Korina found herself and her three daughters Jessica, Jideha, and Naomi homeless and completely overwhelmed. They had fled sexual abuse and left their home with nothing but their backpacks and Korina’s savings. Many of the shelters had no openings but they kept looking. Korina was able to find available space at the women’s transitional living shelter, however; it was a temporary solution because they could only stay a limited number of days. The shelter tried to assist Korina and their family with housing but they were unsuccessful. So once again they were without a place to go. Korina was using the money she had to stay in motels. They were homeless for five months. During this time, Korina fainted in her hotel room and was rushed to the hospital. Before this incident, Korina believed her lack of energy and physical weakness were solely due to the stress of being homeless, but at the hospital Korina was diagnosed with Leukemia. Through this incredibly difficult time, Korina never lost faith and in fact it was the only thing she had to hold on to.

Jadhhea, who was 12 at the time, suffers from diabetes and mental illness, and due to the nature of their departure, she ran out of insulin. They took her to urgent care and Jaddhea was connected to CHOC. Once a clinical worker discovered that Jaddhea had no address, CHOC, connected Jaddhea and the family to the Illumination Health and Home’s Plumeria House. This is a Family Emergency home for families who have children with disabilities. When they first arrived at the house, Korina was skeptical because her prior experiences with other organizations didn’t lead to her family’s safety. However, Korina noticed that Citlalli, the house manager, and Lorena, the intake manager were welcoming. Korina was amazed when she was shown the house and her living space. The worry of where her daughters were going to sleep the next day or the next week was eliminated. The staff told Korina that she was able to stay as long as she needed. The first night her daughters and Korina slept like babies.

While residing at the Plumeria House, the staff helped Korina acquire medical insurance, transportation to medical appointments, as well as child care. Her family was able to utilize the services provided including in-home counseling, case management and housing navigation. They were amazed by the array of programs offered including tutoring services like her Private Professor, literacy groups, Mini Med School, and more. Naomi, her youngest daughter, benefitted from the services and the stability that the home offered, which led to her graduating her last grade with reading honors! Furthermore Jessica, her oldest, became employed and a manager at a local wireless service provider. Korina felt truly supported by the network that Illumination Health and Home provided. Illumination Health and Home hosted events that made Korina feel like she was a part of a community and Korina recalls how it was helpful, during their journey, to see other families on the road to self-sufficiency.

After spending five months at the Plumeria House working to stabilize her family and working with her Housing Navigator to find housing, they were able to secure an apartment. On May 19th, Korina was handed the keys to her home. In Korina’s words “It was a surreal feeling, even to this day, when we’re out and about we can finally say let’s go home”. They are extremely grateful. She says how Illumination Health and Home is different from any other homeless organization because they said they would help and they did! Now that they’re in a place of their own they can continue to heal in a home that’s safe and full of love.

Leileen was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 2. She learned to ride a bike in the hospital halls, and her first childhood friends were nurses and doctors working around the clock supporting her as she was in and out of countless rounds of chemotherapy. Leileen’s grandmother, Regina, never left her side even when Leileen’s mother found herself unable to support her. Regina was at every appointment she could make and by Leileen’s bedside for nearly 10 years. As soon as Leileen was in remission, Regina was able to take her back to her home in Anaheim. 

Tragedy struck grandmother and granddaughter again when Leileen was diagnosed with neurotoxicity from the immense toll chemotherapy took on her body. At the same time, Regina was suddenly removed from her home after a separation from her husband. However, Regina remained persistent and continued to work for Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) as a bus driver even through the pandemic. “I didn’t know where I was going or what I was going to do. It doesn’t matter if you have a job, when a crisis hits, it hits.” 

That’s when they found themselves in a motel, where Regina was scrambling for services to keep Leileen and herself afloat. Then a friend who worked in social services told her about Illumination Health and Home. After a couple of phone calls, Regina and Leileen had their motel costs covered and soon moved into Illumination Health and Home’s newest Family Emergency Shelter, Plumeria House in Anaheim. Plumeria House is designed specifically for children who have a chronic illness or a physical disability. 

Andrew Castillo, the Manager of Family Programs, weighs in “Our goal is to get families off the streets and into a safe place where they are able to work on their goals with their case manager and work towards finding permanent housing with a housing navigator.” Andrew was Regina and Leileen’s first point of contact when they moved into Plumeria House and reflects on what would have happened if this home was not an option for them. “Without Plumeria House, Regina and so many others like her would still be on the streets or living in motels.” 

Today, Regina and Leileen are still at Plumeria House and are on the journey to being housed. With the many services Illumination Health and Home offers, from financial literacy classes  to meeting with licensed therapists one-on-one, Illumination Health and Home’s goal is to support our clients and find sustainable solutions no matter their situation. This Holiday, there will be many families who are looking for support and hoping that 2022 will be the year they are able to turn their lives around. 

“I am so thankful for Illumination Health and Home because I had no idea where I was going,” Regina says, “I know that this is just my stepping stone.” 

Patricia first came to Illumination Health and Home with her mother, Brenda, and her one-year-old son, Jeremiah. Patricia was working full time when she lost her pension due to an error made by the VA, but her income alone was not enough to pay for the apartment, and they soon became homeless. After spending time in their car and motels, they found a place at Illumination Health and Home’s La Mesa Emergency Shelter and then were eventually transferred to Theriault House Family Emergency Shelter.

