A Visit to the Living Room, Hosted by Alathea Larson, Elizabeth Beaty, and Chris Moonsammy
We held our regular Thursday morning meeting on Thursday, September 26, 2024, at the Living Room in Santa Rosa for an amazing breakfast, a tour of the facility, and a talk from Alathea Larson, Executive Director; Elizabeth Beaty, Development and Community Engagement Manager; and Chris Moonsammy, Director of Food Services. The Living Room (LR) provides a safe environment where women can receive individualized assistance in a culture of respect and kindness. It has two locations in Santa Rosa. Its main campus is one Cleveland Avenue, and its Life Center is on North Dutton. It works in 4 main areas: housing, food, education, and services to women and their children. The Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise has been a long-time friend and backer of the LR, and two of our current members, Steve Amend and Marty Behr, have been on its Board of Directors. Marty presented Alathea with a donation of $1,000 at the breakfast.
Alathea thanked us for our contributions and mentioned that we helped them buy their new Life Center, which is the hub of the LR’s day services. We sponsored the Mariposa Room at the Life Center! She noted that over 2,000 people came to the LR last year. It focuses on women with substance abuse, domestic abuse, food insecurity, and housing issues. It has added additional services for youths who had been served by Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) before SAY closed. It accepts children and pets for both daily visits and housing purposes. The LR’s fastest growing population is seniors. The LR has 74 active community partners.
Chris told us that the LR serves 1,000 meals each week. The LR is in the process of a significant expansion of its kitchen facilities on Cleveland Avenue and hopes to eventually serve up to 3,000 meals per week. One of its key partners is the Redwood Empire Food Bank, which gathers and distributes food, picks up expiring food, and runs a grocery recovery program. The Food Manager is Nick, who had worked with Chris in the past and is a very talented chef and manager.
Elizabeth Beaty alerted us to an upcoming event, Loving the Living Room, scheduled for October 4. The Live Auction is already up, so we can log on and bid on amazing gift packages. The LR currently employs 19 staff members and approximately 165 volunteers.
Twelve people currently live onsite at the Cleveland Avenue location. The residences include a house across the street, a studio, and an office that was converted into a residence. The LR is an emergency shelter, so it doesn’t have long-term residents unless necessary. The LR is not a safe house; there are two safe houses in Santa Rosa, but the LR is not equipped or certified for it. It also has an emergency trailer. Alathea expects that the use of trailers for shelter will be a bigger issue in the future for the LR. Hot meals are served at the Life Center. The LR also prepares ‘to go’ cooked meal bags, delivers meals to Bethlehem Towers and Windam Village, among others.
Many thanks to Alathea, Chris, and Elizabeth for the food, presentation, and tour. We are proud of all the work the Living Room accomplishes and look forward to a long partnership with it.
