Editorials and Faith-Based Articles
“We see you, you are not alone” by Stacie MacDonald In the last year we launched 5 Care Communities for 5 different foster or adoptive families. A Care Community is a small team of people who volunteer to wrap around a foster, adoptive or kinship family for a year. The team provides practical, emotional and […]
A letter from Fullerton Police Department by Captain Jose Arana #1176 Members of the Fullerton Police Department and myself, Captain Jose Arana, have engaged in a positive and ongoing relationship with the OC United organization and its diverse employees. The relationship between the Fullerton Police Department and OC united was developed and solidified approximately two […]
Jesse & Melissa’s Story By Donna Mroz (Director, Domestic Abuse Initiative) We met Jesse 6 years ago when his mother Melissa, an artist, came to the domestic violence support group at the police station. Melissa was a mess when she first came, sad, and depressed all the time. She left an abusive relationship where she […]
Bridge Building by Mike Carman When we began our Jobs for Life courses at a local shelter a few years ago, one of the first questions we heard was, “Are you guys really coming back?” When we assured them that we were and asked why they posed that question, they replied, “Because other groups have […]
Volunteers’ Journey by U.J. Namkung (Volunteer of the Month) A TIME OF CRISIS It was the spring of 2006. We had just returned to Orange County for the birth of our daughter, Irene. After having served our first term as missionaries, we were supposed to go back after a one year furlough to start a […]
Social Distancing: It’s Nothing New Blog by Mike Carman Social distancing is the new and now-familiar term in our lexicon. But although the phrase may be recent, the concept is not. In Luke 17, we read about Jesus entering a village where he was met by ten men with skin diseases (leprosy). They called out […]
Safe, Heard, and Known by Daniel Ramos (THRIVE Program, Resident Mentor) *** NOTE: Names have been changed for privacy *** One day I got the opportunity to head home to the THRIVE House earlier than usual. As soon as I got home, I was hungry and decided to see who was inside the house to […]
A Poolside Encounter by Mike Carman 38 years. That’s a long time to be sick. And with the passing of each torturous year, the prospect of getting better became that much more unlikely. And so he laid there, barely able to move his wretched and racked body, dependent upon others to meet his meager daily […]
Homelessness: What exactly are we aware of? Blog by Mike Carman Someone shared an article with me last week that reported the unspeakable. A woman in Los Angeles had a bucket of hot diarrhea poured over her by a mentally unstable man who was homeless. The article spoke of her experience and the resulting trauma […]
Real-World Disciple Making by Mike Carman During my college/young adult years (a long time ago!), the concept of making disciples (today usually called mentoring) was popular in our Christian circles. Numerous books were written and multiple programs were designed to help Christians fulfill what we understood as Jesus’s great command to His followers, to “go […]