Volunteers in the Santa Clarita Valley reached out to assist homeless people on Saturday during the first ever SCV Cares event put on by the Santa Clarita Valley Homeless Coalition.
A wide variety of free services were offered such as dental care, immunizations, HIV testing, a mobile shower station and much more; all in the parking lot in front of Real Life Church in Valencia.
“It’s to raise awareness of homelessness in the Santa Clarita Valley (and) more importantly, to make connections for homeless neighbors,” said Michelle Andrews, a volunteer for the event and the director of discipleship and care for Valencia United Methodist Church, which helped sponsor the event.
One such homeless person who received assistance was Albert Gomez. He lamented that these services are available for such a short period in SCV and said there needs to be more events like this in the area.
“It’s only for one day,” he said.
Gomez usually travels to the beach all the way in Santa Monica to take a shower so he made sure to bathe at SCV Cares when he had the chance.
One organization that was offering services at the event was Bridge to Home, which had condoms, shoes and information to give out to local homeless people.
“This is a great way to get the word out because we have so many homeless people out here,” said Audrey Davis, the medical coordinator of Bridge to Home.
Kevin Pisano, the coordinator of the event and a local outreach pastor for Real Life Church, said the event was a success and expected to host another one next year.
Close to 50 homeless people had received assistance when the event was only half way through and more were expected to come.
“Any time we can help one person, that’s successful,” he said.
