A blizzard of good will

The city lines up a new group to take control of the Youth Shelter, just in time for the Light of Love snowflake celebration.City officials have found a new group to take over the Youth Shelter -- just in time for Sunday’s Light a Light of Love event on the pier to raise money for the small shelter in Central Park.

“After a year of the shelter being dark, it will be wonderful to have the lights on again,” event organizer Mary Lou Shattuck said. “With its closing, Orange County lost 12 beds for youth.”

The shelter’s new operator could be Community Service Programs Inc. -- an Orange County nonprofit that runs a similar shelter in Laguna Beach. The nonprofit already runs two youth programs in Huntington Beach: a program to help juvenile offenders avoid incarceration through community service, and an at-risk youth program in the Oak View neighborhood.

Community Service Programs hopes to operate the Huntington Beach shelter using the same model as Laguna Beach, said Executive Director Margot Carlson. All admissions will be voluntary, and children will participate in a goals-driven program that includes therapy and case management.

“It’s really about behavioral change, intense counseling, and putting the family system back into play,” she said. “Do we make perfect families? No. Do we show, teach and demonstrate how families can live together? Yes, we are pretty successful at that.”

The City Council will be asked to approve Community Services Program’s contract at its Dec. 19 meeting, paving the way for money raised from Sunday’s Light a Light of Love event to go to the new operators. Since the Youth Shelter was not in operation last Christmas, the money raised in 2004 was given to the YMCA.

“The event started nine years ago when a group that supported the Huntington Youth Shelter decided to place sponsored snowflakes on the pier to raise funds,” Shattuck said. “The city Fire Department brought Santa to the pier for the lighting ceremony on one of their fire trucks. The children just started following him down Main Street, so we decided to turn it into a small town parade. It’s just like the Pied Piper, only Santa brings up the rear.”

The downtown stretch of Main Street will be blocked off from 3:30 to 6 p.m. for Sunday’s procession, which will include floats, live music and Miss Huntington Beach and her court.

“It’s exciting -- it’s going to be one of my last events as Miss Huntington Beach,” Nicole Smith said. “Just to be able to be a part another huge event that gives back to the community is an honor for me.”

Downtown restaurants will also be selling cups of chowder, soup and desserts in small to-go containers to help raise money for Community Service Programs. At 6 p.m., Huntington Beach will flip on the switch and the pier will be illuminated with thousands of tiny lights filling the 6-foot snowflakes.

Private donations of $5,000 per snowflake will go to the operation of the shelter, created in 1989 by a citizens group as a way to house Huntington Beach’s population of homeless children. The facility was used for runaway children who needed a few days away from their homes, as well as victims of child neglect or abuse or whose parents were being processed through the criminal justice system.

The City Council allowed the shelter to occupy the former Brooks House, in Central Park near the Main Library, on a 20-year lease for $10 a year.

The shelter ran into difficulties in the mid-1990s when it agreed to provide long-term foster care facilities to Orange County. The shelter did not have the staff or resources to take on such a large commitment and nearly went bankrupt.

In 1996, control of the shelter was handed over to Volunteers of America in an attempt to bring financial expertise and stability to the shelter. Volunteers of America continued to operate the shelter’s crisis hotline and family counseling and mediation program.

The founders of the shelter continued to raise money for the facility, but disagreement over the mission of the shelter began to drive a wedge between Volunteers of America and its fundraising arm.

Things eventually went sour for Volunteers of America too. In February, the council voted to terminate its eight-year contract with the organization after the facility stopped accepting children. Apparently Volunteers of America had lost a large federal grant it was using to operate the center and began offering only referrals.

With the departure, Volunteers of America also took all the furniture out of the shelter, much to the dismay of the original shelter founders, who said many of the furnishings were donated from community members.

“The place is pretty much empty right now,” Carlson said.

Youth Shelter: A history

1986 -- A regional survey finds that more than 350 runaway children live in Huntington Beach.

August 1987 -- A group of citizens form a nonprofit with hopes of opening a shelter in Huntington Beach.

September 1989 -- The city enters into a contract with nonprofit Friends of the Youth Shelter to operate a facility at the Brooks House in Huntington Beach Central Park. For years, the shelter serves community children having difficulties at home, but it runs into financial trouble when it attempts to operate as a long-term shelter.

May 1996 -- On the brink of bankruptcy, the Friends of the Youth Shelter hands the reigns to national charity group Volunteers of America.

May 1997 -- Former Community Services Director Ron Hagan releases a one-year review of the Youth Shelter, reporting that Volunteers of America is meeting its contract requirements.

Mid-2004 -- Problems begin to arise again at the Youth Shelter. Volunteers of America loses a federal grant to operate the shelter and begins to cut back on staff.

December 2004 -- The shelter is all but abandoned, and city leaders fear that Volunteers of America won’t hand over the snowflakes used each year to light the pier. Event organizer Mary Lou Shattuck negotiates the release of the snowflakes.

February 2005 -- The city ends its contract with Volunteers of America and puts out requests for a new operator of the facility.

December 19, 2005 -- The council will be asked to approve Orange County nonprofit Community Service Programs Inc. to run the facility. The group currently operates a shelter in Laguna Beach.20051201iqqyvokn(LA)20051201iqqyveknDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Ives Gil of Huntington Beach helps attach lights to a snowflake that will be part of the Huntington Beach Light a Light of Love procession, a fundraising celebration at the pier Sunday. Gil was one of several youths from the Huntington Beach Youth Shelter helping out with the lights. The shelter, below, is in Central Park.