Fresno Mission Addresses Homelessness Through Services and Conversation

By Joseph Malcolm

FRESNO, Calif. – For Natalie Morelos, homelessness was about much more than not having a place to live.

In 2021, Morelos said she was struggling with addiction, domestic violence and homelessness. She had lost custody of her children and eventually turned to the Fresno Mission for help.

“I didn’t have my kids. I was really lost, homeless, broken from domestic violence, you name it,” Morelos said.

Morelos initially went to the Fresno Mission looking for shelter, but after speaking with a counselor, she decided to enter a recovery program.

She spent months in the program rebuilding her life. Morelos said she eventually regained custody of her children, found her own housing and began working for the Fresno Mission. Today, she works as the thrift store warehouse lead.

Her experience illustrates the changing, more complex picture of homelessness in the Central Valley. The fact that homelessness is a lot more than just not having a roof above their heads as described by the Fresno Mission CEO Matt Dildine.

Homelessness goes beyond the traditional stereotype

Dildine said the people seeking help from the Fresno Mission do not always fit the image many people associate with homelessness.

“What we’re seeing is increasingly just people that have lived on the edge for so long have now fallen over the cliff, and they just don’t look like your traditional homeless person,” Dildine said.

He said the Mission is seeing families, senior citizens, young adults who have aged out of the foster care system and others who may have previously been able to maintain housing.

The scope of homelessness in the region is tracked in part through the annual Point-in-Time Count conducted by the Fresno-Madera Continuum of Care. The organization has published a preliminary summary of its 2026 count.

Also, the parts behind homelessness for Morelos are diverse and interconnected.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into it,” Morelos said. “You don’t just not have a place to live.”

She said factors can include mental health, a lack of family support, limited resources, education and other circumstances that may not be obvious to someone looking from the outside.

Fresno Mission provides more than food and shelter

The Fresno Mission says its programs include case management, counseling, mentorship, rehabilitation, behavioral resources and family reunification.

Dildine said the organization also offers employment and career training, mental health counseling and addiction recovery services.

Housing itself remains one of the challenges.

“First and foremost is just the availability of housing,” Dildine said. “There’s not enough housing. It’s too expensive to build. There’s not enough of it.”

The Fresno Mission reported serving more than 84,000 meals and providing more than 33,000 nights of rest in 2024. The organization also reported 113 children living within its programs that year.

For Morelos, however, some of the most important assistance came through learning skills she said she had never developed before entering the program.

She said the program taught her about boundaries, codependency, finances and other skills that helped her rebuild her life.

Morelos now finds herself helping others at the same organization she once turned to for help.

“I love helping other students like me when they come in and show them and give them hope,” Morelos said.

Conversations on a Bench encourages community dialogue

Fresno Mission is also working to address the way homelessness is discussed through an initiative called “Conversations on a Bench.”

The concept brings community members, Mission staff and people served by the organization together to have conversations and share their experiences. Fresno Mission says the goal is to foster understanding and allow people to hear directly from those affected by homelessness and other crises.

“The best people to explain what it’s like to be homeless … are the people that have lived it,” Dildine said.

Dildine said the initiative has expanded beyond Fresno, with organizations in cities across the country participating in conversations about homelessness, poverty and crisis.

For Morelos, having those conversations can help break down stereotypes surrounding homelessness.

“People are stereotyping it,” Morelos said. “‘Oh, they’re lazy. They’re drug addicts.’ That’s not always the case.”

She said hearing directly from someone who has experienced homelessness can provide a perspective that statistics alone cannot.

“If you sat down with someone and got to know them and talked to them and heard their story, maybe you would be able to look at it from a different point of view,” Morelos said.

How to help the Fresno Mission

The Fresno Mission accepts volunteers and donations to support its programs. Volunteer opportunities include serving meals and assisting with other Mission programs. Community members can donate money, clothing, or their time in donation drives.

More information about volunteering, donating and Fresno Mission services is available through the organization’s website.

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