• North County Homelessness: Regional reactions vs. regional solutions,5/27/07
  
  
• Kiwanis Club Hosts A Day In The Park for Residents,3/28/07
  
  
• Dear Treasured Friends (A Letter from Chris & Tammy Megison),11/7/06
  
  
• It Takes More Than a Bowl of Soup to Change (or Save) a Life..., 11/1/06
  
  
• A Message from our Board, 11/1/06
  
  
• Solutions for Change Annual Christmas Party Date Announced, 10/4/06
  
  
• San Diego Sheriff's Dept. Junior Deputy Graduation, 8/16/06
  
  
• Solutions Receives $5,000 Grant, 8/8/06
  
  
• North San Diego County homeless shelter a model for Southwest Riverside County project, 8/3/06
  
  
• Thrift Store Closes: Solutions Partners with North Coast Church, 7/8/06
  
  
• Vista Transitional Housing Opens Saturday, 4/15/06
  
  
• Solutions for Change Opens San Diego's Newest Family Shelter, 4/14/06
  
  
• Vista shelters planning 'transfer' of homeless families, 4/4/06
  
  
• Intake and Access Family Shelter nearly ready to reopen, 3/11/06

*Thank you to the North County Times for keeping San Diego up-to-date on our organization's mission to end family homelessness in North County.

North County Homelessness: Regional reactions vs. regional solutions
Published Sunday, May 27, 2007: North County Times

What does solving homelessness for a community look like? Community homelessness is a complex social problem, but it can be solved with the right approach. We should not gauge our success based on how many social service programs a community can produce, or how many beds can be created, but rather how those programs or beds are being used to actually solve the causative factors of homelessness.

Chris Megison

It should be about solving the homeless problem, shouldn’t it? But, is it being solved in North County? Or, is there a system, a default system perhaps, which only manages the symptoms of the problem, tries to contain homelessness, and simply reacts to homelessness?

I recently posed a question to my executive director peers from other local human service agencies that caused some spirited discussion. Here was the question: Collectively, as a North County region, and as a community of non profits dealing with the homeless, have we been effective in solving the homeless problem? If not, why?

I believe we have not been collectively effective. We are not solving the homeless problem for North County. Sure, as independent organizations, we can and we do solve homelessness for people. But, open the paper on any given day and you can read about what I mean when I say regional reactions vs. regional solutions. Together, as a community, we aren’t solving it.

Why aren’t we solving it? Perhaps one of the top reasons is because outdated federal policies and funding strategies have ineffectively filtered down from above and into our North County service providers. In turn, those agencies have done what they were supposed to do, yet the problem still exists.

Homeless service providers in San Diego County have received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state funding over the past two decades to “help” the homeless.

That funding has created dozens of programs. Services within those programs were then delivered to the homeless. This funding was given to the non profits for them to try and address the problems of homelessness, yet it only seems to have largely contained the problem. Twenty years worth of funding based on an input-driven model instead of an outcome-driven model has not solved the problem. Is that an acceptable model for our community?

A homeless woman and man sleep in Grape Day Park in Escondido. Megison argues that North County’s failure to tackle homelessness as a regional problem and outdated approaches undermine many admirable individual efforts.

What do I mean by inputs as opposed to outcomes? Inputs are the number of beds filled, meals provided, service units given, etc. A heavier weight must be placed on outcomes achieved: people equipped to maintain their own housing, people equipped to feed themselves, income increased by “X” number of dollars, amount of money in savings, college courses completed, causative factors eliminated or greatly reduced (relapse-free, mental health episodes diminished, etc.). The real proof in solving community homelessness should ultimately be measured in the eye of the public. Can we stroll through our parks or walk into our supermarket without being aggressively panhandled? Can we drive through town without seeing groups of homeless people huddled in our public places? If not, are we really solving the problem?

If we truly want to solve community homelessness, we must stop simply managing the symptoms of the underlying problems that cause homelessness. The problems that come from active addiction, untreated mental illness, unemployment, lack of education, and poverty cannot be addressed with the same old reactive containment model. We end up stuck in a default, automatic pilot containment mode, or disguising faulty models with new language, like “ten-year plans”, and “strength-based” systems.

