A gray Ford van rolls slowly to a stop in the parking lot at Saugstag Park in Roseville. Solitary figures wearing hooded sweatshirts or jackets, some toting backpacks, emerge out of nowhere.

The van’s occupants, volunteers for a street ministry called “What Would Jesus Do?,” open the doors and serve steaming hot cups of coffee and snacks to a steady stream of people, putting faces on Roseville’s about 300 homeless.

The street ministry is part of “a multi-faceted effort by a parish with a heart for the homeless,” according to permanent deacon Bill Boudier of St. Rose Parish who volunteers for the program. “We recognize their worth as God’s children.”

Like many of his fellow parishioners, Boudier and his wife Annette are actively involved in a number of organizations seeking solutions for the homeless and near homeless in Placer County. But it is the Lazarus Project, a community-based transitional housing program for single adults, that is receiving his full attention these days.

Named after the beggar Lazarus in the Gospel of Luke who longed to eat bits of food from a rich man’s table, the Lazarus Project opened its first home for single men two years ago. Initial funding came in the form of a $60,000 donation from St. Rose and support from the Diocese of Sacramento in securing a home loan.

Services offered at the home include job and life skills training, housing placement, budget counseling and 24-hour in-house support.

“The need was not just the number of homeless but we had to look at what programs existed. That was the key,” said Wade Jordahl, Lazarus Project executive director. “Nothing in transitional housing existed for individuals.”

Father Michael McKeon, pastor of St. Rose, says projects like Lazarus evolved from the community’s struggle to deal effectively with homelessness.

“There’s been a history over the years of attempting to deal with the city to address the issue of homelessness,” he said. “We came to realize we had to address homelessness on our own.”

He pointed to efforts in 1995 to operate a winter shelter at the National Guard armory on the Placer County Fairgrounds which received complaints from neighbors and businesses that a shelter attracted too many homeless to Roseville. Subsequently the Roseville City Council voted 3-2 against allowing St. Rose to run the shelter.

And a few years ago resistance to providing services to the homeless resulted in lawsuits by neighborhood organizations to close the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s dining room. The suits were dismissed by the Placer County Superior Court.

St. Rose parishioner Betsy Donovan, chair of the Lazarus Project’s board of directors, was a member of the Continuum of Care Committee selected by the Roseville City Council to gather information on the needs of the homeless. However, the city council did not support the Continuum of Care Committee’s assessment that the highest need area was for single adult services. In 1998 the city’s application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for federal funding to support homeless programs was denied.

“We were wringing our hands about what to do for the homeless,” said Donovan, who has devoted much of her life to social service work.

She says the mission of the Lazarus Project, which is about empowering people to be self-sufficient, is more than “the right thing to do.”

“It’s also a way to build up the spirit among people,” she said. “There’s always an underlying feeling we’re not just doing this to get you out of homelessness but to make you a better person.”

The six men currently housed in phase one of the transitional housing program were referred from area churches, from organizations like “What Would Jesus Do?” and the Salvation Army. Potential lodgers must complete an intensive interview and screening process.

“We need to determine if they are truly motivated because our program is geared toward helping these individuals go from a state of homelessness to self-sufficiency and remain self-sufficient,” Jordahl said.

Lazarus volunteers assist the men in the job application process using computers provided on-site, repair bicycles used for transportation and lead 12-step sobriety meetings.

Rules of the house include a 10 p.m. curfew and the stipulation that lodgers may be asked to leave at any time during their six-month maximum stay.

Jordahl said he has been inspired by efforts of Lazarus participants who have helped themselves “out of the hole of homelessness.”

They are people like Richard (not his real name) who had been living in the Sacramento area until he lost his job and moved in with a friend in Roseville. Richard had begun working at two jobs when he was forced to move out of the apartment he was sharing with several people to lower his rent. Homeless during the winter, he spent nights wherever he could find some warmth, including one night at a storage facility. Richard heard about the Lazarus Project from a St. Vincent de Paul volunteer.

“For me it was like a miracle,” Richard told The Herald during a recent interview. “God brought me here.”

Earning a salary from two jobs is now putting Richard within reach of his goal to once again live independently.

Richard Roccucci, a former mayor of Roseville, current member of the city council and a St. Rose parishioner, sees organizations like Lazarus as offering sound solutions to homelessness.

“It’s more of a recovery situation and training for what they need to do to benefit society,” he said. “We’re heading in the right direction.”

The Lazarus Project has recently purchased a second property, located in Roseville, to house homeless mentally ill. Purchase of the home was achieved with a $132,000 grant from Placer County made possible when Gov. Gray Davis signed into law AB2034 sponsored by Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg. The legislation earmarks $55.6 million to fund programs by community-based mental health services for the mentally ill homeless. Placer County was awarded $850,000 for its programs.

“The idea is to reach the mentally ill homeless on the streets and provide a continuum of care from the streets to reaching self-sufficiency. Lazarus, working with the county mental health system, is providing the housing component,” Jordahl noted.

St. Rose parishioners are also actively involved in the newly-formed Placer Care Coalition, an organization bringing together four programs for the homeless, including the Lazarus Project. Members of the coalition met Feb. 21 with the director of the county’s Health and Human Services and chair of the board of supervisors.

With the focus now on providing a united approach to serving the people in south Placer County, Boudier, a member of the coalition, is optimistic that the Roseville community will be able to “provide a better array of services to the homeless on a more consistent basis.”

A fundraiser to support the Placer Care Coalition is planned for April 29 at Sunset Whitney Country Club. For more information, call Jack Epling at (916) 789-7741.

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