Empowered By Orange County United Way

Wells Fargo Announces $100,000 Investment in Support of United Way’s Fight Against Homelessness

Company announces support of United to End Homelessness’s effort to convene private and public sectors leaders and focus the community’s collective resources on ending Orange County’s homeless crisis

A check was presented to United Way President and CEO Sue Parks on the field at Angel Stadium during a pre-game ceremony prior to the Los Angeles Angels matchup against the Houston Astros Tuesday, May 15.

May 7, 2018 – Wells Fargo Orange County Foundation Director Jack Toan has announced that Wells Fargo is donating $100,000 to support the United to End Homelessness campaign spearheaded by Orange County United Way.

“We’re pleased to support United Way’s effort to ensure that people aren’t falling through the cracks,” explained Toan. “For over ten years the Wells Fargo Foundation in Orange County has supported local efforts to fight homelessness, but the problem has continued to get worse.”

Toan continued: “We believe that this community-wide approach is not just the most efficient way to tackle this problem, it’s been proven effective in other parts of the country.”

In addition to modeling the collective impact approach that Toan describes as working elsewhere in the country, the United to End Homelessness plan will employ and support a housing first model that’s successfully reduced homelessness in cities throughout the U.S., including Orlando, Florida.

“United to End Homelessness is committed to ending homelessness in a humane and dignified way by providing long-term housing with needed supportive care for the thousands of individuals currently suffering from homelessness throughout our community,” announced Parks as she accepted the check. “But we can’t do this without the generous support of Wells Fargo and so many other corporate, community and philanthropic leaders who are stepping up.”

Toan continued by explaining that homelessness is a complex problem that needs many solutions and provided a personal anecdote.  He was a refugee as a young boy and Toan’s wife experienced homelessness for a short time when her father was deported and the family was evicted.

“The bond that each of our family’s experienced was that someone was willing to help us. After realizing this in our lives we began working with our church’s outreach to homeless at the Civic Center.”

About United to End Homelessness

Following up on key recommendations in the landmark Homelessness Cost Study commissioned by Orange County United Way in partnership with University of California, Irvine and Jamboree, and applying lessons learned from other communities, the United to End Homelessness coalition, led by United Way, is comprised of local leaders working to ensure that integrated and sustainable solutions are implemented on behalf of Orange County neighbors suffering from homelessness. The goal is to end street homelessness in Orange County. For more information, please visit www.unitedtoendhomelessness.org.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through 8,200 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 25 on Fortune’s 2017 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories. 

Media Contact: 
Mike Suydam | 949- 981-5008| mikes@unitedwayoc.org
Lisa Woolery | 657-622-1186 | lisa.m.woolery@wellsfargo.com