Local Organizations Join Forces to Help Homeless

A coalition of local churches and homelessness service organizations have joined together to form Housing To Home, a service group that helps acquire basic necessities for homeless individuals transitioning into long-term housing.

Participating local entities include Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness, The People Concern, St. Matthew’s, Corpus Christi and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,

For his Eagle Scout project, Palisadian student Nick Raddon, part of Boy Scout Troop 1830, helped Housing To Home secure a large storage container that will be permanently located in the parking lot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Los Liones Drive.

Community members from across the Palisades worked together on Sunday, June 2, to collect items for the homeless community to be kept in the storage container, including basic household supplies and other necessary items.

“I just kind of wanted to help the community and I realized homelessness is a big issue, especially when you’re moving into houses and you have housing, so I wanted to find a solution to that problem,” Raddon told the Palisadian-Post.

“This project took me about three months to acquire the storage unit. There were a lot of failures. I called a lot of people and some didn’t call me back but I got it. That took me a couple weeks then putting out all the fliers took me a whole day. It was a lot of time and effort and I’m very proud of the result.”

Stake Leader Kayce Mammen explained that for individuals experiencing homelessness, the transition back into a home is a big step.

“After a difficult process to secure housing again, many do not have the resources to make their new space a home with basic necessities,” Mammen said. “Some end up back on the street. Outreach workers have noticed this gap and asked the community to help fill it.

“People can sometimes really struggle when they get into housing because it’s not really a home to them. They don’t have the sustenance they need. So this helps bridge the gap for them and helps them become more stable.”

Members of the community can help replenish the storage container when it runs low. To make a donation, contact kaycemammen@gmail.com.