Casa de los Angelitos

CONGRATULATIONS To Casa de los Angelitos Annual Raffle Winners! First Prize $600 - Adela Lozinski Second Prize $300 - James Hirano Third Prize $100 - Ebi Larsen... Thank you so much to our wonderful patrons who supported Casa through our raffle during these very trying times. Casa raised $5,745 in raffle ticket sales alone. We truly appreciate your support. May your generosity be returned a thousand fold!

CASA NEEDS YOUR HELP! Casa de los Angelitos does not receive any government funding and depends solely on the generosity of donors. We are grateful to our benefactors and have been fortunate to date. This year, we share in the agony of the whole world brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. All of our usual fundraising activities had to be canceled. With our limited resources, we have been especially left vulnerable and extremely encumbered with our ability to provide servic...es to one of the most marginalized and often neglected members of our community. We are urgently appealing to your compassion and generosity in these most troubling times. Casa de los Angelitos offers these women and their babies the only ray of hope in their dire situation. Please help us make this world a better place by providing the possibility of a future to mothers and their babies. Donations may be made through www.CasaDeLosAngelitos.org; directly through our online PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/ or mailed to 954 Koleeta Srive Harbor City, CA 90710 Thank you so much in advance for your generosity. Your donation is extremely appreciated, its impact profound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGKOtmcS5qg

Nancy Duran's Story, a tale too common yet too often ignored. It was early summer of 2019 when misfortune came into my life. I found out that I was pregnant and my boyfriend kicked me out of our apartment in San Francisco. Knowing the only person I could turn to was my mother, I immediately contacted her in Los Angeles. To my shock, my mother wanted nothing to do with a pregnant daughter. I was on my own. I had no where to go... Thank God a friend’s mother was willing to take me in for a couple of weeks. But I was determined to return to LA, even if my mother was not going to help me. I googled pregnant women’s shelter and Casa de los Angelitos came up on the top three. I called them from San Francisco. I arrived at Casa on June 21, 2019 and I immediately felt a sense of belonging and understanding, being surrounded by other pregnant women on a similar journey. I did feel a little intimidated by the rules regarding cleanliness and curfews but slowly I appreciated them. A houseful of pregnant women with crazy hormones could provoke a lot of drama. I loved that Casa was so close to the ocean, I would go to the gym and swim or go to the beach. One thing I also really appreciated when I lived there was the ability to be driven to go grocery shopping. I tremendously enjoyed that. I loved cooking in that clean, well-maintained kitchen. Working or going to school was encouraged at Casa and within a short time, I found a job at Urban Plates restaurant since I am a good cook, working 8 hour shifts. By the time they realized I was pregnant, they decided that I was too valuable not to keep. My boyfriend, in the end, wanted to be a part of my baby’s life and decided to pay for an apartment. So I left the home when I was 8 months pregnant and am now taking care of my baby full time. Thank you Casa for providing me with the safety net and stability at such a trying time in my life and when no one else would.

Casa is ready for mothers and the sound of babies again! The house has been very quiet during the Covid-19 shutdown. The cute basinets are empty; no sound of babies crying or cooing. The kitchen usually abuzz with activity and the smells of spices and food that pregnant women concoct as they go about their day coming and going for school, counseling, or work is missing the expectant mothers. We miss these sights and sounds and we can’t wait to welcome them again! As the wome...n slowly left during the shutdown, we used the time to regroup and gear up to provide services in our world’s new normal. Casa repainted the rooms and bathrooms, replaced the carpet, and installed new blinds! A symbolic fresh start as many broken women in crisis who come through these doors often need to do, leaving behind an abusive partner or a dysfunctional home. Casa is ready. Surely but cautiously, as we instituted safety protocols, we are starting to receive applicants. Interviews are being conducted by our capable administrators. We are so happy to welcome our first resident who is due in November!

Former resident Nancy and her beautiful baby, Athena, visits Casa de los Angelitos. #touchedbyanangel