Celebrates the high-quality care that health centers provide across the nation. Share Our Selves Community Health Centers provide access to primary health care services for Orange County residents. In celebration of National Health Center Week, we are proud to showcase our patient-centered approach accessible to everyone at a low cost.
Each day of NHCW focuses on an area of comprehensive care coordinated in our network of community health centers.
Share Our Selves is designated as healthcare for the homeless provider. Our mobile health unit services the community twice a week, traveling to shelters around the county. Our partnership with Mercy House allows us to care for our venerable patients with access to our medical services onsite. Click here to learn more about Mercy House.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Migrant Health Act, the landmark agreement that sowed the seeds for what would later become the Community Health Center Program. At our very origin, Share Our Selves was founded to care for those in need. And at the time of our inception, some of those most in need were local migrant farm workers.
Our patients are the heart of our mission. Share Our Selves Community Health Centers were recognized by the National Committee of Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) program for providing services that put the patient at the forefront of care. Annually our providers care for an average of 16,000 patients.
Our community stakeholders champion Share Our Selves by actively supporting our work through various channels. We appreciate the commitment of our volunteers, donors, community partners, board members, and elected officials at the city, local and national levels.
Share Our Selves staff are unequivocal devoted to caring for our clients and patients. We want to celebrate their dedication with our staff celebrations across the organization.
Since its inception in 1995, our Back to School Program has provided backpacks filled with school supplies to local students through the support of our generous donor community.
More than 700 guests enjoyed specialty tacos from 16 celebrated Orange County chefs featuring libations from CaliFino Tequila, Deschutes Brewery and New Belgium Brewing’s Fruit Smash hard seltzer. Hosted by the Share Our Selves Foundation, the event was held on Thursday, May 19, at OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa.
Once again, this foodie tradition raised over $100,000 in support of Share Our Selves social services. The comprehensive services address issues including food and housing insecurity and overall wellness of our neighbors who are low-income and experiencing homelessness.
Guests tasted curated tacos exclusively for this event with the opportunity to vote for the Yelper’s Choice Award “Fan-Favorite Taco” presented by our Premiere Sponsor, Yelp. This year’s winner was Chef Fonzy De Zuniga of Descanso. Chef Fonzy De Zuniga proved to be a fan favorite winning his second year in a row. This year serving up a creation of duck birria, habanero red pickled onions, cilantro, edible flowers and gold flakes on a cheese crusted blue corn tortilla.
We thank our generous restaurants, beverage partners, and sponsors for their generous contributions to benefit the 29th Annual Wild & Crazy Taco Night!
Click here to view photos from the event
Hector Zamora
Fonzy De Zuniga
Rich Mead
Five Crowns and SideDoor
Matt Luna
Marco Zapien
Sal Gonzalez
Greg Byma
Pascal Olhats
Ross Pangilinan & Nick Weber
Paul Buchanan
Erik Aronow
Natalie Aleksandrova
Chris Tzorin
Kenneth Williams & Andy De La Cruz
The Share Our Selves Foundation thanks the following sponsors and underwriters for their generosity:
Premiere Sponsor
Habanero
The Sharon D. Lund Foundation
Pinata
Debbie Millar
DMP Properties
The Frome Family Foundation
Hoag
South Coast Plaza
Cactus
Jay Donoghue
Dr. Gwyn Parry
Laurie Dubachansky
Med Tech Solutions
Pacific Hospitalists Associates
PCV Murcor
ServiceNow – John Spriko
Thompson Family Foundation
Dr. Vik and Shama Mehta
Sombrero
Adams’ World Travel
Dr. Alberto and Jori Mendivil
Alkeme Insurance Services
AT Consulting
Bob and Anne Cress
Enterprise Bank & Trust
Fletcher and Jones Motorcars
Gary Bess Associates
Haskell Collection
Lynn and Roger Tomalas
Med Tech Solutions
Mike and Pam Howard
OneDigital
Patricia Doyle
Prestige Medical Group
Dr. Richard and Sandie Haskell
Susan and Kevin Daly
Western Community Housing, Inc.
Faye and Ali Azadi
Jim and Diane Bailey
Beach City Car Wash
Flor and Emma Buncab
Saundra Campbell
Randy and Jenice Carter
Ski and Kathy Harrison
Will and Annick Klatte
Jake and Andi Rohrer
Dr. Roberta Lessor & Dr. David Snow
Alice Tutunjian
Anonymous
Susan and Kevin Daly
Annie Gerard
Manning Homes
Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard
Susan J. Markowitz
On-site Lasermedic Corp.
