At the beginning of last year, at age 85, Carol Moss decided to find out what was being done to help the homeless people in Malibu. After several months of email correspondence with Rev. Sandy Liddell of the Malibu United Methodist Church (MUMC), the two began a series of regular meetings that soon attracted over 50 Malibu residents to join, and Moss was chosen to lead the newly formed Community Assistance Resource Team (CART).
About the time CART began putting together a plan for the Malibu homeless, a series of local “crises” occurred affecting the few services already being offered, including when The Artifac Tree lost its lease, which meant no more clothes, shoes, bus tickets, etc. for the homeless after being the “go-to” place for the needy for over 40 years. CART members spent weeks meeting with The Artifac Tree, trying to save the lease and then trying to find them a new location, but to no avail.
Next, the Malibu Presbyterian Church, which had been offering a weekly free dinner to the homeless through an organization called SOS, decided it could no longer provide that service. CART stepped in trying to find another location for that dinner, which eventually wound up at MUMC. (There are now two homeless dinners a week offered at MUMC: Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. and Thursday at 6 p.m.)
The next crisis CART had to deal with was the certainty of a cold, wet El Niño winter facing Malibu’s homeless. It became Moss’ top priority to figure out some way for them to have access to shelter. She knew by this time that L.A. County was the key to Malibu getting any kind of assistance. After going down a number of dead ends, her persistence paid off. Cutting a lot of bureaucratic red tape, the county, under pressure from CART, has just begun offering a free daily shuttle service from Malibu to a West L.A. shelter.
On Oct. 28 of last year, in conjunction with the county, Moss coordinated Malibu’s first ever Homeless Connect Day, held at the old courthouse. Over 15 service agencies helped nearly 80 homeless people access public benefits of all kinds, including Medi-Cal enrollment, affordable housing, health screenings, social services, emergency shelters and veterans’ benefits.
While Moss has been dealing with emergencies, an offshoot of CART, the Malibu Task Force on Homelessness, appears to have succeeded in getting private funding for Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC). OPCC is a service provider based in Santa Monica that will put a couple of professional “boots on the ground” in Malibu to help steer the homeless to services and housing. It was Moss who initially established contact with OPCC and had them give presentations to CART.
Even before establishing CART, Moss has been an active member of the community for years. She’s on the board of the Malibu Democratic Club, where President Ann Doneen describes her as, “An incredible leader who is more down to earth than the soil itself, and as inspirational as the spirits in the sky.”
In addition, according to resident Michael Kory, “For the past 15 years, Carol has invited anyone and everyone to her home for a 45-minute weekly open group meditation followed by a session of sharing … Some have been driving great distances over many years to enjoy Carol’s hospitality and wisdom.”
Kory also pointed out Moss’s ongoing engagement in issues affecting Malibu, “from the lagoon to the never-ending issues of development, where she shows up to speak at City Council meetings and writes letters to the editor.”