organization’s Biggest Challenge: Creating a permanent Central Intake Facility (CIF), which would save San Diego tens of millions of dollars in direct and indirect costs associated with San Diego’s homeless problem. The CIF will provide comprehensive services on-site to place people quickly and effectively into long-term solutions in partnership with other homeless agencies, SDPD, healthcare providers, and others. The CIF will have housing, restrooms, showers, and office space for dozens of agencies (essentially a storefront for agencies) as not to duplicate services.

Contact Information: Kyla Winters, 619/542-1877, kyla@alphaproject.org, www.alphaproject.org

Fighting Deforestation
For local organization Floresta, there is more to charity than just handing out relief supplies. To fight poverty caused by deforestation, Floresta works with communities around the world to establish sustainable means of farming and survival.

Director Scott Sabin explains that deforestation leaves land unsuitable for farming, which means that surrounding communities can’t raise crops for their own subsistence, let alone for profit. Sadly, one of the top three causes of deforestation is poverty itself. "It’s a vicious cycle," explains Sabin. "We work in areas where, a lot of times, the people are forced to exploit the forest out of desperation. They have no other option than to cut their trees to sell as firewood or charcoal." Sabin recalls one particular example in which a Haitian farmer had a grove of fruit trees, but was so desperate for money that he couldn’t wait three months for the fruit to ripen. He cut all the trees down and sold the wood, preventing any future income from his grove.

So far, Floresta has worked to end this cycle in communities in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Tanzania, and will soon add a fifth country to their roster. Floresta provides education and tools for sustainable farming, agriforestry (a farming technique that uses trees and traditional crops together to enrich the soil), as well as micro-credit small business loans. The results have been inspiring. Many communities have increased and diversified their crops, and are even earning income from their own harvests and natural resources.

"It’s fun to visit now and see the relative prosperity," says Sabin, who keeps a blog of his experiences at floresta777.blogspot.com. "The people we work with are courageous, hard-working, amazing." (858/274-3718, www.floresta.org)
— JJ Hall
 
 


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