COVID-19 Update: All onsite programs are temporarily suspended, except for food distribution.
Homeless Care Services
MEND's Homeless Care Services supports an average of 2,000 unduplicated homeless men and women a year, serving them a hot meal and providing them with food-to-go, fresh change of clothing, hygiene items and referrals to partners in housing and mental health.
Every holiday, we treat our homeless clients to a festive Christmas brunch called "A Seat at the Table" where they enjoy a holiday meal, sing-along, games and presents.
| Homeless Care Services | Target Population |
|---|---|
|
Weekly distribution of clothing, food, and hygiene kits.
Frequency: Weekly
|
Clients who are chronically homeless and have no means to store perishables or cook food. |
MEND STORIES
Teresa
Teresa was like any high school student when her mother remarried and moved her family out of Pacoima, where she had spent most of her life. Left alone for days at a time, she experienced an incident….she pauses almost imperceptibly…and her eyes fill with tears. Her family didn’t believe her. So she began to turn to drugs to forget. Despite this, she was still able to build a good life. Fiercely independent, she had several well-respected jobs and even paid her way to visit Europe. But when she was pregnant, her son’s father died. Soon after, she met another partner. When this relationship ended, she was left a single mother of two.
Then, she met someone she thought was a friend. And life began to unravel quickly. Seeing that Teresa was vulnerable, he began to threaten her children. “He was not a boyfriend.” She clarifies. “He moved in and never left. I was scared.” She was afraid to call the police so, instead, she left her kids with relatives and disappeared. When she found herself in Pacoima again, she had nothing left. She had lost her children, her job and home.