We can dress it up all you want, but after another 10 years and another 20 billion dollars, we’ll still be scratching our heads. North County must stop calling what we’ve been doing for the homeless a “good” model which we are now going to try and make “better”. We must decide that we are now going to completely scrap that faulty model and rebuild from new core values based on a model of accountability that will result in new, congruent practices with real outcomes.

Enabling hurts the homeless person. When a community stops enabling, many homeless will stop being homeless.

Yes, feed the hungry. Yes, shelter the homeless. But, do so in conjunction with a solid plan, a real plan that includes a real partnership based on mutually agreed upon accountability structures with mutual goals and objectives that will help them solve the problems that have contributed to their homelessness. That is real compassion. That is real love. Only then will North County truly solve their homeless problem. Until then, it’s more of the same ol’, same ol’.


Chris Megison
President and Executive Director
North County Solutions for Change
www.SolutionsForChange.org

March 28, 2007

A Day in the Park - Saturday, April 7, 2007
Sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Solutions for Change

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kiwanis Club of Solutions for Change
722 W. California Ave.
Vista, CA 92083

For More Information:
Christine Palmer
760-941-6545
christine@solutionsforchange.org

Kiwanis Club of Solutions for Change Reco gnizes Special Day of Service

April 7, 2007 recognized as Kiwanis One Day–
a global action day benefiting children and communities

Vista, CA — April 7, 2007 — The Kiwanis Club of Solutions for Change is bringing the spirit of service alive in Vista, CA by hosting A Day in the Park on April 7, 2007 at Brengle Terrace Park for the families currently housed at Solutions for Change, and will include sports activities and a scavenger hunt.

These activities are being held as part of Kiwanis One Day, a global volunteer action day uniting the entire Kiwanis family, including Kiwanis, Circle K, Key Club, Builder’s Club, Atkion Club, K-Kids and Kiwanis Junior. On this day, club volunteers of Kiwanis Club of Solutions for Change are expected to join nearly 600,000 volunteers around the world in devoting a few hours to hands-on volunteer service. Kiwanis expects that Kiwanis One Day will contribute nearly one million service hours around the world in just one day.

“We are proud to join our fellow Kiwanis family members around the globe to participate in Kiwanis One Day,” said Tammy Megison, President. “The energy, commitment and camaraderie surrounding this single day make the experience of hands-on service even more gratifying for our members as they make an immediate, measurable impact on the North County community.”

Kiwanis One Day (“One Way, One Day, One K”) was designated by Kiwanis International in order to unite all youth and adult members from different parts of the Kiwanis family together in service. For more information on the Kiwanis Club of Solutions for Change’s service activities, please contact Christine Palmer at 760-941-6545 or christine@solutionsforchange.org. For more information about Kiwanis of Solutions for Change, please visit www.solutionsforchange.org/khome.html

About Kiwanis
Founded in 1915, Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Kiwanis International and its service leadership programs for young people, including Circle K, Key Club, Key Leader, Builders Club, K-Kids, Kiwanis Junior and Aktion Club dedicate more than 19 million volunteer hours and invest US$100 million to strengthen communities and serve children annually. The Kiwanis International family comprises 600,000 adult and youth members and 15,000 clubs in 90 countries and geographic areas. Kiwanis members make their mark by responding to the needs of their communities and pooling their resources to address worldwide issues. Globally, Kiwanis International has focused humanitarian efforts on eliminating iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), through the Worldwide Service Project, a US$75 million campaign in partnership with UNICEF, which began in 1994. For more information about Kiwanis International, please visit www.kiwanis.org.

# # #

Tammy and I want to thank you so much for your love and support that is helping us touch the lives of hundreds every day. We also come to you with a very special request.

November is Friend to Friend Month, and we faithfully believe in the ability to reach our program bu dget for 2006 of nearly one million and help even more homeless children and their families than ever before. Will you consider making a special donation this month specifically for the Solutions for Change transitional housing programs?

We can only do it with your help.

