The Whittier Area Interfaith Council has been operating the Cold Weather Shelter for over 25 years.  

  

Our last Cold Weather Shelter Program  provided dinner, breakfast, and overnight lodging from the evening of November 27, 2019 through the morning of March 9, 2020.   We opened every evening at 6:30 pm  and closed the following morning at 6:30 am.  The shelter rotated among six church locations during the 15-week period.   We housed between 40 to 45 guests per night, including the elderly (over 60 percent of our guests were age 55 or older) and families with children.

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Staffing to provide food and assistance is provided by volunteers from churches, a synagogue, and organizations in the community, such as East Whittier Lions Club.  Individual families and staff from the Bank of Whittier also provided and served meals.   In total, over 900 volunteers over the course of 15 weeks helped with the almost 9,000 meals that were provided.  On many mornings, volunteers also provided  box lunches for our guests to have during the day.

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 In 2019-2020, WAIC worked closely with Los Angeles County’s Department of Mental Health, whose  Homeless Service Team staff, on site every evening, worked to counsel our guests and refer them to additional services.   Through the efforts of staff under the direction of Norma Salazar, two families were placed in transitional housing in Echo Park.  Other guests, including several of our seniors, were placed in programs at the Bell Shelter, First Day, or transitional housing in neighboring communities  About 75 percent of the shelter guests received some type of referral or additional support through the efforts of the Homeless Service Team staff. 

 

We sincerely appreciate the ongoing financial support that we receive from several faith communities, corporate sponsors, Los Angeles County and many individual donors.  These funds continue to support our emergency shelter program for homeless families with children in our community.