Jim Cooper's Orange County; Project Hearth

This is hart house in an ordinary neighborhood in Garden Grove. But it's really very special. Inside there is love caring and hope for people who need help. It's the first residents in Orange County for homeless disabled people for several years it was only a dream of the Dale McIntosh Center for the sable but now it has opened its doors and it's already changing the lives of handicapped people who formerly had no place to go. Project hearth is an acronym that means housing emergency assistance for the handicapped. It's a unique attack in Orange County on a national problem that of America's homeless people to be homeless and in need of help is a terrible misfortune. But to be disabled and homeless is a

magnified personal sadness. In the center of the Dale McIntosh center remodeled and opened this home as the first one in the county for homeless disabled people. Volunteers like teaching a caring Christians can donate hundreds of hours to the home residents receive shelter food counseling and nurturing help to find a home and a job. But the home serves an additional function teaching of independent living skills for the deaf. Five days a week in addition to 24 hour day staff work for the homeless disabled other instructors work and teaching classes for basic living skills like simple task of doing laundry cleaning house or gardening. These classes go in harmony with the heart House program for the disabled many handicapped people need instruction and simple living operations like cooking for themselves. The object of this to make them independent for self sustaining lives with dignity and self-respect. Instructional aide Laurie Jones sits for coffee with a black woman Christiana Taiwo who is both speech and hearing handicap. One of the first members of Hart House. She's

a student from Nigeria and when funds ran out she was homeless. She was given warmth shelter food and counseling to help her get on with her life. But when on December 1st the four bedroom two thousand square foot house had been converted into a dormitory with capacity for six residents at any one time. Expectations are to serve one hundred and fifty six homeless disabled people during a year maximum stay is 30 days enough time for the staff to help find permanent dwelling places and a job or means of support. Don the question Night Manager for hire House worked at receiving and sending messages on the TDD machine meaning telecommunications device for the deaf or for speech handicapped people. It makes it possible for handicapped people to call in or out from our house at any time for help. Donald himself speech and hearing and the gap but functions busily as night manager here for 80 hours a week done exactly what is it you're trying to do with people who come here to harm.

Give them shelter and food of course is the immediate part of the program. And then during during their stay here the 30 day sting period give them goals and objectives that gets them to help themselves with our assistance to become more independent and then when they do it themselves they say wow I did that. And then the self-confidence comes and they become so independent. But tell me in the short time you've been here you only opened up December 1st. What about the magic that has changed some lives here. Can you give me some examples of what's happened. It's been it's been fantastic for me because this is my first time as a measure this type of a job. But people that that came to us that the day before they came here were sleeping in their car and had been doing so for three months and could not find a place to stay and they said that they finally agreed that night that

God would give them a place to sleep and they talk to somebody about it that day. In the end it up here the next day it was the first time they had slept in a building in three months. It's really a partnership. You're reaching your hand out to them but asking them also to develop their independence isn't it. Yeah well it's making a handicapped person not more equal than an able bodied person but just equal with an able bodied person break so on as a kidney dialysis patient at Martin Luther hospital and Don West is totally blind and has head injuries after a head on auto collision with an oil tanker. But both came to heart house when they temporarily were homeless. Both now have apartments and are in training programs. Greg what happened to you as far as your period of stay here at Hart House. It was very helpful. I think the manager of the House Don was really really

congenial and very helpful to me and it just made me have a better outlook on what I was going to do besides getting you shall hear what kind of human encouragement were you given. I'm just good moral support I would say that. I talk to a lot of people and they help me get my program started and what I wanted to do and where I was headed. And tell me Don what about your stay here at her thought apparently it came at a time when you needed some help. Well yes. Pardon me there but I had come down from Seattle to get myself a new program called I Hope it's a good program staying here to hearth house was just a temporary stay which was a good help. Warner county can boast that with many new office building right there in the shopping center. But today with the new institute deserving of its pride. Its whole purpose is caring counseling and human warmth. And its name is Park

house. And now after that visit which I found most intriguing to heart but meet some of the people who make hearth House really work. Paula Marginson is the director of programs for the Dale McIntosh center she started six and a half years ago as the housing coordinator in the housing area. Paul has done Needs Assessment surveys modification programs and help in development of a registry of accessible housing. She conceived of the idea of the hearth ousts fall as the ninth in 10 generations with familial retinitis pigmentosa. She lost all over vision in her early childhood. My Gretta Jorgensen is the hearth house project developer at age 29 Margret a survivor a private plane crash which left her a paraplegic. One of the things Marc Gretta likes best about working at the bail McIntosh center is that she can share her attitudes and techniques for coping with disabilities with newly disabled person their families and their friends. Our greatest car bumper sticker gives her philosophy in three short words great words

