The sound of children laughing and playing ball can be heard from behind the fence of Operation Hope North County.
For many of those children, the Vista property is a home they haven’t had in a long time.
"I just wanted to have a good environment for my son, honestly. I wanted a good environment for my son where he has a room, a roof over his head, food in his stomach and he's safe," Alani Chavez said.
Chavez and her 6-year-old son currently live at the homeless shelter for families with children and single moms.
"I just wanted to change my life. I was tired of being on the streets," she said.
Chavez and her family became homeless in 2015 when their rent money was stolen.
Unable to come up with the funds, they were soon evicted, "So we packed everything we possibly could onto my son's stroller and then we went to the welfare office in Escondido to see if we could get hotel vouchers, and we weren’t approved. So ... I was sleeping in the park."
Since then, Chavez and her children had been in and out of homelessness before applying for the shelter.
"I was just done. I was done being homeless. I just wanted to be settled. I wanted to be going in the right path, because I was not aiming for the right path. And I just wanted to be stable," she said. "I wanted to learn and be a productive mother because I’m expecting, and I just want to be the good mother that I wasn’t with my other kids."
The organization has helped Chavez reach that stability. She recently opened her first bank account, got a job and is saving toward securing housing.
Operation Hope North County is a homeless shelter for families with children and single moms.
"We have a total of 12 rooms. Our largest room can hold a family of seven and our smallest room can hold a family of two. We have 45 beds total," said Jimmy Figueroa, the executive director of the organization.
He took on the role about a year ago.
"To be able to come in and assist this organization and lead this organization post COVID … just like a lot of nonprofits, Operation Hope North County went through those trials through COVID," he said.
Figueroa said COVID-19 had cut off many of the volunteers and donations the nonprofit depended on.
As restrictions eased, volunteers returned and donations picked up again.
Figueroa said it was time for bigger goals.
"One of the first things I said was 'we need to revitalize this organization, physically revitalize the space,' so. it mirrors the support the staff is providing, the support that our board and our community has provided for so many years. It needed a facelift," he said.
The property itself was an old clinic the organization purchased in 2012. The rooms families are assigned to used to be old exam rooms and offices.
But the property recently underwent a complete renovation courtesy of a donation from North Coast Church.
Figueroa said they helped transform the shelter with almost $300,000 worth of renovations.
"The flooring to our youth room, our kitchen space, furniture, the bedrooms, outside landscaping, paving — it was just so much that went into it," he said.
Figueroa said the renovations helped with revitalizing the organization to continue helping struggling families.
"Our program is designed to get our parents — the adults here at the shelter — stability and tools to be successful to find housing ... but what are we doing for all of the kids here?" he said. "Close to 65-66% of our population is children and its apparent to anyone that comes and volunteers here, apparent to anyone that works here, apparent to anyone that visits us."
While they do have a youth room and activities for the kids, Figueroa said there’s one place that is evident to be their favorite.
"Outside, because that's where the kids play. How can we create a space for them that exemplifies hope? That exemplifies life? That exemplifies dreaming and believing, but also something that provides vibrant colors, that can give them that energy while they're here at the shelter?" he said.
And for that, he turned to the help of local artists.
"I was really excited when Jimmy contacted me and told me a little bit about the background of what this place does for the community," said Michelle Guerrero, who goes by the name of Mr. B Baby.
"I really strongly believe in art, and I believe that it really can transform a place. So I'm happy to be able to provide this for these kids and really turn this environment into something beautiful and colorful that they're excited to be a part of," she said.
Her style of art and famous character, Chucho, has gotten international attention. Chucho has outgrown being a painting on a wall and is getting a book of his own, a toy version and a board game.
So she knew Chucho would be a perfect character for the kids play area at the shelter.
"He’s a piñata... and originally piñatas were filled with seeds and then held over the garden and broken. And so I really connected with the idea that through brokenness comes growth," she said. "So, I paint him as a symbol just to remind me that though all of my struggles and all of the hardships that I go through, that I'm growing through them, and ultimately making me the person that I am becoming."
And that's the message she hopes to leave to the children calling Operation Hope their home for now.
Other artwork that went up on the walls of the playground include shadows of children playing and gazing up at the stars and sky.
And a sleeping dog painted by Victor Rodriguez.
"I just think about this place and what it offers, and its peace of mind. On the in between of being where you don't want to be and trying to figure things out. And so just having a place to lay your head and rest up and gather yourself and figure out your next move," Rodriguez said.
What were once blank and brown walls are now filled with colors and art that Figueroa hopes the kids will see, and know it's for them.
"When you go out there, you know that those murals are for the children at the shelter," Figueroa said. "They saw something being created that was intentionally created for them, and I think that would make any of us feel special."
