COMPLEX HELPS FAMILIES ESCAPE HOMELESSNESS; NEW NONPROFIT HOUSING OPENS.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer The paint had barely dried on the stately Stoll House when Charlie Percy and her five daughters were handed the keys to a furnished four-bedroom unit on the second story of the transitional housing complex. With it, they were also handed a new lease on life. ``It was an answer to a prayer for us,'' Percy said, a week after she moved out of the motel room where she and her daughters, 3 through 16 years old, had lived since November. ``We still haven't come off cloud nine. It was so nice to come home.'' Like other families recently selected for a one-year stay in Stoll House, Percy and her kids are homeless but motivated to turn their lives around, given the proper support. That help will come in the form of job training, personal guidance by case managers and subsidized sub·si·dize tr.v. sub·si·dized, sub·si·diz·ing, sub·si·diz·es 1. To assist or support with a subsidy. 2. To secure the assistance of by granting a subsidy. rents in an 11-unit apartment complex built by a nonprofit organization Nonprofit Organization An association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well. Notes: Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. , Many Mansions. ``The whole purpose is to get us back on our feet - back into the work force and self-sufficient,'' said Percy, 43, whose piercing blue eyes Blue eyes are eyes that have blue irises (see eye color), and may also refer to:
Percy and her girls lived in cramped motel rooms for most of the past year while she struggled to rebuild the embroidery embroidery, ornamental needlework applied to all varieties of fabrics and worked with many sorts of thread—linen, cotton, wool, silk, gold, and even hair. Decorative objects, such as shells, feathers, beads, and jewels, are often sewn to the embroidered piece. business that came crashing down with her abusive marriage in early 1997. A three-time Mrs. Ventura County USA and now reigning Ms. Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. , Percy painfully remembers the irony and shame she felt when seeking help from the same food banks and support groups she had once assisted by participating in beauty pageants that raised money for charity. In recent weeks, welfare checks and food stamps food stamp n. A stamp or coupon, issued by the government to persons with low incomes, that can be redeemed for food at stores. Noun 1. have been running thin, and Percy feared she and her family would be forced onto the streets. Instead, they were selected from among about 30 applicants to live in Stoll House, a gleaming, tile-roofed complex on a cul-de-sac on Los Robles Robles is a common surname in the Spanish language meaning oaks, and may refer to:
The project was two years in the making and cost $1.8 million in federal, state, county and private money. It is the first transitional housing project for the homeless in Ventura County and the latest in a series of ventures by Many Mansions to meet a desperate need for affordable housing in the Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both Southeastern Ventura County and Northwest Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It was discovered in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and eventually became part of the Rancho El Conejo land grant by , said associate director Mary MacLeod. ``Rents are very high - the highest in Ventura County - and a lot of service-industry workers can't afford to live here,'' she said. Stoll House residents are told they can stay for one year. With a limited amount of time to get their lives together, they are also offered case management through Catholic Charities and job services through Lutheran Social Services social services Noun, pl welfare services provided by local authorities or a state agency for people with particular social needs social services npl → servicios mpl sociales . ``We're going to give them every chance to make it,'' MacLeod said. ``That was the whole idea. In choosing people for the program, we tried to be careful to pick people who had goals that were achievable in the time period of the program and who had the best capabilities of becoming self-sufficient.'' Stoll House offers three one-bedroom units at $283 apiece or less each month, seven two-bedroom units costing up to $330 a month, and one four-bedroom unit that Percy rents for $437 a month. The apartments come furnished. Local businesses and residents have donated everything from living room sofas to kitchen utensils. It's a major improvement in living conditions living conditions npl → condiciones fpl de vida living conditions npl → conditions fpl de vie living conditions living for the new tenants. ``Everyone's been so overwhelmed. It's just so heartwarming heart·warm·ing or heart-warm·ing adj. 1. Causing gladness and pleasure. 2. Eliciting sympathy and tender feelings: a heartwarming tale. Adj. 1. for us,'' MacLeod said. ``It's really neat to see the look in their eyes when they walk in and see these beautiful new places to live after sleeping on cots in shelters.'' As the grateful tenants moved in this past week, often passing each other with arms full of boxes and bags, a sense of community began to develop among them. Many have known the same strife and challenges. An official opening ceremony is scheduled next Thursday, and all the tenants are expected to gather for a lasagna dinner the next week, MacLeod said. ``We are going to make an effort to develop a sense of community here, and we're all working toward these goals together, so these people who were homeless don't feel like they're out there all alone anymore.'' |
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