Over 3.2 Million Californians Seek Food Assistance in the CalFresh Program

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Guest post by formerly homeless Conejo Valley resident, Lon V.

According to the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), at the end of 2010, more than 3,200,000 Californians participated in the federally funded California CalFresh program.  The Calfresh program, formerly known as Food Stamps and federally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), can add healthy and nutritious food to your table.

The food stamp benefits are given to you in the form on an ATM type debit card that the state CalFresh program funds, typically once per month.  You then utilize the card and associated PIN number to pay for your groceries at your favorite grocery stores.  You may only purchase unprepared food products; no paper products, pet products, certainly no alcohol or tobacco products.  You also cannot purchase deli products that are already prepared or products that you may open and eat immediately.

If you think about it, that does somewhat limit your possible food choices, especially if you’re homeless and you don’t have the means to cook anything.  Moreover, the homeless population cannot store many foods; therefore, you will often only buy what you plan to prepare and eat immediately.  Fresh foods will not last outdoors without spoiling, and you certainly cannot store any refrigerated products, so those are rarely purchased unless you intend to consume them right away.

The food stamp program, which dates back to the early 1960′s, does have a number of inherent shortcomings.  The first is the restriction on buying healthy, ready-to-ea

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Living As One of The Invisible Homeless in Ventura County

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Guest post by (now) formerly homeless Conejo Valley resident, Lon V.

The Invisible Homeless

I frequently post about my own personal experiences while living as one of the invisible homeless in America.  My blog posts on the subject of homelessness are therapeutic for me and allow me to share my day to day experiences and insight on what’s sadly a growing trend in America.  As I’ve written before, the stress on living homeless can be deafening at times, and sometimes overwhelming both physically or emotionally.  I also believe often my stress level is reflected in my writings with posts specific to my day to day activities.  However sometimes, my posts are simply more level headed, offering my insight on today’s social issues that may effect myself and many Americans.  Ultimately, I concluded that that whatever topic I write about, as long as I am true to the subject and my writing; that’s the best I could really hope to do.

When I finally become comfortable and settle into a unique style of my own, I will decide on what my blog is really going to be consistently about.  Clearly my name in on the blogs header and my life as an invisible homeless man in America has caught the interest of many people. I thought to myself, perhaps I’m not so invisible anymore.  It’s amazing, I’ve received so many positive and encouraging emails from absolute, complete strangers.  Furthermore, I’ve forged several new wonderful and inspiring relationships with local leaders, and re-discovered family members who are now following my blog more closely.

The most remarkable relationships that I’ve been blessed with so far while being homeless  have come from two people, that I’ve been so fortunate to re-discover.  One is my older sister, Debbie, who lives in Florida.  The second is my brothers ex-fiancee’ Tina, and my nephew, Ben, who both reside in South Carolina.  Why are these two relationships, perhaps more remarkable to me than the others at this time in my life?  Well first, because they’re family members, and it’s truly heart warming to me that these two are so interested in me, and understanding of the  obvious challenges that are ahead of me.  Second, like the good lord above, these two wonderful people don’t judge me or have any preconceptions about my circumstances.  They’re both keeping an eye on my well being as best they can, and they offer friendly, common sense guidance, whenever I ask for it.  They don’t push their opinions on me, they listen and ultimately offer constructive criticism if needed.  It

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Stop Identity Theft With a Credit Freeze

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(Originally posted in November 2007. Updated as of December 2010.)

Identity theft continues to be one of the fastest growing crimes in the country.  There are many types of identity theft, but one of the worst is when someone uses your personal information to borrow money or establish credit. 

Sadly, the 3 major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, have done little to help us prevent identity theft before it happens.  In fact, they make money by selling services that inform you if someone has accessed your credit file...after the fact.

SECURITY FREEZES

But over the last eight years, 47 states have passed laws that REQUIRE credit bureaus to offer "security freezes" to consumers that prevent access to your credit records.  A crook cannot take out a loan in your name if your file cannot be accessed.  Security freezes go a step further than "fraud alerts" offered by the bureaus that tell the lender to double check your identity.  The main problem with fraud alerts is that no law says the creditor must contact you.

California's security freeze law has been in place since January 2003.  Security freezes are free to ID theft victims, $10 per credit bureau for those under 65 and $5 per credit bureau for those 65 and older.  It costs another $10 ($5 to 65 and older) to "unlock" your account, either temporarily, for a particular creditor, or permanently. 

It takes a little work to set up your security freeze as the bureaus require a written request sent by certified mail.  The State of California provides guidance and sample letters for this purpose (click here for a link to the California Office of Privacy Protection website).  After registering, each credit bureau will send you a confirmation letter with instructions on how to remove the freeze.  Security freeze information is also available on the Experian, TransUnion and Equifax websites by clicking the links

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Over 1,800 are Homeless in Ventura County According to a January 2010 Survey

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VCHHC_logo.png

During the last week of January 2010, the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition coordinated a count of homeless individuals in Ventura County.

