With an estimated 19,000 homeless people in Orange County, California and only 3,400 shelter beds, thousands of adults and children do not have a safe place to sleep at night. For some of these families, homelessness was not caused by substance abuse or mental illness, but by the prolonged economic downturn, causing parents to lose jobs and, as a result, the family home.
The Pacific Life Foundation has a long history of supporting a wide variety of local shelters and services, including the Illumination Foundation (IF). The Pacific Life Foundation has supported IF since its inception in 2008. This grassroots organization is committed to addressing the crisis of homelessness in Orange County and has successfully found permanent housing for nearly 400 families.
Since the Illumination Foundation's founding, the Pacific Life Foundation has provided over $850,000 in funding to the Illumination Foundation. Recently, the Foundation made a $100,000 contribution for their Year-Round Emergency Triage for Homeless Families Program to help reduce the number of homeless families in need of emergency housing. This program provides a safety net for the most vulnerable homeless families and strives to provide them with permanent housing, as well as comprehensive health and human services. During the 2012-2013 winter season, IF will provide services to approximately 120 families who would otherwise spend their nights in local armories. This is the Pacific Life Foundation's fourth year participating in IF's program.