By Daily Press staff
More than 100 enthusiastic shoppers last weekend received bargains at Daybreak Designs’ end-of-the-summer sale at the Daybreak Shelter for homeless women in Santa Monica.
Buyers took advantage of Daybreak’s latest designs in handmade ties, jewelry, chiffon, masks, portraits, tie-dyed T-shirts and unique gifts, along with homebaked chocolate chip cookies, meatball sandwiches, chicken wings and raffle prizes.
Daybreak Designs is a grassroots company run by women overcoming mental illness and homelessness, who crochet, knit, quilt, paint, sculpt, write, make jewelry and do crafts to supplement their income.
“These women are my sisters and my ongoing support group,” said portrait artist Pamela Bowlay-Williams, who came to the shelter in 1997 and was aided in attending Santa Monica College. She recently graduated from USC and obtained her own independent housing.
Daybreak’s cards, jewelry, and other arts and crafts also are on sale year-round at Tudor House at 1403 2nd St.
The artists earn 70 percent of revenue from items sold, and the balance goes back into the business to purchase supplies for new artists to get started, as well as for marketing and advertising.
Daybreak Shelter provides up to nine months of structured group living for mentally ill homeless women, through an individualized goal plan created by each resident, with the support of the staff and numerous on-site services including money management, life skills classes, mental health treatment and housing search assistance.
“I was dropped off here in a taxi four years ago,” said Rene Buchanan, Daybreak’s arts activities coordinator.“I had no place else to go. Now to be working here and to be a part of the healing is a rewarding experience.”
Daybreak Shelter is one of OPCC’s (formerly Ocean Park Community Center’s) 10 social welfare programs on the westside, providing food, emergency services, transitional and permanent housing, mental and medical health programs, battered women and children services, job counseling, leadership training, and in-depth preparation for independent living for more than 10,000 homeless and low-income men, women, at-risk teens, and children each year.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 31, 2006. Read the original PDF.