It starts with providing the basics: food, shelter, and clothing, and moves into a comprehensive and individualized employment related training process, with educational opportunities, and youth services designed to get to the root of the problem and solve family homelessness.

Tammy and I wish we could tell you: problem solved…but unfortunately the homeless families keep pounding on our doors. The need is so great, that in just the past two years we have tripled the number of families that are helped in our programs.

One hundred and eighty eight people (117 of them children) are being given a chance for a new life at Solutions for Change programs right now. And we are helping them in a huge way, not just food, shelter and clothing, but supportive housing for families that are with us 24/7!

And of course what makes Solutions for Change so different is that 100% of our programs support homeless families and children making us the largest non-profit human service housing provider for homeless families in North San Diego County!

The average age of the homeless person helped at
Solutions for Change is eight years old!

Please know that 100 percent of your special donation this month will go directly toward program related expenses. And as a special November only feature to make your gift even more powerful, when you give and mark your donation as a special Friend to Friend gift, your special donation will be matched dollar for dollar!

Please give $10, $20 or more if you can,
and a Solutions for Change friend will match it!

Tammy and I want to thank you for all that you do…and thank you in advance for your generous donation, which will make a significant difference in the lives of your neighbors. God bless you!

~ Chris and Tammy Megison

November 1 , 2006

It Takes More Than a Bowl of Soup to Change (or Save) a Life...

…but as a partner in the Solutions for Change mission to end FAMILY homelessness in North County, you already knew that. Moreover, in light of the evidence of our region claiming title to one of the top 10 least affordable places to live in the country, you recognized just how difficult it is for a homeless family to obtain the housing, employment and educational opportunities needed to break out of the “survival cycle” of food lines and emergency overnight shelters.

Seven years ago we were there. Ladling the soup. Handing out the half inch thick mats. Dozens of families huddled on a church floor. Hundreds of new homeless children streamed into our family shelter. There had to be more we could do. You knew there had to be more. So together we launched an ambitious campaign called Solutions NOW! - that featured an infant’s tiny little feet sticking out from beneath a pink baby blanket and a caption that read: These Little Piggies Are Homeless – We Can Change That! Help came and a plan took shape. A plan called Futures for Families.

We would build.

We would build a place where our neighbor’s children didn’t have to sleep on a cold floor any longer. We would build a place where a single working mom with her three kids could live and work.

We soon learned that in order to help a homeless family with basic shelter we had to go through City Hall to get the necessary permits and government approvals. Perhaps it looked like we didn’t have much in the way of resources, but we really did. We had your support and your belief, with your urgency and your drive. So with your encouragement we pressed in and we pressed on.

The future of a homeless family, in fact hundreds of homeless kids, would ultimately rest in the hands of our local elected leaders. But you, as a citizen and a person with a heart would not be deterred and so your perseverance gave the Solutions for Change leadership team the resolve to push forward.

Navigating the City Hall process proved to be a daunting challenge for our new non profit organization. Fortunately the late Mayor Gloria McClellan stood up against stiff political opposition which included former Vista City councilmember’s who were headstrong on killing our plans. This gave us some hope.

In Gloria McClellan’s last days knowing she didn’t have much longer to live, she would ask me how the homeless families were doing. Her leadership and vision would later be picked up by Vista Mayor Morris Vance, Councilwoman Judy Ritter and Councilman Bob Campbell. And even though you would not see the unanimous vote that you as a concerned citizen might expect, as two of Vista’s current elected leaders would go on to aggressively oppose sheltering homeless children, the majority stood firm. I know that Vance, Ritter and Campbell literally saved lives because of their decisions.

The approvals came. The Solutions team remarkably raised the millions of dollars (thanks to initiatives like Proposition 1-C) needed to build a regional center where families could live and recover from homelessness. Solutions for Change navigated hurdle after hurdle, and today hundreds of homeless children and their parents, who otherwise may not have been helped but with only a bowl of soup, were given the opportunity for real change.

In all, Solutions for Change has helped create over 400 new homes in support of former homeless families who now live and work all over North County. Once stuck in a food line or other hand-out program, these families are employed taxpayers, proud parents who are responsible contributors to our economy. Our neighborhoods are healthier and stronger as a result.