live love and laugh. John de guerre a realtor in Anaheim has been a member of the board of trustee for the Dale McIntosh center since 1983 when the hearth project became a reality. He was instrumental in finding the property and the goal of getting the purchase. He donated this commission to the center and persuaded the seller to make a substantial donation as well interpret ing today as Dr. Paul called an instructor for interpret ing and Golden West college. He'd been a leading educator of an advocate for the deaf since nineteen fifty six that was a marvelous experience for me going there to see hearth house and to see the kind of magic that had already been occurring and it's just a new institution in Orange County. I believe it's the first in the state is that correct to say what about that Margret if that's true. And it may be the only one in the nation. We don't know of another one. Isn't that a great thing. I'd like to come to Paula because I'd like to start with the idea in our discussion with the dream before anything can happen to help people.

Any institution there must first be the dream. Tell us about your dream. OK with the you're the dreamer. Yeah I'm always the dreamer. I began working in housing about six years ago at the center and right away I would find that we had clients that had no home and we had really no way to help. And so we started with an emergency fund a revolving fund where we put people into motels but that was such a costly way in such a short term solution in the first year we helped I think nine people in this next second year that that might increase to 60 and by the third year to 190. And we began to think we really need to do something more permanent something that will have. An effect that's more than just two or three night stay. And so we thought perhaps we could. Purchase and open and operate our own facility our own temporary shelter. And that with the dream and with the help of the county of Orange who donated the funds to us for the 80 percent of the acquisition of the property and the state of California and its emergency shelter program. That dream

became a reality in July of 1994 when we actually purchased the property and it's such a good feeling to know that now when we get a call from a young woman who's 18 years old and has free will palsy and is sleeping in the bus station we can offer her a warm bed and food to eat. So it's a dream come true. In fact John it must be particularly satisfying to you because I know that you did some of the gratifying work about finding a place and getting a clear and getting title over to our house for sale back in time. Well it originally started Brenda Prima who was the executive director of the deal McIntosh center. I got her involved in a house originally and she kind of got me involved in the center. One of the first things that I had been able to get involved with was with Paul and Margaret and with the hart house we search for the home and we searched quite a bit for it. We found one and actually it had sold

and we kind of had a backup offer on the property and really I guess God was with us he went ahead and. And that offer came out and we purchased the property. We also in the get go she did with the bank for $3000 donation to the house itself. Once we got the house through the state then it was a matter of getting money for the things that are going on on a monthly basis for instance for electricity for water for trash you know for manager and things like that. So we went ahead in and naturally at that point we decided to go ahead and do a fundraiser. That's a great idea. We're going to come back to hear more about the fundraiser but first I want to talk about some of the people because people make it happen. How do you get people like John McDonald who was the instructor when I was there how to get people like Don my question is how do you get those volunteers who come and give up their energy to hire a house more than energy. They give love and dedication How do you get people like. I think for most of

us. Who work out the Democrats in our volunteer army our jobs are more than a vocation or an avocation as something that we're really dedicated to in you know our being something we believe in a lot of times because most of us have lived in a majority of the board and the staff is disabled so we've been there and that's why we have the dedication that you see and also I think people want to give of themselves I really truly believe that. And so Macintosh center and talk give them a mechanism to do that giving. What about them I've read a lot about things that you wish for. Let's talk about a wish list now that Harthouse exists. What needs to be done to make it better to make it even more all embracing of it is. Jim we do have a wish list. I could read off the various items that we have on the list. And this is going to read them all just give us some of the top ones that you think are very important. We can use items for the kitchens such

as dish towels coffee pot can opener. That equipment for their fireplace we can use firewood and two old pots and pans with lead mop and bucket and broom. A lot of the every day kind of items as well as a lawn mower and garden to old barbecue. The boy said We need a new home and it means we need a few more around this other side with a patio table bulletin boards file cabinet games for adults and children and elevation dollars too I suppose. Lotta I want to put that I was going to have a phone number at the end of the program which sometimes we do but I think this is so important. Let's put that phone number now I put it again at the end and let's give the magic phone number if anyone wants to help Margret it and all of the people who are thought with this wish list the magic phone number is Dale McIntosh tatter 8 9 8 9 5 7 1 which can be called any day 9 to 5 8 9 8 9 5 7 1 if you want to

do something right now and you're motivated to say I am tired of just hearing about things I want to get involved. So this is a way for you to exercise that business of getting involved. What else on the wish list what about people. Are you looking for people that volunteers to or not. These are all things. Would you like to have lone tear power we'd love to have volunteers love to have a volunteer do you know and I can open a yard where they can help with minor repairs they could help with that gusher shopping they could help with that interpretation perhaps driving the client sometimes are a lot of ways that we could definitely find jobs for them to do. You know I'd like to show our viewers a picture because her house did not look like her house we looked in our opening little mini documentary Harthouse looked pretty ragged. So let's look take some and some views of how it looked before the group called the Southern California Edison Company volunteer and this group of the Southern California Edison Company employees is called the boom and they came in the backyard big clip thing.

