Center for homeless vets to open

A new center to serve formerly homeless veterans with health issues will officially open in Escondido in about two weeks, and supporters of the project got an early look at the facility during a ribbon-cutting celebration Wednesday.

Interfaith Community Service’s new Hawthorne Veterans and Family Resource Center at 250 N. Ash St. will provide beds and services for 20 formerly homeless veterans now living in rented apartments and 12 homeless nonveterans who will move in later through a partnership with Palomar Health.

About 160 people attended the ceremony, which included comments from Escondido Mayor Sam Abed and County Supervisors Dave Roberts and Bill Horn.

“One third of our population (in San Diego County) is related to the military,” said Horn, who wore service ribbons on his suit from his days in the Marine Corps. “Seventeen percent of the homeless population we have counted are former Armed Forces veterans. If you had 17 percent dropouts in high school, you would panic.”

The new center is in a former medical office that had been vacant about 20 years. Refurbishing work began in February, and the majority of the $3.2 million project has been funded through gifts and in-kind donations.

Interfaith is raising funds to pay the remaining $650,000 by seeking donations and selling the naming rights to rooms and an elevator in the building for $10,000 each.

The nonprofit’s recuperative program for veterans began in 2010 and is the only one in the state — and one of five in the nation — funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Interfaith has been renting apartments for about $11,000 a month to serve the veterans.

Greg Anglea, executive director of Interfaith Community Services, said the new center will be an upgrade from the apartments because nurses and other staff members who now work in offices across town will work in the same building as the people being served.

Because the center will be more accessible for people with disabilities, Anglea said they will be able to serve people who couldn’t live at the apartments.

Anglea said veterans will stay one, two or three months at the center and nonveterans will stay 45 or 90 days, with some flexibility for both.

The prospect of owning a center for the program became a reality when Tom and Dorothy Hawthorne offered to buy the $550,000 two-story, 10,000-square-foot building.

After the ceremony, Tom Hawthorne said he offered to buy the building after visiting veterans in the program who were living in apartments.

“They took me out and showed me what they were doing with the veterans and how they were getting their feet back on the ground,” said Hawthorne, who served in the Air Force from 1950 to 1952 and is the founder of Hawthorne Machinery.

Interfaith worked with HomeAid San Diego, a local chapter of a national nonprofit, in soliciting help from the construction industry to refurbish the building. Alexis Parker, executive director of the local chapter, said donations and discounts on appliances, furniture, paint, landscaping, design fees and other gifts totaled $1.2 million.

San Diego County also provided two $150,000 Neighborhood Reinvestment Project grants and the City of Escondido provided $75,000 through Community Development Block grants.

Anglea said the new center will play a role in the greater goal of ending homelessness in the region. Interfaith is a leader in North County’s participation in the national 25 Cities Initiative to end homelessness through prioritizing needs and coordinating efforts among agencies working toward the same goal.

In December, Interfaith will open a year-round shelter for 45 men and women, expanding the winter shelter it has operated the past several years.

People who are well enough to leave the Hawthorne Veterans and Family Resource Center may move into the new shelter as an interim home if they still have not found a permanent place to live, Anglea said.