The point of my letter to each of you is this: It starts with you. Take the time to learn about those running for public office and understand what the issues are. It could be your neighbor, your friend or even your own family member who one day may need a hand up. Their life may even depend on it.

It takes more than a bowl of soup to save a life…and sometimes it takes the power of your vote. Do not underestimate the power of your vote. Get out there to the polls on November 7th!

Chris Megison
President and Executive Director
North County Solutions for Change

November 1 , 2006

A Message from our Board

Recently we posted a copy of our agency’s clean and unqualified independent audit performed by the accounting firm of Dunlap, Dunlap and Peck. Our audit drew public attention after allegations were made of embezzlement by a former member of our Board of Directors last spring. Although this claim was unsubstantiated by the audit, the city of Vista made a decision to pursue their own audit of our agency.

Recently after receiving a copy of the management letter we received from our accounting firm, the city of Vista decided to drop their plans for an audit and release the grant money due Solutions. We appreciate the renewed confidence shown to Solutions by the City of Vista, and the unwavering support demonstrated by so many other public and private entities to the mission of our agency.

We have implemented all of the internal control procedures recommended in the management letter and are now looking to the future. We remain focused on our important mission to end family homelessness in North County. As our annual campaign picks up steam this month we ask for your continued support and participation.

Thank you.

Rev. Dennis Bone
Chairman of the Board of Directors

October 4, 2006

Solutions for Change Annual Christmas Party Date Announced

New this year! Solutions for Change is hosting an OPEN HOUSE Christmas Party on Saturday, December 2, 2006. This magical day will be filled with arts & crafts activities, free food, and of course, a visit by Santa! More information available soon! Questions? Please call us: 760-941-6545

Ten grants were awarded in March to organizations to help feed the hungry. This brings the total awarded to local nonprofit organizations this year to $218,500. Additional grants will be awarded in September.

These grants represent donations received throughout the year from hundreds of individuals, businesses, clubs, schoolchildren and professional organizations, plus matching dollars from the North County Times and the McCormick Tribune Foundation.

The following organizations received grants:

Alpha Project for the Homeless, $5,000; Assistance League of North Coast, $5,000; Assistance League of Rancho San Dieguito, $5,000; Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County,Ý$5,000;

Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad, $5,000; Boys and Girls Clubs of San Dieguito, $5,000; Boys and Girls Club of Vista, $5,000; Catholic Charities, St. Francis Center, $5,000;

Community Campership Council, $4,000; Community Resource Center, $5,000; Escondido Community Child Development Center, $5,000; Fallbrook Child Development Center, $5,000; George G. Glenner Alzheimer's Family Centers, $4,000; Military Outreach Ministries, $7,000; North County Health Services, $6,000.

North County Solutions for Change, $5,000; Oceanside Senior Citizens Association, $5,000; Operation Homefront-San Diego, $4,000; Special Olympics North San Diego, $4,000; Trauma Intervention Programs of San Diego County, $4,000; Welcome Home Ministries, $4,000; Women's Resource Center, $5,000; Camp Pendleton Armed Services YMCA, $7,000; Joe and Mary Mottino Family Branch YMCA, $4,000; YMCA Oz North Coast, $4,000; Palomar Family YMCA, $4,000.

VISTA ---- Set several hundred feet from the street, the five-building apartment complex looks nothing like the houses that surround it.


At two stories, it looms over the small single-level buildings around it on West California Avenue in Vista. Its clean brown-and-white stucco facade doesn't match the fading paint on the homes that line the narrow road.

What's going on inside the complex doesn't quite match the neighborhood, either.


Certainly, there are families in each of the 32 apartments as there are in many of the homes on the street, doing family things. But there's more going on than immediately meets the eye.

The apartment complex is actually what is known as a transitional homeless shelter ---- the Solutions Family Center ---- and its tenants, mostly women and their children, are only staying for a while. When they move in, the goal is to get them back on their feet within a year ---- with a full-time job, money saved up and in affordable housing.

