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HISTORY OF SHELTER
For more than forty years, PVSS has opened its doors to vulnerable women and children fleeing unsafe homes, unstable situations, and uncertain futures. Founded in 1983 in response to growing homelessness in Watsonville, PVSS began with a simple, powerful belief - every family deserves a safe and secure place to begin again. Thousands of mothers and children have walked through our doors – and walked out into a home of their own.
SHELTER PROGRAM TODAY
Today, the Family Emergency Shelter serves women and children experiencing homelessness, or on the edge of it. For these families, the Shelter is more than a roof. It’s the kitchen where a mother cooks dinner for her children for the first time in months. It’s the bedroom where a child finally sleeps through the night. The Shelter is the first step on the path back to stability, self-sufficiency, and
a home of their own. Eighty percent of shelter residents go on
to stable housing, 40% to PVSS’ own transitional and long-term
housing, and 40% to other housing in the community.
Impact
Each year, the Family Emergency Shelter serves an average of 95 individuals, women and their children, across 45 families. These are neighbors from our community, families who arrived in crisis and left with stability, savings, and a plan.
85%
of individuals moved to permanent or transitional housing.
74%
of families exited successfully practicing savings skills.
68%
of adults exited with employment or other income.
Alexandra’s Story
Former Family Emergency Shelter Resident
When Alexandra arrived in Watsonville in the summer of 2019, she carried everything that mattered, four children, a fierce determination, and an unshakeable belief that something better was possible. She had traveled from a small town near Guadalajara, Mexico, with a job on the horizon but no roof over her head. Every single day for a month, she called PVSS. She never stopped believing a door would open.
It did. At the Family Emergency Shelter, Alexandra found more than a safe place to sleep, she found community, purpose, and a path forward. She cooked alongside other families, mentored younger mothers, and worked closely with her case manager to build a savings plan and a vision for her future. The Shelter became a launching pad.
“After leaving all the toxicity, all the abundance and blessing came to me. I felt like I had a guardian angel guiding me.”
Three years later, during Thanksgiving week of 2022, Alexandra received the keys to her own home. In just three years, she had gone from no place to sleep to a home of her own.
“I still feel like it’s a dream,” she says. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without PVSS, the steppingstone that trusted and guided me to a better future.”
Alexandra’s story is what’s possible when a family has a safe, dignified place to begin again. The Welcome Home Campaign will ensure that the Shelter continues to be a source of comfort and hope for families who come through our doors, today, tomorrow, and for generations to come.
A Bold Vision
PVSS has a bold goal: Functional Zero, a Pajaro Valley where no family experiences homelessness because every family in crisis is caught by a safety net before they reach the streets. Progress toward that goal is real. Family homelessness in Santa Cruz County has fallen 62% over the last decade, from 481 individuals in 2015 to 180 in 2025, proof that community investment works.
However the work is not finished. PVSS’ waitlist runs two to three times higher than official county counts, a sign that hundreds of families remain unseen and 11% underserved each year. Single women in particular are seeking shelter in growing numbers. Our door needs to stay open, and the home behind it needs to be ready.
The Welcome Home Campaign ensures that the Shelter is ready with a welcoming atmosphere providing warm beds with clean linens, and a functional kitchen with fresh food.
“I am forever grateful to Pajaro Valley Shelter Services for providing me and my children a place to stay during. such a difficult time in our lives.”
~ Sandra, former shelter resident
Each year, the Shelter gives dozens of families the same gift: a place to stand while they find their footing.
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The Welcome Home Campaign is our community’s opportunity to transform the Family Emergency Shelter into a space as strong and dignified as the families it serves. We’re raising $500,000 to remodel a 100-year-old Victorian home into a modern, multi-family sanctuary that is safe, clean, ADA- accessible, and built to welcome families for decades to come.
THE NEED
The Shelter is housed in a 2-story, 5-bedroom Victorian house built more than a century ago, designed for a single family and now serving up to 30 women and children at a time. The wear shows. Aging fixtures, inadequate ventilation, and worn surfaces make it harder to maintain the cleanliness, privacy, and comfort families deserve.
This remodel is not cosmetic. It is essential. When a family arrives in crisis, the condition of their surroundings sends a message. We want that message to be unmistakable: you are safe here, and you are worthy of care.
THE REMODEL WILL:
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Redesign the ground-floor bathroom and bedroom so every family, regardless of ability, can move through the shelter with ease and independence.
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Create a kitchen and laundry room where multiple families can cook, clean, and care for one another, without the strain of outdated inadequate appliances
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Restore the living spaces and bedrooms, because the rooms where children sleep, and families gather, should feel like home.
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Bring the electrical systems and lighting up to modern standards, creating a safer, brighter environment for families.
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Create a shelter that feels like a home, one that will welcome vulnerable families with dignity and warmth for decades to come.
IMPACT FOR FAMILIES
A well-maintained shelter, one designed for the many families it serves, changes outcomes. For parents already navigating a crisis, sharing a house built for a single family causes constant, low-level stress layered on top of everything else. The remodel removes this. For children,
a thoughtfully designed space means consistent routines, healthier sleep, and better school performance. For parents, it frees up the mental and emotional energy needed for the harder work of rebuilding their lives. When the space says you are cared for, families are better able to do the same for themselves.
A Kitchen that Works as Hard as the Many Families it Serves
A Great Room that Says “Welcome Home”
Designed So Every Family
Feels Included
RENOVATION PLANS
Project Budget
Painting & Finishing $80,000
Plumbing & Fixtures $75,000
Cabinetry $24,600
Flooring $75,000
Lighting & Electrical $80,000
Architectural Planning & Permits $35,000
Contingencies $55,000
Campaign Expenses $80,000
Total Budget $500,000
During construction, families will move into our transitional housing units, continuing to receive the same safety, stability, and support, they need to rebuild their lives.
“Dignity is core to moving towards self reliance.
At a minimum, we should all have dignity in our
home, that’s why I chose this project as a priority.”
~ John Haskins, Architects of Hope donor
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A safe place to sleep. A kitchen to cook a family dinner. A bathroom that works for everyone who needs it. These aren’t extras, they’re the foundation families need to rebuild their lives.
Your gift to the Welcome Home Campaign makes that foundation possible. Whether you give $1,000 or $100,000, you become part of the home that welcomes a family in crisis, today and for years to come.
Give today. Build hope. Welcome them home.
GOAL: $500,000
$400,000
$300,000
$200,000
$100,000
24%
RAISED
Ways to Give
The Welcome Home Campaign runs through December 2026.
Gifts may be pledged over 1–3 years, making it easy to give at any level.
Give online by clicking a button below:
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By Mail
Make checks payable to:
Pajaro Valley Shelter Services
Memo: Welcome Home Campaign
Mail to: 115 Brennan Street, Watsonville, CA 95076
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Wire or ACH Transfer
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Transfer of stock
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Donate through your donor advised fund or family foundation
Contact Benna Dimig, Development Director, at: benna@pvshelter.org or call (831) 260-5120