On Wednesday, Oct. 28, Malibu hosted a county-sponsored Connect Day for our homeless population. It was a great success in that unique way that things can happen in our community. Whatever the opposite of what a perfect storm is, that is what we had. (A perfect rainbow?)
The County Supervisor’s office, as represented by wonderful Molly Rysman, had the old courthouse at Civic Center cleaned up and outfitted with tables and chairs inside and out. By an extraordinary feat of cooperation, 20 different service providers were here under one roof, including DMV/IDs, Social Security and the VA, among others. A great number of volunteers — beautifully organized by St. Joseph Center — escorted the guests through the stations, giving one-on-one attention, helping to fill out forms, etc. There were translators for Hispanic guests.Â
This was bureaucracy working at its best. The city collaborated with publicity, and the Sheriff’s department was stellar, tirelessly distributing flyers and, I believe, bringing people to the event. Â
People entered downtrodden and left transformed, with good feelings and needs met.
This being Malibu, locals provided haircuts, eye exams, foot baths and more. It was the warmth of Malibu combined with visionary and stunning work from the county and its provider friends that gave us a day of which we can be proud. Hopefully this can be repeated.
Now, we have the challenge of the approaching El Nino for which there is thus far no emergency shelter. The swelling of homelessness has occurred since the last El Nino. We are not prepared.
We do not want people dying of illnesses caused by exposure, so please help solve this by working with CART (Community Assistance Resource Taskforce). Contact Carol Moss at 310.456.3591 or greenlotus@earthlink.net. We meet at Malibu United Methodist Church every other Wednesday at 2 p.m.Â
If that time is inconvenient, you can still participate and lend your voice to a solution.
Carol Moss