As Riverside County officials move forward with a plan to build a regional transitional shelter for women and children in an industrial district of Lake Elsinore, they are using the Solutions Family Center as a model. The shelter has proven its usefulness in the short time it has been open.

The facility opened 14 months ago, but already, it has helped hundreds of North San Diego County's homeless put their lives back together.

It took seven years and almost $7 million to get the shelter built, say executives with North County Solutions for Change, the nonprofit agency that runs it. The effort to build the shelter had to overcome a variety of hurdles, they say, including securing funding and finding a place to erect it that was acceptable to the community.

Sounds familiar ---- over the last several years, various plans to build Southwest County's only homeless shelter have been scrapped because of concerns with proposed locations. And figuring out how much Southwest County cities are going to chip in ---- which is something county officials say they plan to pursue ---- hasn't gotten anywhere.

Despite all that, the latest county proposal appears to be moving along briskly.

According to Susan Loew, an assistant director for the county's Department of Public Social Services, administrators are in the final stages of planning the $4 million project, which will be built on several acres the county is buying near Silver and Minthorn streets in Lake Elsinore.

"At this point, we are pretty much finalizing the scope of the project in terms of site location and the style of the building itself," she said. "We're working aggressively to move this along to start construction."

A typical story

For Lena Ballaro, 2005 wasn't the greatest of years.

The 33-year-old single mom spent much of it homeless, staying with friends throughout North San Diego County and sleeping on couches. She had to put classes to become a dental assistant on hold.

She left her husband just before the year began, Ballaro said, and had nowhere else to go. But that wasn't any way to raise a son, she said, and it certainly wasn't any way to pick up the pieces.

"You just can't get back on your feet that way," Ballaro said.

Ballaro's situation changed when she found Solutions Family Center last year. In September, she and her 2-year-old son Matthew moved into one of the shelter's 32 apartments. Ballaro, who is pregnant again, soon got a job working in the facility's childcare center.

Ballaro said the program at the Solutions Family Center has helped her and her son regroup and, more importantly, find hope.

"It's tremendous," she said. "I see a difference in myself. I'm stable and I have a stronger head on my shoulders."

According to North County Solutions for Change Executive Director Chris Megison, though Ballaro's story tends to be the norm at the shelter, there are many reasons why women like her and their children end up at the shelter.

About half of them are single mothers with two or three kids, he said, working full time but making only about $20,000 a year. They're priced right out of the housing market, he said.

The other half, Megison said, have hurdles like alcohol and drug addiction, domestic abuse and mental illness to overcome. The Solutions Family Center isn't a treatment center, he said, so everyone in the program has to be sober.

The center prefers not to break families up and, in some cases, Megison said, men are allowed in. Every person who enters the program, he said, has to pass a criminal background check.

'Get up, suit up and show up'

Megison reports that 85 percent of the families who graduate from the program at the shelter keep to the positive course on which they leave the shelter. The key, he said, is giving them the information, the skills and the support they need so they can maintain the positive momentum once they leave.

"The principle is, give a family a fish and they will eat for a day," he said, paraphrasing the biblical maxim. "Teach a family to fish and they will eat for a lifetime."

But the waiting list is long ---- at any given time, there are between 30 and 45 families waiting to get in, Megison said.

Once in the program, the center's staff members work with the women to identify the causes of their homelessness. From there, they work with them to establish what Megison calls a Solutions Success Plan.

The women will then begin taking life skills classes and work-related training. For a lot of them, Megison said, the first step is instilling in them a work ethic.

"What they learn is what I call 'Get up, suit up and show up,'" he said.

The goal is to get them working full time and in affordable housing with $2,000 in the bank, Megison said.

Political leadership

Like Ballaro and her son, many of the homeless people in Riverside County are women and children.

County officials attempted a census last year and discovered there were 4,785 homeless people living in the county. That's likely a low figure, they said, because counters weren't able to get to every homeless person.

They did find, though, that 52 percent of the people counted were women and children.

Though it likely painted an incomplete picture of the homeless situation, the census did bring to light the county's homelessness problem, particularly in Southwest County. In Temecula, 105 homeless people were found to be living there, and in Lake Elsinore there were 163. In Murrieta, census-takers weren't able to locate any homeless people.

