Tim Miller, Executive Director of West County Community Services (and Former Sunriser!)
Our Special Guest Speaker for July 8th was former Sunrise Rotarian, Tim Miller. Tim is currently the Executive Director of West County Community Services (WCCS) in Guerneville. Prior to his current position, Tim worked in the Philippines rebuilding homes destroyed by typhoons. Tim was also the Executive Director of the Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake County Chapters of the American Red Cross for 10 years before he left for the Philippines. Tim is one of the twelve members of the Russian River Rotary, a small but mighty group. He is proud to remain a part of Rotary and was the President of his club when Covid-19 began.
WCCS’ mantra is: “We empower our community, one person at a time.” When Covid-19 hit, WCCS had to close its main office for two weeks. Several programs and services, such as counseling and behavioral health, have been provided remotely over the past year. In some instances programs were also in-person. The programs in which WCCS provides support were through the Adult and Youth Employment Services and Job Assistance, Counseling and Behavioral Health, Senior Services and Case Management, and Homeless and Housing Services. Due to Covid restrictions, Tim and WCCS decided to focus on three key issues: hunger, mental health, and isolation. WCCS switched its winter homeless shelter from overnight support to full twenty-four hours in March 2020. Normally, the shelter would help 50 people nightly, but to follow Covid regulations it reduced housing to 27 people. The summer of 2020 became so hot in Guerneville that they used the park and ride parking lot to create a tent city with 25 tents. The tent city remained in place for 5 months without a single police call! Tim said that this is an example of proving that if you give folks a safe place 24/7, they can heal.
The River area homeless population was also moved into different hotels, Sonoma State, and the Alliance Redwoods for several months, but those opportunities will end on September 30th when funding ends for Covid-19. WCCS took over a mobile home park in Sebastopol across from Highway 12 in 2017 and the remodel is now almost done. The building previously had four single bedroom apartments and will now have two two-bedroom apartments for families. Formerly homeless folks from Sebastopol will move into these units.
Another big Covid era WCCS project is assisting with the flow of money from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) for rental and utility assistance. Tenants who owe back rent or landlords with tenants who meet the income qualifications can be reimbursed up to 100% of the back rent. WCCS has already helped 160 clients obtain ERAP assistance.
Seniors have been some of the most vulnerable people during the pandemic, and many had to completely isolate themselves. The only land that Tim’s agency owns is the Russian River Senior Center in Guerneville. Before the pandemic, WCCS provided meals three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to mostly very low-income folks from the Senior Center. The Senior Center provided a place to get a meal and socialize with others. To ensure this vulnerable population still received meals and socialization, WCCS switched to providing outdoor meals following social distancing precautions. They successfully cooked and served 20,000 meals. WCCS distributed commodities donated by Safeway and Whole Foods. They also worked with West County Health Centers, a local federally qualified health center with thousands of senior patients. WCCS case managers teamed up at the Senior Center with West County Health Center doctors to provide health services, including screening for depression and related conditions. It was a very effective program that recently ended on June 30th.
WCCS is looking forward to transitioning to the post-Covid environment. It reopened its main offices and most of its programs are now back in person. WCCS has new offices in Santa Rosa and Petaluma, having taken over programs from Goodwill. Tim is really excited about WCCS’ development of peer programs, in which people with a specific issue, such as homelessness or drug/alcohol problems, can help other people with the same issue.
Many thanks to Tim for the information about one of Sunrise’s favorite charitable organizations and for his insights into other current problems facing Sonoma County. Tim has dedicated his life to helping people in tough situations and is one of the best examples of “Service Above Self” that we are ever likely to encounter. Thank you, Tim, and please keep asking us to help!
For your viewing pleasure, click HERE to see Tim's presentation. I will be available for the next week or so.
