Tag: homelessness

For people on the verge of homelessness, emergency financial assistance offers great promise, according to a randomized control study done in Santa Clara County.  Randomized...

In California’s fight against homelessness, the Governor just announced a $12 billion plan to end homelessness in five years. Combine that with Santa Clara...

There was an opinion piece in the March 19 Dispatch that led the reader to believe that the Gilroy City Council is ignoring a...

GILROY—A 17-year-old Christopher High School student and budding entrepreneur wants to turn his peers into “walking advocates” for causes from child abuse and homelessness to world hunger.

The truly great thing about our community is the caring spirit for those less fortunate that goes beyond what I have experienced in any other community in which I have lived. This time of year, everyone is gearing up for the cold winter months ahead and working to make them more bearable for those living on low incomes. The Compassion Center, St. Joseph’s Family Center, the Salvation Army, and the temporary winter shelter for the homeless at the National Guard Armory are all in full swing in preparation for the upcoming winter months. Our caring community inspires even those who live beyond our borders to reach out and donate.     

The Gilroy Compassion Center, a burgeoning homeless shelter located at 8425 Monterey Road that serves South County, is now collecting coats and blankets to distribute to those in need as winter approaches.

Of late, I have been thinking about how vulnerable our students are. At Sobrato this year we have now had two tragic events affect our student population. In the fall, there was the shooting death of Tara Romero, along with the injuries of three other students. And now it is three weeks since the disappearance of Sierra LaMar, who was abducted while walking to the school bus stop the morning of March 16. Of course we are all hoping that she will be safely returned to her family.  

On a recent Monday night, I was serving soup to the homeless at the National Guard Armory temporary winter shelter in Gilroy when an older petite red-headed woman caught my eye.

Today, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved the development of a pilot program to provide housing vouchers for the chronically homeless. The program will create 100 housing vouchers for chronically homeless individuals and families identified through the Housing 1000 campaign.

The National Guard Armory in Gilroy becomes a life-saving shelter on nights when the mercury drops below freezing. In anticipation each evening, three rows of 15 thin narrow green mats are laid out on the floor, and another smaller group is laid out in a separate women's area of the temporary cold weather shelter. The Armory is open nights from the end of November through March.