Judith Gonzalez had a younger household to maintain and didn’t know the place to go.
Gonzalez was 33 and residing together with her mom whereas elevating two youngsters, ages 3 and 1, alongside her husband in Pittsburg. Rigidity within the family was rising. Gonzalez knew that they wanted to discover a place of their very own, however her and her husband’s credit score issues made discovering an condo practically unimaginable. Different relations couldn’t take them in.
Out of choices, Gonzalez dialed 411, the county’s useful resource hotline. A couple of days later, they acquired phrase that they’d been accepted into the Winter Nights Household Shelter. The household packed up their belongings into their automobile, and drove to the church that might function their non permanent residence.
Inside a big convention room, they got a tent to pitch amongst half a dozen different households. At first, Gonzalez’s youngsters stayed near her, nervous and quiet. However inside days, each youngsters warmed as much as the volunteers, who learn them library books or helped with homework. Her eldest daughter started working across the church with the opposite youngsters.
“They went from both clinging to my side when we came in, and then they grew to play and run around,” Gonzalez mentioned. “I saw how they transformed.”
Based in 2004, Winter Nights depends on a community of religion communities all through Contra Costa County, every internet hosting households for two- or three-week stretches. The nonprofit has 13 paid workers and lots of of volunteers, lots of whom have skilled homelessness themselves, who assist join shoppers to sources, get them monetary training, and supply tutoring to youngsters.
Pharmacy technician Judith Gonzalez places on her private protecting tools earlier than coming into the intravenous (IV) room, the place she prepares chemotherapy medicines for most cancers sufferers on the UCSF Bakar Precision Most cancers Medication Constructing in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. In 2015, Gonzalez and her household of 4 skilled homelessness and acquired help on the Winter Nights Household Shelter, the place they stayed for six months. She later moved right into a rental residence, then one other, and ultimately bought her personal cellular residence. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
Final yr, its shelters served 22 households — 10 of whom secured secure housing, with one other 5 receiving housing referrals. Its two secure parking websites in Antioch and Pittsburg supplied a lifeline to 146 individuals residing in 111 vehicles, together with 9 households with 15 youngsters.
For Gonzalez’s household, Winter Nights supplied greater than shelter — it supplied the instruments they wanted to maneuver ahead. When her husband’s truck broke down, the group paid for repairs so he might proceed taking their youngsters to high school. That assist got here from Winter Nights’ monetary help program, which final yr distributed $28,000 to 24 households, principally for automobile repairs and rental deposits.
Alongside the way in which, Gonzalez discovered group. On Christmas, Gonzalez’s household attended an extravagant Christmas dinner the volunteers had placed on for the households — which included presents for the youngsters. Employees additionally checked in recurrently and inspired her to maintain shifting towards a extra secure state of affairs.
After six months with Winter Nights, the Gonzalezes moved right into a rental, then one other, and ultimately purchased a cellular residence in Pittsburg. In the present day, Gonzalez works as a pharmacy technician at UCSF’s outpatient most cancers heart, making ready chemotherapy remedies for sufferers. She nonetheless retains in contact with Winter Nights workers, together with Teri Lundvall, who was a consumer of the shelter herself in 2004 earlier than becoming a member of the workers 5 years later.
Pharmacy technician Judith Gonzalez works within the intravenous (IV) room, the place she prepares chemotherapy medicines for most cancers sufferers on the UCSF Bakar Precision Most cancers Medication Constructing in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. In 2015, Gonzalez and her household of 4 skilled homelessness and acquired help on the Winter Nights Household Shelter, the place they stayed for six months. She later moved right into a rental residence, then one other, and ultimately bought her personal cellular residence. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
“There’s a bond there that’s created not only between the clients, but also the staff, when you’re working with someone at such a vulnerable point in their life,” Lundvall mentioned.
Now 43, Gonzalez displays on her time within the shelter as a interval of sudden compassion.
“As a mother, I felt like I failed my kids,” she mentioned. “I carried that guilt for a long time.”
Final yr, Gonzalez requested her daughter what she remembered from their time within the shelter.
“It was fun,” she recollects her daughter telling her. “We were living in a tent, we did lots of activities, and I got presents.”
“Everything she was telling me was positive … it took a weight off of my heart,” Gonzalez mentioned. “At least she didn’t see it that way, that she was homeless.”
Pharmacy technician Judith Gonzalez prepares chemotherapy medicines for most cancers sufferers on the UCSF Bakar Precision Most cancers Medication Constructing in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. In 2015, Gonzalez and her household of 4 skilled homelessness and acquired help on the Winter Nights Household Shelter, the place they stayed for six months. She later moved right into a rental residence, then one other, and ultimately bought her personal cellular residence. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
HOW TO HELPDonations to Winter Nights Household Shelter will allow the nonprofit to offer monetary help to round 10 homeless households for pressing wants, like automobile repairs, past-due lease or utilities and different important bills alongside deposits wanted to safe leases — small, well timed investments of a mean of $1,167 per family. Aim: $12,000
HOW TO GIVEDonate at sharethespiriteastbay.org/donate or by mail utilizing this manner. Donations are tax deductible.
ONLINE EXTRARead different Share the Spirit tales, view pictures and video at sharethespiriteastbay.org.
