Community Corner

Family Spends Weekend on Streets to Raise Awareness on Homelessness

The Flores family of Glendora raised money for future community projects during their weekend stint as a homeless family.

For Mother’s Day weekend, the Flores family of Glendora did what most families wouldn’t normally volunteer to do. For three days, the family lived the life of temporary homelessness.

They gave up the comfort of their home, the warmth of a Tempur-pedic bed and spending cash to sleep on cement floors and push a shopping cart filled with the bare essentials.

Patriarch William Flores said the experience was to raise awareness about the reality of homelessness in America while also raising money for the family’s nonprofit organization Flores Family Foundation.

“It was a life-changing experience,” said Flores. “God has blessed us in the sense we’re not struggling everyday…raising money for the foundation and working on projects through the foundation gives us an opportunity to give back for all that we have in life.”

Flores, his wife Christian and two children – Sebastian, 13, and Brianna, 11, spent May 10 through May 12 pushing their shopping cart filled with their sleeping bags and donated food in the heat, and soliciting funds for their foundation in front of local grocery stores.

“I’ve grown up having a comfortable bed, a T.V. to watch, air-conditioning, heated water and stuff like that, and I feel like it’s not fair for the less fortunate children and the less fortunate families to not have what we have,” Sebastian Flores told ABC News.

Sebastian’s father said the family raised $1,400 during the three days they lived on the streets. Flores said every penny of what they raised will go toward future foundation projects, including Shoes & Socks for Soles and Backpacks 4 Success.

As darkness fell, the family looked for a safe place to set up their sleeping bags and spend the night. For the children, the experience was a like a slumber party, but for their parents, the “party” was more stressful.

“We were sleeping outdoors, in alleys and on hard, cement floors,” said Flores. “My wife and I couldn’t sleep because every sound or noise would keep us awake. We had to be aware of the dangers, including coyotes.”

Throughout the three days, Flores said the family met actual homeless people in the community, and even some residents who shared with the family their past experiences of homelessness.

Flores said the family was fortunate to have the support from community businesses, police and community leaders who were aware of the family’s project. T Phillips offered the family a free meal, a business allowed the family to sleep on their outdoor balcony for the night, and random strangers offered the family donations or food.

Flores said the experience only drove home the harsh realities of what it is like to be homeless in America, where more than 600,000 people live on the streets, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

“We were very fortunate to have help from so many people,” said Flores. “The average homeless person doesn’t get that everyday.”

For more information about the Flores family and their foundation, visit www.floresfamilyfoundation.org


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