Our Purpose:
Blessing Bags OC provides an alternative to handing out cash for people that want to help a homeless person they run across. Our ministry provides helpful bags with all the essential items – water, snacks, personal care and other items, plus a helpful word of encouragement and love about how God loves each and every one of us.
Proverbs 14:21 “It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor,
but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.”
Join us, and keep a Blessing Bag in your car trunk. You will be blessed when you give a blessing to someone in need.
The Challenge: Helping the Homeless in Orange County:
Even though it’s a relatively wealthy area, people living in Orange Country come across homeless people nearly every day. As of May 2022, the officially reported number of homeless in OC is over 5,700, but the real number may be much higher than that.
Photo by MART PRODUCTION
Speaking March 3, 2022 at a Tuesday news conference at
Be Well OC, county Supervisor Katrina Foley noted
the worsening homeless crisis. “We continue to face a homelessness
crisis here in Orange County – mental health crisis and
addiction. The problem only got worse during the
COVID 19 pandemic,” Foley said.
You may meet a homeless person…
- Standing or sitting by the entrance to a grocery store or shopping center
- In a park, lying or a bench, or on the grass
- In front of a building, against a wall or laying on a bench
- On a street corner, or at a gas station, looking for a handout
Now, there are scammers, and there are truly homeless people. The scammers are people who make a business out of collecting money from well meaning citizens. They drop off people on corners, who hold out cardboard signs stating they are “homeless, please help”, and people typically drive by and hand them some cash. AT the end of the day, they are picked up, and pay their sponsor, maybe getting something for themselves.
The truly homeless who you may find anywhere – sleep on a bench outside a bank, standing on a corner, laying in a park somewhere. They may mentally stable, or they may not. Most are not harmful. They are just very down and out. They need a little food or drink, and a little love and reason for hope.
The Voice of OC also reports that In 2022, homeless deaths have been hitting record numbers, according to Father Dennis Kriz of St. Philip Benizi Catholic Church in Fullerton. Kriz found that 46 people died on the streets in January – that’s up from 40 dead in January 2021. He also found that 386 people died on the streets of Orange County between Dec. 1, 2020 to Nov. 30 last year.
“If we can prevent someone from dying on the street,
that’s the most important outcome.
So that’s really what we’re trying to do here,” Elliot said.
So this is our mission, what drives us. These are people just like us. Some have mental or spiritual issues, true, but many yare just down and out for one reason or another. And we want to be the minds, arms, and helping hands of the Lord to reach out to them and meet their essential needs.
Our Organizational Structure:
We are a non-profit all volunteer organization. All donations go to the work – buying supplies, making up blessing bags, and distributing them to those who want to help. We have no paid staff.
How We Raise Funds to Carry Out Our Mission:
- We developed, launched and maintain a Blessing Bags OC website, along with a Blessing Bags OC Facebook page to promote our cause, spread the word, and accept donations
- We plan to carry out Facebook fund raiser campaigns periodically to promote visibility, see volunteers, and raise funds
- We are seeking out partners who can help promote our mission, and spread the word about helping the homeless in OC
- Give-Send-Go campaigns will be another vehicle for periodic fund raising
Founders and Volunteer Staff:
Paul M. Dooley – General Manager. Along with my wife Marie, we founded this all volunteer helps ministry toward the end of 2022. Why? Because as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I am compelled to help the least and the lost.
Jesus said: “‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matt 25:40)
God loves each and every one of us. We view our mission as those that are acting as instruments of God’s love when and where we run across a person in need – providing food and water for the body, personal essential items, and words of love to those that need it.
Marie Dooley – Operations. In partnership with my husband, I helped found this ministry toward the end of 2022. We started this ministry because it became clear to us that although Orange County is a wealthy part of Southern California, there are clearly people on the streets, in shopping centers, on corners or benches, without a home, and in need – of help, essential items, and encouragement. We are compelled to help as we are able, since our Lord commands it. We hope you will too.
Susan Aguilar – Crossline Food Pantry. Susan has a big heart for those in need. She volunteers her time at the Crossline Church Food Pantry several days a week, helping to stock food items, and other essentials, and ensure that these get to those who come to Crossline Church’s Food Pantry on Wednesday’s and Fridays, from 9 am – 11 AM. See Crossline Church, Laguna Niguel, for more information.
Blessing Bags OC 