Any Given Sunday

UCO Comes Through for Long Beach Homeless

By Arlo Tinsman-Kongshaug, Editorial Intern

Urban Community Outreach may not be a large nonprofit, but what they do is not small.

The Long Beach organization has been helping to stem homelessness and poverty since 2008. Not only does it feed and clothe thousands of people, but it has also succeeds in providing a safe and comfortable environment for homeless people. Every Sunday it opens its doors of its drop-in center in downtown.

Its mission statement is simple: “To advance the interests and promote the welfare of children, the economically disadvantaged and homeless people in the downtown Long Beach area.”

The drop-in center, founded by Janet Rhodes, was originally part of the First Congregational Church of Long Beach, a progressive church that has been making efforts to help Long Beach’s homeless community. It was established after people began to realize that the homeless had no place to go on Sundays. Most agencies are closed that day. They began to open up their church to the homeless on Sundays, giving them a place to escape the weather and relax.

In time, the drop-in center began to increase its scale and services and attracted more volunteers, including college students and AmeriCorps members. In 2008, the center had grown large enough to become a nonprofit organization separate from the church. Thus, Urban Community Outreach was born.

Today, the nonprofit continues to run the center. Many of Urban Community Outreach’s volunteers and board members are also members of the church.

The center’s doors open from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Sundays, except the first weekend of December and all Sundays in July. Two hot and nutritious meals are served, one when the doors open and one at 2 p.m. It’s computer lab has 16 computers that people can use to send emails, browse the Internet, or other activities like writing. Computer skills are also taught to broaden patrons’ job opportunities. A nurse visits the center once a month for treatment and counseling, and dental care is offered sporadically.

UCO Executive Director Arlene Mercer, also founder of Food Finders, said by the end of 2015, the organization hopes to have dental services scheduled monthly.

Additionally, the center distributes camping supplies to people living on the streets, including tents and sleeping bags, hygiene kits, books, food for pets they may have, canned goods, toilet paper and backpacks.

“We are one of the few organizations that give completely free services like these,” Mercer said.

The drop-in center at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach, also known as Patterson Hall, is at 241 Cedar Ave. in Long Beach