Fullerton : Group Wins Race for Homeless Shelter Fund

A group collecting money for a new shelter for the homeless had until last Dec. 31 to come up with $5,000 in order to receive a matching grant from a donor.

When the deadline rolled around, the group had collected all but $7.34, according to Barbara Johnson, coordinator of the Fullerton Interfaith Emergency Services, which is acting as an umbrella group for the project.

But the group received its matching $5,000 when the donor, who asked to remain anonymous, was flexible--”it was close enough,” Johnson said.

The group now has about $11,400 to create a new shelter for the homeless in north Orange County, Johnson said.

Meanwhile, the North Orange County Interfaith Shelter Project is awaiting word from the state on its request for a $145,000 grant to purchase a four-unit complex in downtown Fullerton, Johnson said.

The proposed shelter would be modeled after the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter in Costa Mesa, she said.

Donations for the shelter poured in during the three weeks before Christmas, Johnson said, adding: “People really helped.”

The biggest single donation, $500, came Dec. 31 from a Fullerton man who had just heard about the project, Johnson said.

The man, a retired resident “with modest means,” said that he was given the money by a relative but that “rather than use it for himself, he would use it for the center,” she said.