Share Our Selves is the largest...

Share Our Selves is the largest agency for direct aid in Orange

County and serves anyone in need. The Westside nonprofit, which has

40 part-time/full-time employees and 450 volunteers, pays people’s

bills and distributes food, clothing and toys. They also have about

20,000 medical/dental patients annually. Right now, as with most

nonprofits, is an extremely important time of year because the number

of people in need rises during the holidays.

On Tuesday, City Editor James Meier toured the Superior Avenue

nonprofit with SOS Executive Director Karen McGlinn. There, he found

boxes of turkeys and other Thanksgiving fixings that ended up keeping

a lot of stomachs full on Thursday’s holiday.

Meier also sat down the McGlinn to discuss how the Superior Avenue

nonprofit is doing this year, some of the heartwarming stories that

occur there and those who criticize all nonprofits on Costa Mesa’s

Westside.

So how is Share Our Selves doing this year?

Well, very well. SOS’ pattern has been that when the people’s

needs are increasing, the people give. So we’ve had a good year.

We’ve been able to meet all the requests that have come across to us

and all of the serious medical issues that have come across our

desks. I’d call it a really giving year, a flourishing year.

Now how did this year compare to last year?

In terms of giving, it increased, measurable increase. We weren’t

one of these agencies that after [Sept. 11] said, “Oh my gosh, the

sky is falling.” We found that people’s response really was make sure

people are OK, so they gave to us generously.

We have a base of support that’s been unwavering for all 32 years.

We still have a little lady who gives us $10 a month that’s like the

widow’s portion of her money. Then we have donors who give us

substantial amounts.

That wide range of giving allows us to do so much.

What do you attribute that consistency to?

I believe that we offer an opportunity for people to do good, and

they want to do it. And then, out of every dollar that comes to us,

91 cents goes to programs and 9 cents goes to the cost of operation.

So, if somebody says “If I’m going to give $10, is it valuable?”

Yeah, and that makes a huge difference.

And honesty in what we do. We never shriek away from what we do.

We say we give food, we give financial, we give clothing, support,

resources, dental and medical care, and if you walk on site, like you

did today, that’s what we do.

So your dollar counts. It really makes a difference. And my belief

that people really want to do good.

How important are the holidays for Share Our Selves?

Oh, they’re key and critical in any nonprofit world. The two

months of November and December are your big-dollar months. People

remember to think about others during this season.

And it’s not just getting the money. We believe here, at SOS, that

you need to be able to participate where you can, so if the best you

can give is the free turkey you got because you bought the one

turkey, then OK.

So I don’t want to quantify what we get during these months as the

money. What I really want to qualify what we get this month is the

opportunity for people to participate and once they’ve done it

wherever they can, then the want to do it all year.

The lady who comes in with her little children and brings in the

used toys, because we have a used toy distribution, all of a sudden

she says “Oh, we can do this all the time; we’ll clean our closets.”

So the holiday season is just a door that people pass through.

Hopefully, when they come to the door, they’ll want to be a part of

it all of the time.

If people want to help, other than food, money, toys, what else

can they donate?

Anything. We have a whole program where, 12 months out of the

year, you can do things, so if you want to have your Brownie troops

do stuff or those kinds of things.

And those things are as simple as collect all your plastic bags

for the month and bring them down because we have to use plastic bags

down here. Make birthday kits for kids who aren’t going to have

birthday parties. When everyone travels and goes out and gets soaps

and shampoos, you all throw them under the cabinet when you get home.

Bring them down here and we’ll give them out to families and people

on the streets.

So the opportunity for someone to participate here is parallel to

everything they need in their lives. If they go out shopping and

they’re buying something grocery-wise, then if they think of someone

else who needs to the same things and brings a can or two along the

way, they’re really going to make a difference.

So there really isn’t a limit to the opportunity. I’ve had people

come up with the most creative ideas in the world. Our backpack

program -- we give out backpacks at back to school time; we gave out

1,600 backpacks this year -- that started from a young boy in

Spyglass Hill who was doing a community service project here and

realized kids didn’t have backpacks and went around his neighborhood

and started collecting backpacks.

That’s truly what SOS is about: giving people the opportunity to

do good, and to be able to do it where they can and how they can. If

you say “No, you can only do it if you have money,” you’ll forget

about a whole lot of people.

