Homeless outreach events halted over trash issues in Santa Maria park

Just a couple of months ago, Desiree Ferrel was living in the Santa Maria Riverbed.

“I was addicted to drugs. All my family had just kind of shut the door on me, things like that, and I really had no hope," Ferrel said.

Thanks to the Central Coast Rescue Mission's weekly outreach events in Santa Maria, Ferrel got her life back on track.

“I came here to eat. Honestly, I was starving," Ferrel said. "You know, trying to survive out there, it's the food that is the hardest and the water.”

At one event, she connected with someone who helped her join the organization's Life Recovery Program .

“I'm working on myself. I'm receiving treatment," Ferrel said. "It's just amazing how my life has changed drastically.”

Since May, the organization has held weekly community outreach events, offering showers, warm food, clothes, and resources.

“The whole outreach got started because we saw more and more homeless camps showing up in the riverbed," said Chris Rutledge, Director of the Central Coast Rescue Mission in Santa Maria. "We never want our outreaches to be this quick exchange of come and get food and then head back down to the riverbed because, ultimately, we want to transition them from the riverbed or whatever camp they’re in.”

However, this past Wednesday was their final event at Preisker Park. The Santa Maria Parks and Recreation Department has asked them to stop the weekly events because of trash left behind.

"I think people are lingering after the outreach after we've cleaned everything up, and they're leaving trash behind," Rutledge said.

“We allowed them to move to Preisker Park, and asked them to include a detailed description of what they hoped to provide which had not yet happened," the Parks and Recreation Department said in a statement to KSBY News. "The amount of excessive trash and impact to the park operations is not ideal at that location and prohibits other community members from enjoying the park space as a clean and safe park.”

Although these outreach events will no longer be happening, Rutledge says their efforts to help the community will continue.

“We have street outreach," Rutledge explained. "We'll go around to different homeless camps around the community, wherever they are, engage them in the same way we are here.”