WISEPlace

The heart of what we do is to provide vital wrap-around services to the participants in our care. One of the services we provide is SAFE SHELTER. See what else we provide with the #WISEPlace Way. https://wiseplace.org/wiseplace-way/

Thank you National Charity League, Inc. NCL Pacific Coast RanchoIrvine Ncl for your thoughtful craft Valentine’s Day Gift for the women at #WISEPlace. Your mother/daughter groups always make us feel so loved and we are grateful for you today and always! Happy Valentine’s Day from our WISEPlace family.

We love our volunteers! In 2020, WISEPlace had 702 volunteers who dedicated 10,307 hours. The volunteers who share their hearts and dedication with the women rebuilding their lives are part of the fabric of the #WISEPlace way. We are grateful for your contribution!

Did you know that #WISEPlace has been serving #OrangeCounty women for 97 years! In fact, the first facility opened in 1924 as part of the South Orange County YWCA. #flashbackfriday #thenandnow

Despite the many challenges we faced in 2020, we survived and even managed to not have a single Covid19 outbreak in 2020. Here at #WISEPlace, in 2020, we provided 23,912 safe night’s sleep, and 64,521 nourishing meals to the women we serve. These safe nights and healthy meals were even more important last year. Providing these fundamental needs ensured that our participants had a secure, nurturing environment to shelter-in-place.

Over 500 people have viewed our learning session with Dr. Snow of UCI right here on our FB page. This is just an excerpt. Learn about #homelessness in #OrangeCounty and find out how you can help. Watch here >> https://youtu.be/hwIvZd6u4Y0

Become the Key to Unlocking Hope. Join the Hope & Housing Alliance Launch. Your donation will directly impact the life of one woman, unlocking the door to overcoming homelessness. http://wiseplace.org/alliance

The women at the shelter enjoyed crafting Holiday Crackers and virtual learning about the Eastern European holiday tradition. Thank you Assistance League of Orange for leading a great workshop and donating all the lovely goods! If you want to support our holiday activities, email: [email protected]

FACT: The 3 major factors that cause people to experience homelessness are securing jobs with affordable wages, finding and retaining affordable housing and family issues. MYTH: Most homeless people are either mentally ill or are drug addicts. ... Source: #Homelessness in Orange County: The Costs to Our Community Study #endhomelessnessoc

Annie never imagined that she would be homeless at age 60. A college educated teacher, she was forced to flee an abusive marriage and had nowhere to turn. Sleeping in her car, disabled, and alone, she feared the worst. Then she came to #WISEPlace. "WISEPlace has provided me with everything I need to succeed, and inspired me to become a peer support specialist to help others who are going through hard times. Thank you for supporting WISEPlace and for giving me and so many other women the precious gift of hope." - Annie

Great article in the Daily Pilot featuring WISEPlace supporters Matt Wiech and Danny Wexler who walked 45 miles in ONE day, all to benefit WISEPlace! Click the link to learn more about how these two friends made an incredible impact for WISEPlace by walking and raising over $7,300 to help end homelessness for vulnerable women. #VolunteersRock #WISEPlace #FitBit

Tis the season of giving and usually it is during this time that many people come to volunteer their time at the shelter. However, due to COVID-19 this is not possible right now. But we still need your help! One of the ways you can volunteer is by sponsoring meals for our women’s shelter: $5 will feed a woman in need one meal $500 will feed 100 women in need ... Make a donation towards meals < link in bio > https://wiseplace.org/donate-now/

Holiday shopping? Did you know that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the Amazon Smile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of your purchases to WISEPlace? All you have to do is designate WISEPlace as your chosen charity. http://smile.amazon.com

Art has the power to transform, to inspire and motivate and most importantly, to help healing. These are some of the beautiful cherry blossom paintings created by participants with the help of virtual volunteer Yvonne. If you would like to share a skill or present on a topic via ZOOM, please email: [email protected].

