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Published on 12/22/1997 All articles from this issue

Homeless in Los Altos? Believe it, say school, CSA officials

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

While hundreds of Los Altos families will spend the holiday season hanging mistletoe, eating turkey or lighting menorahs, one Los Altos family will be sleeping in a home without a tree, any holiday lights, a kitchen or even a bathroom.

This family will be spending the holidays in their car - a place they now call home. And while the family lived in a Los Altos house not long ago and their children still attend a Los Altos school, they are now homeless.

This situation is neither common in Los Altos, nor is it non-existent. Faye Morley, head nurse at the Los Altos School District, said she has known of two or three homeless families while working for the district, but said there could have been as many as a dozen over the years that were not known to her. Morley, who refrained from identifying families or their circumstances to respect their privacy, said there have been many other families in the district who have needed financial, medical or emotional assistance.

Morley said she is usually made aware of families in need through teachers, children or the parents themselves.

Maureen Wadiak, director of program management, for the Community Service Agency of Los Altos-Mountain View, said the nonprofit agency has provided emergency assistance to five Los Altos families in the past year.

She said there has been an overall higher number of new clients seeking assistance at the agency this holiday season than in previous years.

Wadiak said the reasons families can become homeless range from rent increases, illnesses, job layoffs to substance abuse, depression and domestic violence. She said some women "leave a violent situation with just the clothes on their back."

She said during holidays, some people "play it too close in terms of the bills and buy gifts instead of paying the PG&E."

Wadiak said in Los Altos "many seniors are equity rich but cash poor" and can't always stretch their fixed incomes enough to pay for all of the basics.

She said the agency helps seniors and needy families pay bills and stay in their homes through a variety of programs that provide food, transportation, or financial assistance. She said the agency provides ongoing help for seniors so they can stay in the neighborhoods where they raised their families.

Wadiak said the agency also helps working class poor families, or families who work minimum-wage jobs, stretch their budgets to receive basic needs such as food or medical expenses.

"It's tough to ask for help," she said. "Especially for basic material needs. We try to make the stigma go away, but it's still out there."

Morley said students have unknowingly helped their needy classmates through toy and food drives, where collected goods are brought to the agency and distributed directly to needy Los Altos and Mountain View families.

She said school officials also donate all lost and found clothing to the agency to benefit community members.

Wadiak said though overall donations are down about 20 percent this holiday season, local school members "have been amazing" in helping others through the agency.

She said students from the Los Altos Christian School went door-to-door collecting 300 coats to be distributed through the agency to needy children.

For more information on how to help needy community members, call the Community Services Agency of Los Altos-Mountain View at 968-0836.