Down the block from The HUB OC’s Homeless Resource Center in Orange, a man on a bicycle smokes and chats with two other men sitting on the curb, a dog who belongs to one of them barking at a passerby.
Otherwise, it’s a quiet Monday morning on this stretch of West Struck Avenue, which includes the Orange Police Department at the corner, a public works building and light industrial businesses.
The three men are pretty much the only homeless people out along the street. Later, they will join others inside the gates of the resource center, where they can get breakfast, take showers, do laundry, pick up mail, get a change of clothing and simply rest from the harsh realities of their lives.
Monday through Saturday, there are people on hand – volunteers and partner organizations of The HUB OC – to help make connections to social services, health care and the most-needed resource of all, someplace to live other than on the streets or in a car.
Indeed, a client of the resource center walked past the three men on the street, flanked by representatives of Volunteers of America, an organization that works with homeless military veterans. The man was headed to a new and, hopefully, better life.
Holiday Zimmerman, chief executive officer of The HUB OC, a local nonprofit in Orange, was excited about the man’s placement even though she couldn’t divulge much because of confidentiality.
“Just this morning,” she beamed as she welcomed a guest at the entrance to the center, “someone got permanent housing!”
It’s the kind of positive outcome hailed as progress by city officials and The HUB OC, which took over operation of the site in May from longtime homeless outreach provider Mary’s Kitchen.
Darryl Borders also likes the direction things are going, even though he still lives on the streets. Borders, 62, began visiting to the site five years ago, spanning its Mary’s Kitchen era and the current iteration.
At times, it could be “chaotic” at Mary’s…
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