With an incoming Costa Mesa councilman who shares many of

Councilman Chris Steel’s views of nonprofit organizations on the

Westside, are you concerned at all?

Well, we receive no funding from the city. We are not dependent on

any funds from the city of Costa Mesa in any manner. We are also

privately funded. Over 90% of our income comes from private funding.

The only money other than that comes from the new tobacco settlement

money coming in from the county that we use for medical care.

We are what I would call a stand-alone operation. We’re what

everybody dreams you should be -- raise your own funds, be a

responsible business, serve the needs of the people and be

independent of any governmental ties. So I want to make sure that

that’s clear. And we own our facility and our business is nonprofit.

Your question was if I’m concerned. I am not. I believe that

[Allan] Mansoor has been elected by the people of Costa Mesa and that

he’s been given an incredible charge. Among that charge is to be able

to develop an intellectual, objective response to conditions that

present themselves in the city.

I believe a good responsible council person, someone who has the

courage to run for office -- makes that courage known by going out

there and exposing themselves -- certainly wants to elevate

themselves to a position that really represents the people.

So I believe that when he begins that duty of representing the

people that he will have a lot of myths and perceptions dispelled

because he’ll take the time to learn reality.

What do you say to those who say the Westside’s nonprofits are

nothing but magnets?

First, I ask them to please dispel perceptions versus reality.

First thing is I invite them to come down. Really, come on site. See

what we do here, so they understand better what we practice and how

we accomplish goals, how we spend the given dollars.

Second, I guess throughout history, charities were considered

magnets. People always have bad things to say about some kind of

charitable activity. I think the term magnet has been used in such a

derogatory manner that the only thing this magnet can do is attract

bad and evil or those who are undeserving, and truly, if we see the

services of nonprofits, we see that the people who come to us are not

all of those things that have been defined as being attracted to the

magnets.

So that’s why it’s critical, so important, that they actually

visit the organization to dispel perception and see reality. It’s all

about people.

Any final thoughts?

I am just incredibly thankful this holiday season that so many

people continue to have a moral conviction in this incredibly wealthy

community of ours that they’re not going to be judged necessarily by

how well they prosper, but how well they care for those who are not

prospering. It’s the old statement again that given the opportunity

to do ordinary things, we can create an extraordinary event. And

that’s the untold story of Orange County and Newport Beach. They’re

constantly responding in extraordinary ways. I’m just thankful for

everyone who takes the time to think about another person.

I’m really extraordinarily lucky. I get to meet so many people

that many people wouldn’t have that opportunity.

[On Monday], I met this tragically homeless woman who, if anyone

saw on the street, would pick up. It’s just not something you can

walk away from. What she was struggling with was she can’t see, so

she told me that she lost her magnifying glass and really needed

another one. And happen to have a magnifying glass, so I gave it to

her and she absolutely smiled, just smiled.

This woman that we would define as obese, smelly and really

tragically ill, and not attractive, was absolutely beautiful in that

moment. To see her smile and see her take that, I get emotional about

that, because she’s the one they talk about with the magnets. She was

beautiful. They’ll probably see her on the street and say she

shouldn’t be here, but if they had that moment with here, they

wouldn’t think that. That’s the inside beauty that we don’t see on

people when they look a little dirty, and that’s where we can make a

judgment that they’re so deserving.

And it’s not just that homeless woman. There are families who come

in here, sincere, gentle, kind people who are doing the very best

they can. And they’re so reciprocal in their response to us. I mean,

the thank-you notes I get from people are so incredible. The Daily

Pilot prints a whole thing of what people are thankful about, I can

fill the paper with notes from people here who are thankful.

Bessie, my 82-year-old woman here who cans for a living, who we

helped with a $22 utility bill. She can’t can much anymore because

it’s too hard for her to go up and down the alleys, she wrote me the

most beautiful thank-you note for this $22 bill to tell me how much

SOS has meant for her over the years that we would pay a utility bill

for her. People don’t know, but all of that canning she does, she

uses that to help support her grandchildren all these years. She said

the most she ever made canning one time was $79 and she was able to

use that money to sew her granddaughter’s graduation dress.

This is what I want to tell people about SOS. For those people who

say it’s a magnet, we’re attracting human beings with wonderful

qualities.