Homeless Shelter Helps Families Stay Together

It’s a situation no family wants to be in – homeless – with no support system and nowhere to go.

Your children in need of food and clothes, but you have no money to provide for them.

For some El Paso families in this predicament, there is a small refuge where they don’t have to be separated – all thanks to one man on a mission.

In an industrial-looking central El Paso neighborhood, there’s a house with dozens of children where parents are trying to get back on their feet.

“I felt awful, like I had failed the kids,” said Andrea Smithey.

Smithey is a mom who found herself in a wrenching situation when her husband lost his job as a school custodian. They then lost their apartment.

“It could happen to anybody, there’s a lot of people in El Paso that live paycheck to paycheck if they get sick and they don’t get their paycheck that week, they end up homeless,” explained David Arellano.

His family runs a woman’s shelter, but when the shelter got full Arellano saw there were still families in need, so he let them stay in his office building.

Two months later, his office has been converted into a haven, the Dame La Mano Family Crisis Center.

It’s a place where families don’t have to separate by gender like at other centers.

“It’s already hard enough for them to be homeless, so what we’re trying to do is keep the family together,” said Arellano.

Being together has posed challenges. There are 55 people at the shelter. Thirty-five of them are children.

There’s only one shower which Arellano built himself. There’s only one sink that is used for both dishes and clothes.

One woman explained even these humble beginnings beat separating families, which she has experienced.

“It was awful because every night we would have to tell him good night, and he’d have to go over on that side, and my son and I would go over on this side,” said Tammy Barnes.

For now, parents at the shelter hold on to hope for their children.

“That they don’t take things for granted, I’m hoping that they’re successful, that they go to college,” said Smithey.

“Every day is a struggle, but then there’s people like David that see a need and reach out and open,” explained Barnes.

One place for families trying to stay together and start anew.

Arellano said he funds the shelter on his own. He explained he spends about $5,000 a month.

He told ABC-7 he has a separate moving business that helps, but the shelter needs bunk beds, hygiene and cleaning items, food and clothing.

To donate, call 915-219-5232.