They took out the trash they rake the yard. They helped it touch up and say that these are people who got no money again they would just cared enough to get involved and they did the steps that people can still do I suppose you can still use help like the aid that I saw working there at the place that the heart. The cause is so exciting. The first in Orange County the first in California and maybe beyond what you're doing now you can become a pilot a pilot project that others could emulate what about that idea of a model if we want to call it that that other groups could follow. Well I believe that that that very could possibly be one of the things that maybe we would like to do. First of all isn't actually go ahead and get the hearth ousts going full bore. We have just recently started to go ahead and get some people in the in the property and we would like to see more clients in there we would like to see more people getting involved with that. We have other projects going

to with housing I think we think that's an important thing right now with the disabled people because there's a lot of apartments homes that do not have access for that type of person. So I believe maybe once the center gets more publicity I believe a lot of people are starting to know about it in and are getting a little bit more in order. I was talking with state Senator John Seymore last week and I was mentioning about this program he said he's involved in it. He cares about it. What about state money what about county money. What about involvement of some other agencies. Well if the state counted county money that got us where we are today with the state emergency shelter program funds we were able to partially acquire the house to buy all of the new appliances in the house and then they pay for half time present to be the counselor. Who does intake for the clients and follow up to make sure that they're permanently placed in long term housing and in the County of course has always been our good good friend the Housing and Community Development Department of Orange County

provided 80 percent of the acquisition money they provided the pre development fund that allowed Margret to have the time to go out and find a property and to negotiate all the things that it took 10 months of her time to make this project come together. They also have given us a deferred payment loan and a completely renovated the house with it. It will be totally acceptable to stay in the county have been really good friends to us and we know they still will be in the future. My brother you have spread cheer. You are not content to be careful yourself. You want to spread cheer. What kind of cheer would you hope to spread with disabled people who are homeless who come there. You have some philosophical idea about this how it should work. Again I think the message that I would want to give is that there is a place that they can go where they can find the resources that are available to them that there are people who come here who will work with them so that they can really do it for themselves but they just need a little a little assistance right now I'm going to hold a sign up and I'm going to ask you to explain the

sign. I want our viewers to see the sign because this kicked off on December 1st it's called apples for American Pie and it's a project that you're trying to get going all over Orange County. It will go on up until April 17th when there is a drawing. Now since it's your pride you don't want some one of you to volunteer to tell us all about what apples are and we have a lot of apples. You have some great apples here on the table. Tell us what the that will that are they look great. You want to start with the apples from the House tax and these are apples for Macintosh. These are apples that were selling throughout the county for any donation a person receives an apple for every two dollars they contribute they receive a raffle ticket and the raffle is April 17 for a Macintosh personal computer. We've had some really wonderful support from the community here who are looking for more and that the dollars will do it. What do you hope to do with the dollars who want to tackle that when the dollars will provide money for as I had said before monthly assistance for.

Oh I see electricity in Sweden and sign up property and food and things like that we also would like to do other things with the property hopefully that the state has not been in actually the maintenance of the property. Goes along with it in in the future. Keep in mind also that the property the Hart program in the fundraiser is not only for somebody looking for housing assistance but also enable somebody to that wants to learn how to live more independently that is handicapped. They can go there and learn certain skills like the daytime classes yes I think of that as a separate course in independent living skills is separate from just the function of art house. But you're getting double mileage for your money I think is now what I'm hearing. Yeah that's right I was right about the year Goldsman down the line. That's something that this is very successful you get the money that you want. What are some of your dreams again that maybe I should come back because you're all you're in the dream Department. Beyond that if you get that going as well as you

hope to and get the financial success to really make Harthouse an enduring institution and I've got it what your dream be on that. Well I think our dreams are always based on the needs and so where the needs are that's where the Macintosh goes right now we're involved in the sponsorship of the building of a 40 unit apartment complex in the city of Anaheim that will be specifically designed for disabled people. And that apartment complex well also be affordable are subsidized and that will give us a place to. Final people from hearth into long term housing. So I guess that our next big dream we're working on after we make our fully operational. What about dad John what about your USA person you had to make a living you have to make a living as a realtor. But still you have time to be on the board. What is your personal motivation for this involvement. Well I believe you know Jim my personal motivation is just it makes me feel good. I have gotten involved and I can also say the center

