Advocates for the homeless in El Dorado County are scrambling to collect funds and supplies to feed and shelter people facing winter on the streets.
United Outreach of El Dorado County, a nonprofit group seeking to develop facilities for the county's homeless population, was granted a five-year lease for county-owned property, including two houses, in the Placerville area. The rent is a nominal $1 per year.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the lease agreement for the Perks Court property, near Highway 50 and Missouri Flat Road, authorizing United Outreach to house six people at the site.
Art Edwards, United Outreach president, said he was disappointed that a daytime program for the larger homeless population might be delayed because of zoning issues.
A $25,000 state grant that funded motel vouchers for homeless families also will be expended by Nov. 1, Edwards said.
The temporary shelter helped five families make the transition to homes and jobs, he said.
"If there are no more gifts or grants," Edwards said, "we will have to shut that program down."
Ronald Sachs, founder of Job's Shelter of the Sierra, a group that distributes food, clothing and other items to the homeless and working poor, said tents are the biggest need. He and other volunteers deliver food daily to about 40 people at four camps in and around Placerville.
Michael Parr, a member of Foothills United Methodist Church in Rescue, is recruiting churches to provide overnight shelter on a rotating basis. So far, he said, his congregation and two others, Church of the Foothills in Cameron Park and Cold Springs Community Church in Placerville, have agreed to participate.
Edwards, of United Outreach, said his organization expects to have a house at the Perks Court site ready for two mothers and four children by mid-November.
But the second phase of the project, a daytime center with a library, computers and telephones, where people could seek shelter during the day, receive mail and search for a job, is on hold.
Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 773-6866.
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