Shelter Gave One Woman Hope

Sally Esquivel knows first-hand about being homeless in Los Angeles. In 2013 a job with a legal firm didn’t work out and she was unemployed for a long time. She suffered other financial problems, too. She went from renting a Long Beach apartment to staying with friends to staying in her car.

She insists she never really slept during those days and nights in her car, she felt so unsafe, “I stayed overnight inside my car for at least four days. I did not lay down. I sat in the driver’s seat and stayed awake.” She’d spend her days at a coffee place or the beach, but she still had her laptop, so she could look for a safer place to sleep that way.

Through the 211 network, a nonprofit website and call line that links Los Angeles County residents with social services, she found Doors of Hope in Wilmington.

Laura Scotvold-Lemp, the shelter’s director of operations, provided some details via a phone interview. It’s primarily a twenty-bed emergency shelter where “guests” stay for a week or 14 days, although six women designated “program residents” may stay for as long as two years, doing shelter work duties as part of their program. The women are screened during intake hours, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., six days a week, during which staff makes the determination of whether the women and the shelter are a good fit.

As an example of persons who are screened out, Doors of Hope isn’t a drug-alcohol recovery residence, there are no medical personnel. If someone is actively doing drugs or alcohol, that person is directed elsewhere.

Doors of Hope started in 2011 when Beacon Light Mission expanded its services to include women, according to the shelters’ websites and Scotvold-Lemp’s account. Beacon Light Mission is much older, having begun providing food and shelter to sailors and other men in the Los Angeles Harbor Area in 1902.

As Esquivel describes the living conditions, the sleeping area was one room with twenty twin beds. The bath had stalls to dress and shower in, “We stored our clothing and were given clothes to wear during our stay.” On the same floor there was a sofa, chairs and a computer area and a library. Since her stay there have been some changes but the dormitory-style life remains.

She remembers the women and men shared a dining room, “Dinner was donated, prepared and served by local community organizations. Women, the Doors of Hope residents, sat on one side of the room and the Beacon men’s shelter on the other.”

She and the others were required to leave the space during the day. “I mostly drove back to Long Beach or went to a Starbucks in San Pedro to use my laptop with their wi-fi,” Esquivel said.

She spent her days at Doors of Hope looking for an accounting job but didn’t find any, then, “Near the end of my stay I was referred to a community center in San Pedro where I was given counseling and a housing voucher.” She has since found work with a retail chain, and now lives in an apartment in the city of Orange.

One aspect of life at Doors of Hope that some may find uncomfortable is that the organization is, after all, a Christian mission. Although all faiths and persons of no faith at all are welcome, chapel service every night before dinner is mandatory.

Esquivel admits being alarmed at first, “The first service was very harsh. It sounded like it was directed to those sailors in 1902!” She soon found each service was different, given by different churches, and, as her stay wore on, she found some services and sermons enjoyable.

Scotvold-Lemp says there have been some changes in shelter life since COVID-19 became a major concern.  Around mid-March, when libraries and restaurants closed, the shelter made short-term guests and long-term residents stay in all day, no coming or going. Masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, sanitizing—not just cleaning — and daily temperature checks have all become part of the shelter’s routine, although the restriction on going out has been relaxed, for the present.

According to Scotvold-Lemp, Doors of Hope and Beacon Light are funded entirely by private donations. For in-kind donations, such as food and toiletries, she says to call ahead to arrange an appointment.

Details: www.doorsofhopewomensshelter.org