CLICK ON ONE OF THE LOGOS BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE
Laguna Food Pantry
Donate nonperishable food drive locations around town.
Laguna Food Pantry offers free, fresh, nutritious groceries to low income families and individuals in Laguna Beach and surrounding communities. By providing groceries at no cost, we relieve financial pressures on our neighbors experiencing economic difficulties. No one should have to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table.
Families are welcome to shop once a week for groceries donated by local markets and purchased from regional food banks. Our all-volunteer staff treats visitors with warmth and respect. With the generous support of grants, churches, private donors, foundations, schools and local government, the Laguna Food Pantry has been able to keep its doors open since 1993.
The Friendship Shelter
Friendship Shelter, Inc. [FSI] was incorporated in 1987 to provide year-round shelter and rehabilitation to homeless adults. Today, FSI provides a full complement of rehabilitative services to those most in need and addresses the many interrelated problems of homelessness, including mental and physical health, drug and alcohol addiction, personal responsibility, life skills, education and employment opportunity.
FSI’s Self-Sufficiency Program in Laguna Beach employs a comprehensive multi-layered approach to help residents move beyond the causes of homelessness to self-sufficiency. Thirty-two residents at a time live in dormitory-style housing at FSI’s facility on South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. There, they receive all meals, case management, psychiatric, health and dental support services, recovery support services and counseling, all aimed to help overcome the causes of homelessness. Residents are expected to earn an income, save money and participate in their own personal development in order to leave the program with housing and a plan to sustain healthier lives. This program serves 120-140 individuals annually.
Also in Laguna Beach, FSI operates the City of Laguna Beach’s Alternative Sleeping Location (ASL) emergency shelter. Here, each night, 45 homeless people have a clean safe place to sleep and access to support services. Case management and other supportive services are available for regular users of the program. The ASL serves a particularly challenging population, largely because of severe mental health and/or substance abuse issues. The ASL is funded primarily by the City.
FSI also operates a Permanent Supportive Housing program for clients who are chronically homeless and are unable to work due to a disability, including physical or mental health conditions. Clients are housed in scattered-site apartments and receive ongoing supportive services from Friendship Shelter staff. Clients pay 1/3 of their income toward the cost of their rent, and the balance is subsidized through funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the State of California Mental Health Services Act (MHSA).
Since its inception, more than 10,000 people have participated in a Friendship Shelter program, and each night nearly 100 homeless people sleep safe, warm, and cared for. FSI’s volunteers and supporters have served over 31,000 meals, and the majority of Friendship Shelter’s funding comes from private sources.
The Laguna Beach Community Clinic
The mission of the Laguna Beach Community Clinic is to provide excellent medical care regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.
In 1970, a group of concerned physicians and community leaders established a free clinic to meet the needs of low-income and medically uninsured people of South Orange County. In 1985, the Laguna Beach Community Clinic became a licensed community clinic. The Laguna Beach Community Clinic is a non-profit, primary care health facility that provides family-centered medical care, offering non-emergency, curative and preventive care as well as educational services.
We accept walk-in visits without appointments and deliver compassionate, high quality medical care to the community.
CORE GOALS:
- Protect the health of the OC community.
- Educate people about healthy life choices.
- Provide free testing and medical services.
- Be a safe and anonymous place for the public.
- Allow our community to release stress and worry.
Changing Souls
Changing Souls is a local non-profit organization established in January of 2014 and centered in Laguna Beach. We are compassionately dedicated to reducing hunger and homelessness in Southern California by providing all the necessary means for a seamless integration back into society.
Changing Souls is the brainchild of Faye Chapman, a Laguna Beach resident and champion for the homeless. Faye always wanted to create a non-profit organization which could inject its funds and energy into programs which would directly assist the hungry and homeless. Nearly 100 % of the funds Changing Souls raises are returned into the Laguna Beach community in a variety of areas where it does the most good. Currently, we are funding a work program in conjunction with Laguna Beach Networks Church. Homeless individuals who have the desire to work are paired up with local Laguna Beach business who are in need of people to perform odds jobs like washing windows and sweeping. The homeless workers are paid in gift cards to local restaurants and coffee houses rather than in hard cash. Another new program was organized with the help of Dr. Tom Bent of the Laguna Beach Community Clinic. It provides $10 prescriptions at Laguna Drug. This is a vast improvement from the old program which involved the individual having to board a bus and trek all the way to Wal-Mart. Changing Souls is also in the process of establishing programs for free bus passes, attaining identification for those who have lost it and emergency dental work.
The World Hunger Bowl began in 2008 by Faye Chapman and its annual gala is the main source of funding for Changing Souls. The board of Changing Souls greatly appreciates your attendance and financial assistance. Together we can make a real and lasting difference in quality of the lives of the hungry and homeless. Together we can change lives!
211OC
By dialing 2-1-1, you reach a free, 24-hour information and referral helpline linking you to thousands of local health and human service programs in Orange County, CA. Staffed 24 hours per day by caring, experienced and trained specialists, and available anytime through our online resource database.
211OC’s mission is connect Orange County’s most vulnerable with health and human services support at their times of greatest need. We connect, collaborate, and inform across all community stakeholders to better empower our community as a whole.
Laguna Beach Interfaith Council
The Laguna Beach Interfaith Council represents 8 faith based organizations within our community perfoming multiple opportunities for building understanding and support within Laguna Beach.
The purpose of The Laguna Beach Interfaith Council is to further communication and cooperation among the faith groups of Laguna Beach and the community Social Service organizations to serve the needs of this community, especially the needs of the poor, the sick and the disenfranchised.
The homeless in Laguna Beach who are at the ASL (Alternative Sleeping Location) in the canyon are fed dinner every night of the year, and the Laguna Beach Interfaith Participating Churches are responsible for a major part of providing those meals. They also have food, fruit, etc. available at those dinners for the homeless to take for their breakfast the next morning.
ocinterfaith.org/laguna-beach-interfaith-council
Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County
Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County feeds more than 200,000 people every month. Through a network of 340 member charities distributing food at 480 locations, Second Harvest alleviates food insecurity for more than 200,000 individuals in Orange County each month. Our member agencies are non-profit organizations such as shelters, churches, homes for abused women and children, Boys and Girls Clubs, and local pantries. As a vital link between the food industry and agencies that feed those at-risk of hunger, Second Harvest Food Bank has distributed more than 329 million pounds of food to the hungry in Orange County.
More than 90 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to hunger-relief programs for children, seniors, families, and individuals. The majority of our food is donated through food manufacturers, growers and packers, grocery stores, our Incredible Edible Farm, Feeding America, the USDA, and corporate and individual food drives. Our volunteers sort donated food, checking everything for quality and safety. Last year more than 15,000 volunteers helped us. We welcome individuals and groups who are interested in helping us feed the hungry in our community. For more information on how you can help us end hunger in Orange County visit our website.
feedoc.org
Get the facts:
Hunger &
Homelessness
In Orange County
Get Help:
Laguna Beach
Community
Organizations