Jan Community Organizations Help the Unhoused on MLK Day

Story and Photos by Denis Perez-Bravo

Community organizations pooled their resources this Martin Luther King Jr. Day to help meet the
needs of unhoused Richmond residents.

Cold weather, unsecure locations and encampment sweeps can deprive those without formal lodging
of a good night’s sleep.

So Safe Organized Spaces Richmond, Coordinated Outreach Referral Engagement, Mobile Homeless
Outreach, Groundwork Richmond and Ephesians Church distributed tents, sleeping bags, coats, and
other resources Monday.

Groundwork Richmond workers, guided by Richmond resident Antwon Cloird, passed out around
100 sleeping bags as they drove around city encampments. Ephesians gave out dozens of coats, and
SOS Richmond passed out around 15 tents and some tarps and sleeping bags.

Artist Daniel Guardado, an immigrant from El Salvador, received a sleeping bag from Groundwork’s
Jayson Johnson and Lorenzo Plazola who drove through the Richmond Greenway Trail portion
parallel to Ohio Avenue by the BART line.
Daniel Guardado, who turned 40 on Saturday, said the sleeping bag he got from Groundwork Richmond was
a gift. “The cold enters everywhere — through my ears, my head and my feet,” said the unhoused artist and
immigrant.

Guardado, who turned 40 on Saturday, said receiving a sleeping bag felt like a present, and he would use it
that night to evade the relentless cold.

“The cold enters everywhere — through my ears, my head and my feet,” he said.

A good night’s sleep is a luxury for him. He has to fight not only through the cold but also the physical pain
from years of living in the street, poor nutrition and the effects of mental illness.

“Every night, I close my eyes in pain and eventually I fall asleep. Sleep is my only escape, but then I wake up
to reality,” Guardado said.

A sleeping bag goes a long way for him and he hopes it will do the same for others in the encampment at the
part of Greenway he lives in. He lives with four others in a makeshift shed.

In Richmond, including unincorporated North Richmond, there are at least 302 unsheltered individuals, ac-
cording to the 2020 Point-In-Time report. According to the report, 15% of Contra Costa County’s homeless
population lives in Richmond.

“Every neighborhood is impacted by the homeless problem, and we need to have neighborhood responses,”
SOS! executive director Daniel Barth said.

Barth met up with Johnson and Plazola at the end of South Eighth Street by Virginia Avenue where a large
encampment was evicted by CalTrans workers.

People living in that encampment weren’t able to take their belongings, so they lost tents, blankets, clothes
and other gear, Barth said.
The lack of resources creates a sense of hopelessness that can drive unhoused residents deeper into homelessness.
The solution is to have each neighborhood help take care of unhoused people in their area, he said

“The antidote is to give [unhoused people] opportunities, give them a change of mind and a sense of meaning,”
he said.

SOS! Richmond will continue giving out tents and tarps as part of its winter campaign. To find out how you can
help, email Barth at danielrichardbarth@gmail.com.