has gotten me involved. I get enjoyment out of that I meet a lot of nice people. Naturally that exposes me to people and that's part of my business. But just the joy of knowing that I can do something for the community that has given me something also. That's a nice thought. And I Gotta Do you have much interaction with some of the people who go to our house. Some of the disabled people and some of the counseling for the disabled people I know that's done over there too but you get involved with that are setting up some of the programs. I haven't yet. I will be in the near future. My job has been taking. Paul is the vision and putting it into form but I will be doing the independent living you training what you do is give fruition to cause dreams. I had this I had this vision of my own process over there has he had a full dream. Exciting dreams and then you you come to John and you come to my bed and then you try to bring good fruition to those dreams. They are the facilitators for my dream just yet. Great to have facilitated this hearing. What kind of reaction did you get from people when you went to them

to try and explain what the heart was going to be in the first place. What kind of reaction official reaction did you get. Jim it was it was a tough with a discouraging was it encouraging its been very encouraging. Why. We've we've had very good support with everyone that we have contacted. They see the need and they've been very willing to do anything that they could to help us out. You know what would you say to to convince people that there are people out there convinced the general public that there are people who are homeless who as you said are sleeping in a bus station disabled or homeless. What would you say to those people who are still skeptics that think that that's a segment of society that just doesn't happen in affluent Orange County. Well you know it's already been established that that for the California tracks the homeless in general and wherever population is in general there too with the disabled community. But I think that's even more true for our community because we have a nice climate here we have a greater educational system and so we really

attract a lot of disabled people from all over. And when they come here sometimes their dreams fall through and they lose their their benefits are maybe their chat gets held up in the mail or whatever. And for one reason or another we've even had some times because of because of domestic violence are perhaps domestic or all people become homeless there are so many reasons. But believe me it does happen it's a problem that we deal with at the center a day late and hawked just gives us an answer for that problem. Beyond beyond them having a housing house keeping them at heart what you want to do is give them programs or truly give them some kind of a. A way to find out how to find a job. A bit about that. Well I think basically we want him to learn how to live more independently in society. A lot of people that are disabled sometimes feel maybe that they cannot go out in the world. And I know we've had some that don't know how to do simple

banking. We've had some that can't go grocery shopping and basic needs that you and I do every day that we never really think. Some people cannot do that. And I think it's it's important that these people do go ahead and learn the skills that they can so they can live independently in today's society I know that you try to place them somewhere because after all their stay is at heart that is only 30 days. So my question is worth what what other facilities are they placed in then when that 30 days is up. What kind of places are you looking for something that had an 83 percent placement right and really not only that a couple of the people have moved into their own apartment a couple of them are living in shared housing or they're renting rooms from other individuals. And that's becoming the most frequent alternative I think because of the high cost of rent in Orange County. But anything we can think of that's appropriate whether it sometimes may have to be a Board and Care facility if nothing else is available at that time or if able to go into a subsidized apartment. We explore all the alternatives and find the appropriate one for the

individual. It apparently is working with a 3 plus percent placement rate is remarkable if parity is working right now or what with the what's the message you would like to give to any of our audience listening now who'd like to get involved. And now we've read we've already read off your check off list. You know your your list your wish list but is there any other way that you like to have people get involved whether it be money whether it be their time whether it be volunteers AIDS or anything. What would be your message that you'd like to say let's start with you. Well I think that I'd like to have my purpose here is to get the word out to the county that this facility does exist that there is an answer and that if you're disabled or are you know someone who is they don't have to sleep in their car in the bus station they can call it a mackintosh and have a roof over their head. That's my mind main message to this program. Is there a main method you'd have John that you like that people as a foundation to write you a check to or just some wealthy that would say this this has value this has

merit I'd like to help them. And actually Jim We'd always like that type of things but I think the main thing is is time in a lot of people's time. We are in need of maybe some board members we are in need of of some people that want to donate their time and a lot of time we can sometimes get the money someplace but a lot of time is needed. And if anybody would be really interested in. Going ahead and giving to the community and in helping out please we'd like to hear from him. Let's put that number up one more time because I like that people who want to translate that motivation into action all they have to do is Dale Mackintosh that are 8 9 8 9 5 7 1 and that 9 to 5 any day in a week and you can do something about getting off the sidelines and helping somebody Our time is about up right now. These are appled and anyone who want to get involved with the Apple Macintosh program all I have to do is call that number. Our time is almost up now and I want to thank our guests today for their efforts to Orange County and its first home for the disabled homeless people. Please join me next week at the same time and I'll

have an interview with Bob Thomas retiring Orange County chief administrative officer on some reflections of his 17 years of service.