6th Annual Essentials for Young Lives Donation Drive Delivers
Orange County Campaign Collects over 1 Million
Essential Items for Homeless Families
May
22, 2013 (Irvine, CA)
– Today HomeAid Orange County, in partnership with the Children and Families
Commission of Orange County, delivered over 1 million essential items to 17 facilities
serving homeless families with children.
The 6th Annual Essentials
for Young Lives donation drive was the most successful drive in HomeAid
Orange County history, almost doubling the 2012 collection of just over 500,000
items.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the
results of this year’s Essentials
campaign. It is the compassion and
support of the community that continues to make this donation drive so
successful. Families represent the
highest percentage of those living in shelters throughout Orange County, and
being able to provide over 750,000 diapers and 250,000 other items to support
them is incredible,” said Scott Larson, Executive Director of HomeAid Orange
County. “We would especially like to
thank our corporate sponsors, Vons, UPS, Bank of America, the Koll Company, the
Automobile Club of Southern California, and the YMCA of Orange County for their
support of this campaign. Our partners
understand how important this donation drive is for homeless mothers and their
infants in our community.”
The items collected through the Essentials campaign will be distributed to
transitional housing facilities that were built with the assistance of HomeAid
Orange County. These diapers and other essential items
that were donated enable recipient agencies to save the funds normally spent on
baby supplies for use on programs that help their clients achieve
self-sufficiency and lead productive, independent lives.
“The Commission appreciates its
partnership with HomeAid Orange County that has successfully increased the
capacity at shelters and the support services for homeless mothers with young
children,” said Sandra Barry, chair of the Children and Families Commission of
Orange County. “The Essentials
campaign has significantly enhanced the Commission’s investment and promotes our
aspiration that all children have a safe and secure place to live.”
The Orange County Essentials for Young Lives campaign was first launched in 2008 and
has collected over 2.25 million essential baby items. The donations collected will go directly to
meet the critical needs of homeless children and families in Orange
County.
“I am humbled to see that our community,
once again, showed enormous generosity to meet the needs of the most vulnerable
in our community,” said Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, Honorary Chair. “It has been a privilege for the men and
women of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to participate in the Essentials for Young Lives donation
drive. We see firsthand how important
transitional housing can be to so many Orange County families and know that, by
joining with HomeAid and the Children and Families Commission of Orange County,
we can remove some stress and anxiety that may come with a temporary living
situation.”
For more information, please visit http://www.homeaidessentials.org.
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HomeAid
Orange County
HomeAid Orange County is the founding
chapter of a national non-profit organization with the purpose to end
homelessness through their mission to build dignified housing where homeless
families and individuals can rebuild their lives. Founded in 1989 by the Orange
County Chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California,
HomeAid acts as the housing developer and liaison between services providers,
community volunteers, builders and specialty contractors. To date the
organization has completed 49 developments that serve victims of domestic
violence, pregnant homeless women, abused and abandoned children, homeless
adults living with HIV/AIDS and homeless families. For more information, please
visit www.homeaidoc.org.
Children
and Families Commission of Orange County
The Children and Families Commission of
Orange County oversees the allocation of funds from Proposition 10, which added
a 50-cent tax on tobacco products sold in California. Funds help pay for
education, health care and child development programs for children from birth to
five and their families. The Commission’s goal is to ensure all children
are healthy and ready to learn when they enter school. For more information,
please visit www.occhildrenandfamilies.com.
