Precious Life Shelter, Building 1, front
	Precious Life Shelter, Building 2, front
	HomeAid Orange County developing fourth phase of Precious Life Shelter campus with Empire Homes and JZMK Partners.

IRVINE, CALIF. (October 17, 2007) – HomeAid Orange County, the Building Industry Association’s charitable outreach, recently announced the successful recruitment of Empire Homes to serve as the Builder Captain for its latest development, Precious Life Shelter IV.

According to Russ Van Cleve, Irvine-based Empire Homes’ president, the company is extremely excited to be a part of the on-going Precious Life story.

“Empire Homes’ success as a privately owned company stems from its pledge to take a hands-on approach with every detail,’ explained Van Cleve, who went on to say, “Our commitment to Precious Life Shelter will receive the same senior management team involvement that gives Empire its outstanding reputation for quality and service.”

The new development will consist of the demolition of two existing structures and the new construction of two, two-story buildings providing five apartments including both one and two bedroom units.  Additionally, there will be a meeting room, a childcare facility and garages to round out this fourth and final phase of the Precious Life Shelter property.

Founded in 1989, Precious Life Shelter is a very successful four-phase residential supportive services program for homeless pregnant adult women, providing a safe, loving environment for women in crisis. These are women without a place to give birth to their child and they make the courageous decision to work toward self-reliance whether they choose to parent or place the child for adoption.

Divided into emergency, transitional, single parent and reunification stages the program includes career planning, life skills development, health and nutrition education, and instruction in childbirth and parenting.
This fourth installment for the Precious Life Shelter campus will be utilized primarily to accommodate residents processing through the reunification program serving women that have delivered their baby with Precious Life, and have other children under the age of 10.  The mother must meet specific program, court and social services requirements in order to move forward with the reunification process.
The $1.2 million development designed by JZMK Architects – the architect for all four Precious Life Shelter phases - is slated to begin construction early in 2008, and is expected to be completed in 9-12 months after ground breaking.

HomeAid Orange County – the project developer - is the philanthropic arm of the Building Industry Association that established the nonprofit in 1989.  Charged with the mission of building dignified housing where homeless individuals and families can rebuild their lives.

The true power of the HomeAid model lies in its core concept of working in partnership with builders and their trades; service providers for the homeless; community leaders; and government officials to unite them in the common goal of building housing for homeless men, women and children throughout Orange County.

For information, contact HomeAid Orange County at (949) 553-9510 or visit www.homeaidoc.org.

About HomeAid Orange County
HomeAid Orange County is the founding chapter of a national non-profit organization and is dedicated to building and renovating shelters for the transitionally homeless in Orange County, California. To date the organization has completed and renovated 40 shelters for a wide variety of needs including victims of domestic violence, foster children and HIV positive adults. www.homeaidoc.org