Though a final design for the Lake Elsinore project has not yet been released, preliminary plans unveiled in October indicate it will likely be set up similarly to the Vista shelter. That complex consists of 32 apartments, each 600 square feet, with every two units sharing a kitchen.

County officials are planning 35 units between 450 and 500 square feet for Lake Elsinore with similar kitchen arrangements.

The facility would also include a 34,000-square-foot office building for the county's Department of Public Social Services, which is about 9,000 square feet larger than the department's current Lake Elsinore office and would accommodate between 40 and 65 more staff members.

To get the Solutions Family Center built, Megison said, it took a lot of patience and even more persistence.

It also took political leadership, he said.

Getting past the "not in my backyard" mentality of community members who didn't want a homeless shelter in their neighborhoods, and then getting local governments to help pay for it, took strong commitments from elected leaders.

Once officials with the five North San Diego County cities the shelter serves and the county decided it was time to finally get it built, Megison said, the process picked up steam.

For the Southwest County shelter to get more of a commitment from city officials, Lake Elsinore City Councilman Thomas Buckley said the county should set up a joint powers authority, like the coalition that was formed to build an animal shelter. At the very least, he said, the bodies involved should sit down and work out an agreement that lays out certain responsibilities.

"We can't just essentially hand over money without some say where it's going," he said.

Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com. To comment on this article, go to www.californian.com.

July 8, 2006


Thrift Store Closes: Solutions Partners with North Coast Church


From: Chris Megison, President and Executive Director

To: Solutions for Change Supporters

Subject: Closing of our Thrift Store

Management and Board of Solutions for Change have carefully weighed the benefits of renewing the lease and keeping the thrift store open at the current location. After very serious and thoughtful consideration, the decision was made to not renew the lease at the current location but instead to pursue another location with more favorable lease terms.

Solutions for Change and the North Coast Church Thrift Store located at 1421 North Sante Fe Vista have agreed to work cooperatively until Solutions can secure another site. Solutions for Change is now asking all of its long and loyal thrift store donors to please consider donating your items to the North Coast Thrift Store by calling (760) 631-7467. Pastor Casey Yorman from North Coast Church has met with Solutions management and is excited about the opportunity to work together for the benefit of our homeless families. Pastor Casey has enthusiastically agreed to allow the residents living at our transitional housing programs to utilize vouchers through the Solutions Case Management program to obtain needed clothing and other necessary items.

North Coast Church has been a long supporter of Solutions for Change as seen by their outreach volunteers coming into our centers, working with our young children, serving meals and offering healthy alternative educational opportunities for our families.

I let the closure date sneak up on all of us without giving you a thorough explanation. This has understandably concerned some of you. I apologize. In just the first part of this year we opened a whole new center and obtained eight additional units of permanent affordable housing. That’s another 70 beds filled mostly with little heads…a total now of 190 little boys and girls with their moms who no longer are homeless. Even still, I know that when it comes to how dearly important you all are to our mission, it’s no excuse. You deserve to be kept apprised.

There are so many wonderful supporters of that little thrift store…your gifts of time and treasure are priceless. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge a few people. First, there is one person who single-handedly, beyond any doubt, contributed more household donations than any other one person. That person is Mr. Don Smith. He and his fellow Kiwanians of the Lake San Marcos Kiwanis Club spearheaded over 100 tons of clothing, furniture and household goods in support of our families. They rallied Kiwanis International Division 37, and another dozen Kiwanis clubs then provided mucho stuff. I’d also like to call out another civic organization that saddled up big time: Shadowridge Vista Rotary. There are literally hundreds of others who gave and then gave again. Thank You! You are all great.

Keep your eyes and ears open. With any luck perhaps we can find a building to rent for a dollar a year, like some of the other thrift stores are able to do. Shoot, I’d even break down and do $2 a year. I’d be happy to hear your ideas or discuss anything else on your mind, call me at 941-6545 ext. 303.


