Building a way out of homelessness

For most of us, home is as much a state of mind as a physical place. Poignant lyrics for the title song from the music-documentary, “Home Again,” co-written by Laguna Beach residents Scott Hays and Jason Feddy, help drive the point home.

You know it’s hard to feel secure when you’ve got no place to go

Lost and lonely, walk in circles in the night

Another day, another dawn, it all seems to fall apart

When there’s no one there to help you get it right.

Hays, founder and owner of WeedPatch Productions, conceived and created the music-documentary with friend and executive producer Roger Harvey, a Project Playhouse volunteer builder and advocate for homelessness awareness.

Released in September to support the home-builders industry’s outreach program, HomeAid OC, “Home Again” is second in a series of cause-driven projects by the group to fuel the fight against homelessness. Through music, images, and interviews with emergency shelter residents, “Home Again” seeks to bring a personal face to homelessness and dispel the myth of homelessness as a “lifestyle decision.”

Feddy, a frequent headliner at Mozambique Steakhouse in Laguna Beach, sings the acoustic version of “Home Again” on the music-documentary. Last month, he performed the song live at Home Aid OC’s Annual Project Playhouse Dinner Auction held at the Crystal Cove home of Ron and Cindy McMackin.

To date, HomeAid OC, has completed 47 housing developments for 25 nonprofit agencies in Orange County by raising more than $5.5 million through Project Playhouse. HomeAid acts as the housing developer and liaison between service providers, community volunteers, builders, and specialty contractors.

Laguna Beach resident and community activist Faye Chapman, author of “Faces of the Shadows: Life on the Street,” appears in “Home Again,” and delivers the opening dialogue for the film.

WeedPatch’s first benefit initiative, “Shelter Me,” a CD of 13 songs recorded by homeless musicians, was released in 2008 to increase awareness of homelessness. Almost three years later, “Shelter Me” still receives positive response from as far away as North Dakota, according to Mark Miller, Associate Executive Director at Friendship Shelter in Laguna Beach.

In Laguna Beach, you can find people to help others get home again.

For more information about HomeAidOC, visit https://www.homeaidoc.org.