Linda and Kevin Pitts
Nancy Schmoldt
Nancy and Geoffrey Stack
At Share Our Selves, we believe in the power of coming together as a community to make a difference. Our Fall Family Service Night is an opportunity for families to make a positive impact on those in need while also having the opportunity to bond with your family and instill the values of compassion and generosity in the hearts of your children.
Date: Friday, November 17, 2023
Time: 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Location: Share Our Selves Community Health Center | 1550 Superior Ave., Costa Mesa
Event Capacity Reached! Join the Waitlist
by Contacting Events Manager, Kristin Sheward at ksheward@shareourselves.org
At Fall Family Service Night, families like yours will join hands to help us sort, package, and prepare groceries for our upcoming Thanksgiving Food distribution to the local community. Throughout the evening, you will also have the opportunity to learn more about the vital services that Share Our Selves provides to those in need, and how your support makes a difference.
Adults and children are welcome to participate. Please note that children aged 16 or under must be accompanied by a guardian.
In the spirit of the Thanksgiving season, we kindly request pie donations to add a sweet touch to our food distribution.
As we celebrate Pride this month, we here at SOS wanted to take this opportunity to consider the issues and barriers facing our LGBTQ community in Orange County, and what we are doing as an organization to address them. It is our mission to provide care and assistance to those in need and act as advocates for systemic change, and we work every day to fulfill that mission for our LQBTQ community in a supportive and welcoming environment, sensitive to the struggles they face daily.
A recent study by the Center for American Progress found that 1 in 3 LGBTQ Americans, including 3 in 5 transgender Americans, experienced discrimination in just the past year. The study found that “many LGBTQ people continue to face discrimination in their personal lives, in the workplace and the public sphere, and in their access to critical health care. This experience of discrimination leads to many adverse consequences for their financial, mental, and physical well-being.”
SOS has a wide range of services available to directly attend to these issues including medical and dental care, behavioral health services, financial assistance, and homeless services. However, we know that simply having these services available is not enough. Addressing the needs of the LGBTQ community requires a team that is compassionate and well informed on the unique challenges of these individuals, and that is what we have at SOS. Our health providers are trained to care for the health conditions facing our LGBTQ patients in a sensitive and gender-affirming way. The fear of discrimination can also lead people to avoid seeking care, but at SOS everyone who walks through our doors is treated with dignity and respect, and without judgment.
The LGBTQ homeless population is particularly vulnerable, and our team of experts, as well as our community of volunteers, provides a safe space to talk, and work to find solutions so that we can help improve their living situation. Often this includes behavioral or substance abuse services, medical services for transgender individuals looking to affirm their gender, and working with other organizations to find permanent, supportive housing.
In addition to the direct services we provide every day, our leadership team also works with other community groups and organizations to advance the cause of equity in Orange County so that protections for vulnerable groups like the LGBTQ community can be enacted to promote systemic change. We also support legislation including the Equality Act that would codify those protections into law.
We have a long way to go in our society in the treatment of our LQBTQ community, but we are working every day towards the goal of equality for all. This month is a great time to recognize the progress that has been made and celebrate the freedom to choose love for everyone in our community.
On the Anniversary of George Floyd’s Death
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin
Yesterday marked a year since the murder of George Floyd under the knees of police brutality.
His death brought on a reckoning and imperative to practice critical and crucial conversations on the historical and continued racist harm experienced by the black community and an intense examination of our current systems, norms, and bias that perpetuate racism and inequities.
As part of a national collective of community health centers, our mission is our community. At Share Our Selves we are committed to equality, systemic change, compassionate and empathetic leadership. Through these principles we will continue to work against inequality, systemic injustices, racism, and abuse of power.
We leave our imagination of a world without racism into living what that anti-racist world would be like. It begins with you, me, all of us. We must because of George Floyd and many others before and after him. Black Live Matter. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Christy Ward
Chief Executive Officer
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COSTA MESA, CA, – More than 280 people cruised over to the OC Fair & Event Center on Saturday, April 24th to take part in the first drive-through style event in the 28 year history of Share Our Selves (SOS) Wild & Crazy Taco Night.
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