A person was considered homeless in the survey if he/she fell within the Department of Housing and Urban Development definition, residing in 1) places not meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, sidewalks and abandoned buildings, 2) in an emergency shelter or 3) in transitional housing for homeless persons.

In its April 2010 report, the Coalition counted 1,815 homeless individuals, keeping in mind that the count understated the actual number due to the complexities involved. The count in 2009 was 2,193 and the previous count in 2007 was 1,961. Here are some details from the latest count:

  • 88% were adults and 12% were children
  • 5% of the adults counted were 62 or older
  • 67% of the adults were men and 33% were women
  • 117 families were counted, the majority (74%) of which were single-parent families

Of the 1,815 reported homeless, 601 were in Ventura, 520 in Oxnard, 229 in Simi Valley, 223 in unincorporated areas, 106 in Thousand Oaks, 54 in Santa Paula, 52 in Ojai, 15 in Camarillo, 9 in Port Hueneme, 5 in Fillmore and 1 in Moorpark.

The Coalition noted this count does not include people at risk of becoming homeless. In 2000, there were 42,000 households, consisting of about 130,000 people (20% of Ventura County at that time) whose households earned less than $25,000 per year. Additionally, 8%, or close to 64,000 Ventura County residents, were living below the poverty level*.

If you encounter someone in need, refer them to this list of Ventura County homeless shelters and hot meal providers.

* 2010 Poverty Guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services is $10,830 for a 1 person family, $14,570 for 2, $18,310 for 3, $22,050 for 4 and so on.

The Ventura County Maritime Museum is More Than Doubling its Size in 2011!

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The Ventura County Maritime Museum is currently located at Fisherman’s Wharf, on the corner of Channel Islands Boulevard and Victoria Avenue in Oxnard.  The Museum was opened in 1991 and will celebrate its twentieth anniversary in February.  The permanent collection includes an unbelievable array of fine maritime art, a large number of exquisitely detailed model ships, and other marine artifacts.  The Museum is open seven days a week from 11 to 5 and has always offered free admission.  The Museum is staffed by one full time employee and 4 part time employees, and this small staff is adequate only because of the over 80 active volunteers.

Because of impending redevelopment and the desire for a larger facility, the Museum is moving from its present 5,000 sq ft location to a larger 12,000 sq ft facility on the west side of the harbor.  The Museum has purchased the rights to a building, the old Port Royal restaurant, and has entered into a long term lease with the County.  Our selected architectural firm, Lauterbach and Associates, has completed the

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Check Your DUI Test Results Online Via the Ventura County Sheriff's Department Website

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The Ventura County Sheriff's Department announced that, beginning October 1st, people arrested for driving under the influence can obtain their test results via their website at www.vcsd.org.

Simply scroll down and find the "DUI Results" icon (or alternatively, click the "Alcohol Test Results" link in the footer, and you will be brought to a page (shown below) that requires you to submit your first/last name, date of birth and date of test (if you were REALLY inebriated, perhaps you won't remember this).

After submitting the information, you will see your test results. Hopefully you failed this particular test. You will then be allowed to print a copy that you can proudly display on you wall (if you failed) or provide to your attorney (if you "passed").

This site provides the same information that individuals can obtain by presenting their information at the Forensic Sciences Laboratory. The site was developed with funding provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to bring new technologies and enhanced services for alcohol testing to Ventura County.

PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!

This is one post I hope none of you out there have to make use of!

Some Eggcellent Advice from the CDC Regarding the 2010 Salmonella Outbreak

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CDC is collaborating with public health officials in multiple states, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to investigate a nationwide increase of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) infections.

Between May 1 to August 25, 2010, approximately 1,470 reported illnesses were likely to be associated with this outbreak.  FDA testing, identified Salmonella in egg farm environmental samples.  Epidemiologic investigations conducted by public health officials in 10 states since April, have identified 26 restaurants or event clusters where more than one ill person with the outbreak strain.  Data from the investigations suggest that shell eggs are a likely source of infections in many of these restaurants or event clusters.  Preliminary information indicates that Wright County Egg, in Galt, Iowa was an egg supplier in 15 of these 26 restaurants or event clusters.  To date, no new restaurant or event clusters have been reported to CDC.  A formal traceback was conducted by state partners in California, Colorado, and Minnesota, in collaboration with FDA and CDC, to find a common source of shell eggs. Wright County Egg in Iowa was found as the common source of the shell eggs associated with three of the clusters.  Through additional traceback and FDA investigational findings, Hillandale Farms of Iowa, Inc. was identified as another potential source of contaminated shell eggs contributing to this outbreak.

Advice to Consumers

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are warning consumers not to eat recalled eggs. It is important that consumers avoid eating recalled eggs.  Some recalled eggs may possibly still be in grocery stores, restaurants and consumers’ homes.  If you

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