April 15, 2006


North County Times: Vista Transitional Housing Opens Saturday

By: LORELL FLEMING - Staff Writer for North County Times

VISTA ---- Toting their belongings in boxes and bags, 10 families moved Saturday from a temporary Oceanside winter shelter that closed Friday to a new transitional housing center at 890 East Vista Way.

It's a roof over their heads and more time to get back on their feet, some of the occupants said candidly when asked about the move.

The transitional housing facility, Solutions Intake and Access Family Center, timed its reopening at the new site on East Vista Way with the seasonal closure of Operation Hope, according to Chris Megison, executive director of North County Solutions for Change, the nonprofit that runs the center.

"It had to be done," Megison said. "In North County, we have a crisis with a lot of boys and girls, and their families, not having a place to lay their heads down at night. The average age of the people were served last year was 8."

Unlike temporary shelters, occupants can stay at the transitional housing center for a maximum of three months, Megison said. The center accepts people who can prove they have been sober for at least 30 days.

At the new site, the center has 40 more beds, bringing the total to 160, Megison said.

Two families making the move Saturday shared their stories.

April and Scott, who asked that their last names not be printed, said they had been homeless for about a week. The engaged couple had their daughter and her two sons with them when they came to Vista from San Bernardino about six weeks ago. The family had arranged for a place to live in Vista, but that fell through, said Scott, 27. The couple expressed gratitude for Operation Hope and North County Solutions for Change.

When they ran out of money and could no longer afford to stay in hotels, the family was homeless for a week, said April, 30.

"That was the longest week of my life," April added, slowly stroking the brown hair of their 2-year-old daughter, Sierra. "We had pretty much hit rock bottom. And then we got into Operation Hope. We were there for about five weeks."

Scott said he has worked in construction and about five years as a prep chef, but it was hard to find another job.

"With no place to shower and wash your clothes, and without a phone and residence, you're going to have a hard time getting a job," Scott said.

Even though the family did not have a permanent home yet, they were happy.

"We'll get a chance to better our lives," April said. "And for right now, we have a roof over our heads. Our kids are safe and dry, and there are smiles on their faces."

Scott said he hopes to someday go to culinary school. But for now, he is willing to take any decent job he can get to support his family, he said.

On the other side of the center Saturday morning, Carrie Callahan, 33, neatly placed lilac-colored sheets on her bunk bed. Her two boys, Gabriel Cardenas, 10, and Geoffrey Cardenas, 7, stood by patiently, ready to help their mother whenever she called for them.

Problems for Callahan started in August when she broke up with her live-in boyfriend of about 11 years, the boys' father. Callahan said she got a roommate to help with the apartment rent, but the situation did not work out, and she had to ask the roommate to leave in December.

Bills started stacking up in November, Callahan added. Major car problems cropped up in January, and she could not keep her customer service job at a resort company. Callahan was evicted April 5. A friend is keeping her car in his garage.

"Homeless. I hate that word. It makes me feel like a failure," Callahan said, straightening a thin plaid blanket she draped neatly over the lilac bed sheet. "But then, I learned that becoming homeless even happens to good, hardworking people sometimes. I just have to deal with it, and get back on my feet so I can take care of me and my boys."

Unable to find friends or relatives who had room for her and her boys for more than a few days, Callahan and her children went to Operation Hope. She expressed gratitude to the staff of Operation Hope and the center.

Callahan said she has a few goals for herself: getting a job and saving enough money to get her car fixed, and start going back to church. At some point, she hopes to go to cosmetology school.

"When my boys ask me about what's going on, I tell them if we work hard and we pray, we'll get to a better place. And things will get better and better," Callahan said.

Contact staff writer Lorell Fleming at (760) 731-5798 or at lfleming@nctimes.com.

VISTA ---- The smell of household cleaners stung the air this week in a ragged building on East Vista Way as volunteers worked to resurrect a homeless shelter that has been shuttered for more than a year.

Navigating through an obstacle course of sponges and paint-spattered buckets, volunteers from civic groups and local businesses set up bunk beds, polished windows and mopped the partially tiled floors.