The entire time the family was in our shelters, Patricia worked hard at her job at UPS. Sometimes she would work 12–15-hour shifts, especially during the holidays. Jeremiah flourished while in our Children and Families Program. When he first came to our shelter, he wouldn’t leave his mother or grandmother’s side. Coming into our Parent and Me classes was a struggle. He would cry and scream for Grandma incessantly. When they arrived at Theriault House, Jeremiah was not speaking as much as he should have been for his age. Our staff utilized the Ages and Stages Questionnaire and found that he wasn’t meeting developmental milestones in three out of the five areas screened.

Jeremiah continued in our program and began to thrive. He is now talking in full sentences, happy to enter class to play with his friends and teachers, and he loves to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” among many other tunes. Upon the family’s exit from the shelter, Jeremiah was meeting developmental milestones in all the areas screened.

Patricia’s benefits from the VA were finally reinstated, and she is still working full time at UPS. The family recently moved out of Theriault House into their own apartment, and they are thrilled. Illumination Health and Home helped the family find their new apartment and continue to work with them to ensure their continued success.

When Cynthia was younger, she witnessed her mother in an abusive relationship and always wondered why her mother simply didn’t leave. When Cynthia found herself in a similar situation in 2019, she knew she had a choice to make.

Cynthia has a unique perspective on homelessness. “There’s a story behind what took place… especially in the times that we are living in, the rent is high and the pay is not great.” With this perspective, and her sharing her own story, she is teaching her children that homelessness is not just a single issue, but a series of circumstances that often require the wrap-around services which Illumination Health and Home provides for families to find long-term solutions.

Today, Cynthia is securely housed and focused on giving her children the opportunities they deserve. She is enrolled to go back to school to finish her degree in psychology as a single, working mother of three. “All I know is that I am healing from everything that has happened… so I think what the future looks like is me working on myself and being healthy so my kids can be healthy.”

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Supporters of Illumination Health and Home are shaping lives like Cynthia’s every day. With the generosity of community partners and donors, together we have the opportunity to change the lives of future generations, their families and disrupt the cycle of homelessness.

Barbara and Chris Pincheira-Ramos were married on August 17, 2018, and soon after, the Orange County Register featured their inspiring story. Since the day that Illumination Health and Home took them off the streets, life for the couple has just gotten better and better. On the day before Thanksgiving, they were in their kitchen making pies with Chris’ pre-teen daughter.

In September 2018, Barbara and Chris moved from the Coral Motel, an Illumination Health and Home recuperative care facility, into a micro-community (shared residential house), also sponsored by Illumination Health and Home. Within just a few months, Chris found a job, and the couple got a car.

“We got married three months after we were both sober, then our families came back to us, and now we have Section 8 (federally assisted) housing, and that has changed everything,” Barbara explains. When we were living on the street, I was just done emotionally and mentally. I was ready to end it all. The day that Illumination Health and Home came to tell me I had a place to stay was the day that my life changed. We started doing the therapy and substance abuse counseling that Illumination Health and Home recommended, and then everything started falling into place,” explained Barbara, wiping tears in her eyes.

Stepping away from the kitchen table, his hands dusted with flour, Chris interjects: “A lot of time when people try to get help, they have to go to so many different places, but Illumination Health and Home has everything together all in the same place. We never could have sorted ourselves out without their help.  If you need help with something– if you have a learning disability, for example, they hold your hand and help you through it. Illumination Health and Home made what we have today possible.”

The Beauty of Micro-Communities

“Never in a million years did I think I was going to be here in the micro-community,” raves Barbara. “If you had asked me when I was on the street that two years later I would be living here in this house, in this neighborhood, I would never have believed you.

“Living here in the micro-community, I have learned how to be humble,” Barbara explains. “You take for granted things like taking a hot shower and cooking and using the bathroom. Now when we go grocery shopping, people don’t follow us. Our neighbors say hi to us, they don’t avoid us. We can go out to dinner, and people don’t stare. We’re productive members of society. It’s incredible.”

The micro-community has taught me how to live with different people. We have white, black, South American, all backgrounds here. It’s great. We teach each other recipes from our different cultures. Illumination Health and Home gave us the tools and the resources so that we can stay on our feet. We learned how to pay bills, write checks, talk to people about insurance, go grocery shopping, basic things like that. Things that most people take for granted but we just never learned.”

The Future

Chris and Barbara are going to be moving out of the micro-community and into their own home next February. They qualify for a 3-bedroom house, and Chris’ daughter and Barbara’s two teenage sons are going to live with them. With the help of Illumination Health and Home, they are looking for a home in an area with a good school district and far away from the gangs and other problems that troubled their own childhoods.

When talking about the future, Barbara gets teary again. “I want to do peer support and help people who are in our situation. I’m taking a class next month to learn how to do that. On our Facebook page, people reach out and tell me that we are giving them hope in the same way that others gave us hope. They tell me, ‘If you can do it, I can do it too!’”

“After we moved here,” Chris again chimes in, pies now in the oven, “the first paycheck I got, we made a big pot of albondigas, and some rice pudding, and we brought them to Coral because we wanted to give back. Tomorrow, we’re going to bring food to people who are still on the street for Thanksgiving.”

“More important than anything else, we have our family back, so sharing these moments—like baking with Chris’ daughter—is priceless, adds Barbara, her voice cracking. “She came back into his life last year on December 19. Family to me is everything, and for his daughter to able to come over and cook Thanksgiving dinner with us is a miracle.”