This article initially appeared in the Summer 2023 issue of our magazine, 'Sowing Goodness.' The full issue is available here.
Upon opening its doors in Watsonville, California in 1983, Pajaro Valley Shelter Services (PVSS) quickly grew to be an essential leader in the tapestry of services available to people experiencing homelessness in Santa Cruz county. Over the first ten years, co-founders Sister Susan Olson, SNDdeN, Sister Marie Veronica Wagner, SNDdeN, and AV Coyle worked tirelessly to provide temporary housing for families and break the cycle of homelessness in the area. Sister Susan reflects on her first five years when she lived with program participants at the shelter: “You understand people’s stories on a deeper level than if you were going home at night."
Today PVSS provides families with a path to stable, self-sufficient futures through short- and longer-term housing and supportive services. Families build a foundation supported by three pillars: emotional stability, financial stability, and housing stability. Each pillar consists of educational programs specifically designed to help participants learn tools and gain skills necessary to care and sustain a stable future.
PVSS has always valued its relationships with the community. Sister Susan said, “Nobody does anything alone. Since the very beginning, there were other supportive entities we partnered with, and wonderful generous donors, and the shelter’s relationship with the community was and remains very important.”
PVSS continues to strengthen existing and build new relationships. Mike Johnson, PVSS Executive Director said, “Partnerships have always been a key to Pajaro Valley Shelter Services’ success in delivering a comprehensive program to our participants and the team continues to find ways to more effectively meet the needs of the community by identifying new effective partnerships.” Cabrillo College is an excellent example. The cost of living is high in Santa Cruz County and many students are more vulnerable to homelessness. According to Johnson, about 20% of Cabrillo College’s 11,000 students experience homelessness at some point during the year.pvssand Cabrillo have launched a pilot project to provide transitional housing atpvss for unhoused female Cabrillo students. Current PVSS participants now also have more direct access to Cabrillo College classes and opportunities.
PVSS’s effectiveness at helping empower families toward self-sufficiency is reflected in the numbers. Participating families in transitional housing atpvss have an average savings of $10,000. 81% of participating families have exited successfully to permanent housing over the past three years, 41 program participants have purchased a home since the program’s beginning, and they will soon celebrate the 42nd who is currently in the process.
Sisters Susan and Marie Veronica believed that a most successful program would see program participants return as staff. Their vision was actualized and today about half of the PVSS staff are former participants. Annette Melendrez, Director of Programs, has worked with PVSS for nearly 25 years but her connection to the organization began years earlier when she and her children lived at pvss and were program participants.
Today she and her husband—who also works as a building contractor with pvss—are homeowners and have created a new path for their children and grandchildren. “This is a very deep and comprehensive program, it’s not just a roof over your head. At the start, participants are looking for a safe place. As they continue, they start dreaming. In the end, participants are in awe of what seemed impossible at the start,” said Melendrez.
Ofpvss participants returning as team members, Johnson said, “That kind of history gives you huge credibility. To be able to say, ‘I have been where you are and I know what you’re going through.’” Melendrez sums it up beautifully, sharing that PVSS offers people: “Hope where there is no hope, future where there is no future.”