Faces of the Shelters: Sarah, Michelle, and Richard

Sarah Fuller (62) and her dog, Tank, have been waiting for permanent housing at First Presbyterian Church of Hayward (FirstPres)for a year and a half. Fuller lost her home after her former landlord sold the property at which she was living without telling her. “The new owners came in and told us to get out,” Fuller told the Forum. 

Fuller is in the process of finding permanent housing and hopes to get something soon with the shelter's support. Once she gets housing, she intends to return to the shelter and give back to the community. 

Fuller is one of thousands of unhoused people in Alameda County. With the recent Supreme Court ruling stating that cities can prohibit people from sleeping on the streets or in parks, more people are expected to look for a place to stay. 

FirstPres has two shelters, one in Hayward and one in Castro Valley behind Trader Joe’s. The Castro Valley shelter has many resources for the unhoused community, including the Tiny Homes Project. The transitional housing program allows people to live independently and save up for a permanent living space.

Another resident at FirstPres is Michelle Hee (51), who was homeless for three years and was at the FirstPres shelter for about six months. Hee has now found transitional housing and lives in a sober living community.  

One space that FirstPres has created is its recovery cafe, which has been open for about a year. The cafe is where people can feel at home and earn dignified income (gift cards). People can create jewelry, dog toys, leashes, and more that are sold. 

“I chose to get sober because of my addiction, and all that is what got me homeless,” Hee said. “I was invited to the recovery cafe and recovery circle that, you know, motivated me to stay sober.” 

Hee said that FirstPres not only helped her stay sober but also helped her communicate. The FirstPres staff helped take her to the DMV and get her new ID. Hee was also completely deaf when she first found FirstPres but through the shelter and church she could get hearing aids and communicate better. She now works to live independently with the help of transitional housing. 

FirstPres has continued to cultivate a space where people can feel at home. FirstPres uses the definition of home that Steven Bouma-Prediger highlights in “Beyond Homelessness.” The book defines home as a place of permanence, dwelling, resting, hospitality, embodied inhabitation, orientation, affiliation, and belonging.  

Through these efforts, the shelter has welcomed and helped many community members.

One of those rebuilding their lives is Richard Mackowiak (40), who has worked at FirstPres for two years. He started out volunteering at the Hayward shelter where he was staying. Mackowiak was unhoused for five years and had been struggling with staying sober. 

“I was getting clean and sober, and I was living there, trying to get work. And I met Dan, the maintenance manager here,” Mackowiak said. Mackowiak used to do construction, started helping the maintenance manager, and was eventually hired. 

The general community often demonizes unhoused people, as evidenced by the new laws being passed. It’s important to realize that those people still deserve respect.  

“Not everybody's here because they want to be. I don't want to be here, but it was just a misfortune of what happened to me. Yeah, and the (general) community doesn't understand that. The people here do,” Fuller said.