"We're starting fresh," said volunteer Pat Reith, 75, as she carried mattresses inside from a nearby storage bin Thursday.

Bit by bit, the 40-bed facility is coming back together, and shelter officials said they hope to open the doors on or around March 21.

"We're making good progress," said Chris Megison, executive director of the nonprofit North County Solutions for Change. "I think we're going to be OK."

Megison said his organization is reopening the facility --- after months of talking and working with the city ---- to provide beds and case management for homeless families waiting to move into Solutions' 120-bed family center on West California Avenue.

That program, which works to help families find permanent affordable housing within a year, has a waiting list of 10 to 15 families, Megison said.

Across town, a 50-bed emergency winter shelter for families called Operation Hope ---- not a part of Solutions --- is operating at capacity, but is slated to close its doors in mid-April. Megison said he hopes his new facility will be a timely lifeline for those who have not yet found alternative housing.

But first things first, he said. Transforming the graffiti-stained building at 809 E. Vista Way into a working "intake and access center" is going to require at least 150 more hours of volunteer work.

"It probably needs about $70,000 worth of material and labor, but we're going to do it for about $10,000," Megison said.

A controversial history

Over the years, the East Vista Way shelter --- located along a commercial corridor a few blocks east of downtown ---- has been the subject of some community acrimony and several City Council debates.

When a permit for the project was first approved in 2000, opponents voiced concerns about safety, noise and negative impacts on their quality of life. Some held rallies, others threatened lawsuits.

But in the years that followed, neighborhood support grew, Megison said.

Jim Adams, the 33-year-old manager of the adjacent Vista Way Cafe, said Thursday that he'd rather see a shelter next door than a vacant building that invites questionable characters into the area.

"We're totally in favor of it," he said. "We've never had a problem."

Under the terms of its contract with the city, Solutions agreed to abandon that Intake and Access family shelter within 30 days of opening its West California Avenue center in November 2004. But without missing a beat, Megison was back before the council, asking for permission to reopen the temporary shelter to skim the top off the waiting list at the new site.

The request angered some city officials, who said Megison was going back on his word.

Councilman Steve Gronke ---- who has repeatedly said the city does more than its fair share to combat homelessness in North County ---- fought the reopening of the shelter through much of 2005. After the city's Planning Commission narrowly approved a permit for the project in September, Gronke appealed it, arguing that the shelter was an inappropriate use for a commercial corridor.

But in the end, only Councilman Frank Lopez sided with Gronke in opposing the plan and the council approved the permit 3-2.

Shelter operations

Inside the Intake and Access Family shelter Thursday, volunteers arranged the bunk beds nearly end to end. Megison's wife, Tammy, a co-founder of Solutions for Change, said fathers and teenage boys will sleep at one end of the barracks, while other family members will sleep at the other.

"It just keeps things simpler," she said.

In some aspects, the lack of privacy works to the new shelter's advantage. "It's pretty hard to be an active drug addict or an alcoholic in a place like this," Chris Megison said.

About 40 percent of those who come to Solutions for help suffer from drug and alcohol addiction, Megison said. The remainder have either been economically displaced or are victims of domestic violence.

Unlike the organization's California Avenue center, which requires families to prove they have been clean and sober for 90 days before they can stay there, the intake center will only have a 30-day sobriety threshold for new admissions.

With a first-year operating budget of $130,000, the East Vista Way facility will have three paid employees, including an on-site manager, who will be supported by 50 to 70 volunteers per week, Megison said.

He anticipates an annual budget increase of 5 percent to 10 percent, depending on the material donations the shelter receives.

"It gets real costly if all of a sudden we have to buy toilet paper," Megison said. "Stuff like milk and meat can run thousands of dollars a year."

Last year, Solutions for Change was awarded a $925,000 grant from the state's Emergency Housing and Assistance program. While the funds have yet to clear escrow, the bulk of it will be used to purchase the East Vista Way building, Megison said.

Under its agreement with the city, Solutions can use the building as a shelter until 2016.

To fund future operations, Megison said the organization will seek out grants and private donations, especially from the faith community, which has supported its efforts in the past.

Contact (North County Times) staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com

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