Vista, CA – Solutions for Change celebrates two decades of transforming the lives of homeless families at a 20th Anniversary celebration dinner Saturday, November 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the St. Mark Golf Club, 1750 San Pablo Drive, in San Marcos, CA. The event will feature a gourmet dinner, silent auction, entertainment and dancing, along with a surprise appearance and an announcement that national and regional poverty reform leaders say could fundamentally change the way we see and act on homelessness.
Twenty years ago a nine-year old homeless girl living in an emergency winter shelter with her baby sister and her drug addicted mother pulled on a man’s sleeve and innocently asked; “Hey mister, do you live here too?” The man, who was a veteran Marine, got down on one knee and with a hug promised the girl that he and his wife would get her out of there and back into a home. The girl teared up and so did the man, and a movement known today as Solutions for Change was born. Rejecting what they believed was a woefully inadequate homelessness response system that unintentionally trapped families in dependency, the founders, Chris and Tammy Megison, launched a series of audacious and unconventional moves.
A personal development empowerment academy for the homeless that ends dependency by teaching people how to get up, suit up and show up in service to people, the planet and purpose. A futuristic state of the art organic produce farm using fish, staffed by the formerly homeless that feed thousands with the highest quality food grown anywhere in the world. Community builders that transform depressed neighborhoods from bleak drug infested areas into healthy productive crime free goodness. “These are the free market based social enterprise imperatives that the people of northern San Diego County have trailblazed with us over the past two decades,” says Chris Megison, President and CEO. “Taken together, they represent a bold new way forward.”
The 20th Anniversary celebration brings together 300+ Solutions for Change friends, supporters, and community leaders to recognize Solutions’ two decades of accomplishments. Since 1999, Solutions for Change has helped 1,000 families, including 2,500 children find their way to permanent self-sufficiency. Tickets and sponsorship opportunities for the event are in high demand but still available. Visit www.solutionsforchange.org or call (760) 295-6013.