Since November is #NationalGratitudeMonth, we would like to acknowledge our founding members of the #HopeandHousingAlliance, starting with our Silver Key Members. Learn more at http://wiseplace.org/alliance

Never too young to learn the power of sharing and caring. This mother and daughter team from Yorba Linda Church of Christ prepared cookies for our #WISEPlace participants. You too can help! **Support women in need by sponsoring a meal. Just $5 will feed a woman in need one meal, $500 will feed 100 women in need! To donate,visit https://wiseplace.org/donate-now/ **

#WISEPlace graduate Annie Parks talks about how her Case Manager helped her out. This video first aired during our #HopeandHousingAlliance Virtual Launch Event. You can watch the Full Interview on our YouTube channel and right here on our Facebook page. *The WISEPlace Way is a solutions-based program to get women back on their feet with support. The program includes the following services: shelter, case management and counseling, goal creation, employment assistance, socialization, health and wellness, addiction recovery, financial planning and housing assistance.

Thank you Whole Foods Market! Whole Foods Market’s generous donation of hand sanitizers and gift cards are greatly appreciated. With their support, the holiday season will be brighter for our women as well as our team.

This beautiful Firefly painting was created by a WISEPlace participant as part of a series of Art Classes offered via ZOOM! If you are able and interested to lead a class teaching shelter participants a skill or activity, please email: [email protected].

Help us make the holidays merrier for the women at #WISEPlace! We still need 100 gift cards, 35 fuzzy socks, and 80 masks among other needed goods. Please visit www.wiseplace.org/wish-lists to support the holidays. Each purchase uplifts a woman at the shelter.

Nicole found a passion for helping the homeless initially with her profession in affordable housing and secondarily through her work as a team captain with Point in Time 2019. A long-time SoCal local, Nicole has made a living out of representing owners and developers as they build their dream projects across the country. She is instrumental in supporting WISEPlace with her construction and development expertise in the Permanent Supportive Housing project with Jamboree Housing Corporation. Nicole is the Board’s Vice President Governance and has been serving #WISEPlace since 2019. #BoardMember #SupportiveHousing #Development

We are grateful for your support First Foundation Inc. Thank you for helping us end homelessness for unaccompanied women in Orange County.

FACT: The major cause of homelessness is worsening housing affordability across the United States. By every measure, the housing affordability gap that is, the gap between incomes and housing costs has grown dramatically wider over the past three decades. (source: coalitionforthehomeless.org) MYTH: Homelessness is caused by substance abuse and other factors.

WISEPlace is hosting a learning session to support our community in better understanding homelessness and how we can work together to end it. It will be held virtually live on WISEPlace on November 14 from 11am to 12:30 pm A recording of the session will be posted to YouTube the following day. Our main speaker will be Dr. David Snow, Professor of Sociology at UCI REGISTER FOR FREE at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wiseplace-learning-session-nov

Shopping on Amazon for the holidays? Remember to designate #WISEPlace as your chosen charity on smile.amazon.com Did you know that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the Amazon Smile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of your purchases to WISEPlace?

Thank you so much to CREW Orange County for organizing this fun fundraiser for #WISEPlace === Repost from @crew_orangecounty ... Thursday's Trivia Night fundraiser is in lieu of @crew_orangecounty’s canceled annual Summer Charity Soirée, with all proceeds benefiting WISEPlace. We hope you'll join us in support of WISEPlace for some '90s trivia fun, prizes and networking! Register at http://crew-OC.org

Make the Holidays special for the women in the shelter. Take a look at what’s needed by clicking on our Amazon Wishlist. http://ow.ly/Cfrh50CawRl

"If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough." #Gratitude #EmbraceWomeninNeed #WISEPlace

Last month, thanks to your generous donations, we raised over $250,000 shattering our initial $200,000 goal. Exceeding our goal enables us to assist even more women during this critical time. But we can do more and we can’t do it without your help! Our new goal is $300,000 which will end homelessness for 30 women in #OrangeCounty. Join the Hope and Housing Alliance TODAY and become the key to unlocking hope for the most vulnerable women in our community. http://wiseplace.org/alliance

Happy Halloween! Thank you Yvonne Helm for giving 'em pumpkin to talk about and leading a fun ZOOM Art class where participants learned to paint pumpkins. If you would like to lead an art class via ZOOM, please email: [email protected].

How amazing are these pumpkins? How Spooktacular of our community to make our Halloween festivities at WISEPlace special! Thank you Assistance League of Orange and Irvine Rotary Club for donating pumpkins and crafts for participants to decorate as well as decorated pumpkins for the women to judge in a ZOOM contest! To learn more about our holiday needs, please email [email protected].