Family Emergency Shelter Coalition, Our Opportunity to Put Our Faith into Action

FESCO is one of about 16 organizations serving homeless people in Alameda County. It is the only one that serves families that include fathers or adolescent males.

FESCO stands for Family Emergency Shelter Coalition, a nonprofit organization comprised of over 30 churches and community members in the Hayward, Castro Valley, San Lorenzo and San Leandro area. Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church helped to found FESCO in 1986, and has been a supportive member of the Coalition ever since.

FESCO practices methods that instill and restore dignity, self-respect, and self-reliance so that families, their individual members, and the community are strengthened. FESCO has developed goal-oriented support services that address the issues that lead to homelessness and instill skills that will move the families toward employment and independent housing. Services include mental health counseling, money management classes, and cooking classes, to name a few. The program is designed to help clients become stable and self-reliant. Two-thirds of FESCO residents are children; and 46% of children are five years old or younger.

Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church provides a Coalition Representative to FESCO. The Coalition Representative serves on FESCO’s Coalition Board. Many other church members help FESCO in other ways. If you can volunteer on a regular schedule, you may want to consider participating in cooking, childcare, warehouse help, transportation, or office help. If you have a truck, FESCO would love to be able to call on you occasionally. If you have special skills, FESCO can probably make use of them.

And of course, FESCO has a need for donations. Monthly contributions are especially helpful in planning and management. To arrange monthly contributions visit the FESCO website. FESCO can also help you make planned-giving arrangements.

Contact FESCO to learn more about how you can help.