How it all Began
The idea for the 5Cities Homeless Coalition first began with one individual recognizing the needs of the homeless within our community. Patti Diefenderfer, who currently heads up the Special Population Health Services department for Community Health Centers in Grover Beach, has spent the last several years interacting with the homeless population on the Central Coast. As a result, she has become keenly aware of the need for services and assistance to this section of the population that are currently not being met. She decided she wanted to do something about it, which resulted in the first step of the creation of the 5Cities Homeless Coalition. Patti started the work of assembling people with a heart for helping the underserved population in our community.
Shortly afterward, Patti met Betsy Ehrler who heads up the South County People’s Kitchen in the 5-Cities area.
Both women operate from a place of compassion and truly seek to help the less fortunate of our community. Together they went to work on a plan to build a coalition of people and organizations within the 5-Cities area. As other like-minded people were drawn to the organization, discussions began on how to bring about positive change to help the less fortunate of our community. Today over 30 individuals, representing several faith based organizations and service agencies have become involved.
The Vision: A One Stop Care Facility
When people locally were asked whether they thought a day center or night shelter should be a priority in the 5 Cities – the overwhelming answer was a day center. A South County Day Center that would continue to provide a hot nutritious meal in addition to a health clinic, mental health, drug & alcohol counseling, a veteran’s affairs office, help with housing and applying for jobs, showers that open at 6am for the people who need to get cleaned up before they go to work, telephones, computers, washing machines, and a mail drop.
Getting Started
The past few months have been busy for the 5Cities Homeless Coalition. We have been officially recognized as a 501c-3 non-profit and are in the process of raising funds and seeking grants to accomplish our goal of building and staffing a facility to serve the needs of the homeless. A general election was held, naming the officers for the next 2 years, representing all segments of the coalition.
Our agenda is multi-tasking with numerous committees. Reverand Dr. Valerie Valle of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Arroyo Grande currently heads up our site location committee. Several locations have been identified. In addition, we are currently forming an advisory committee of leading citizens for their support and expertise. A number of concerned people have already come on board.
For More Information and to get involved please contact:
Patti Diefenderfer, 5CHC Board President
By phone: (805) 473-7970
email: pattid@chccc.org
