Capitol Park Hotel’s one holiday wish: Warm winter clothes for its homeless guests

Sometimes making a big difference in a person’s life is as simple as a woolen cap. That and gloves, thermal socks, and reusable rain pouches.

They may not seem like life changing items. But they mean the world to homeless folks braving a cold, rainy night.

So says Anna Darzins, the Volunteer of America (VOA) care coordination manager at the Capitol Park Hotel Temporary Shelter in downtown Sacramento. She wants to make sure all who come through the shelter door leave warm this winter as they go about reassembling the components of a better life.

She has asked The Sacramento Bee’s Book of Dreams for $1,980 to purchase warm wear for up to 180 guests.

“As the days grow shorter and the winter chill creeps in, those experiencing homelessness …are struggling to survive the nights,” she said.

A few winter items with a value no greater than $11 each will also make useful gifts in time for Christmas, VOA officials said.

The facility, on 9th Street between K and L streets, opened Sept. 3, and is being put to reuse as a shelter until October 2020 while its new owner Mercy Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, goes through design and other pre-construction processes and approvals to build 134 units of supportive permanent housing for low-income individuals.

In its first 10 weeks operated as a shelter, Capitol Park Hotel has welcomed 111 guests, providing each with a semi-private room, a bed, a place to put their belongings, as well as meals, showers, and supportive services.

During the day, guests trek across the city on bus or by foot to take care of business to re-assemble their lives, go for doctor appointments, and apply for Social Security and government-issued identification cards.

Many head to mental health therapy. Everyone meets with housing coordinators to line up permanent housing.

“It would be an asset, a blessing,” to have the proper clothing this winter, said resident Dionne Small, 50, a former medical billing clerk who lost her job and her home in 2009. As someone who spent the last seven years on the street, often sleeping on the grounds of City Hall, she treasured being able to keep a winter hat and some gloves, and had to be vigilant to keep them away from others.

“If you had something (like that) while living on the streets, it would be taken from you,” she said, because so few had them.

Saralie, 47, who has lived in the shelter for the last two months, admits she needs a lot of help. “Everyone needs help here,” she said tearfully. “They all have their stories.”

Hers was nothing short of horrible, she explained. She and her husband came into the shelter together, but he soon took off. A short time later, she admitted to shelter staff that her issues went beyond being homeless.

“Everything that made me happy he took,” she said..

She confessed that her past 17 years were fraught with violence and abuse. The victim of multiple traumas, she said she was beaten, stabbed and had 27 stitches in her forehead from a beating.

She has continuing abdominal problems from being punched in the gut.

With the shelter embracing her, she said she is finally feeling better and is on the road toward physical and emotional recovery. Her goal is to be in permanent housing by Christmas so she can reconnect with as many of her six boys and eight granddaughters as she can.

All the help she can get – including the winter wear essentials being sought by VOA – would be welcomed and appreciated, she said.

The request

Needed: Warm winter clothing for homeless guests at Capitol shelter

Cost: $1,980

This story was originally published November 28, 2019 at 5:30 AM.