{"id":500818,"date":"2026-10-19T06:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T06:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500818\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T06:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T06:52:07","slug":"downtown-fresno-church-hit-by-10000-theft-of-items-for-people-experiencing-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/500818\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown Fresno church hit by $10,000 theft of items for people experiencing homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 A downtown Fresno church <\/a>that helps people experiencing homelessness get back on their feet is asking for the community\u2019s help after about $10,000 worth of donated supplies was stolen.<\/p>\n

Cornerstone Church provides food, clothing, showers and other resources to people in need through its Showers of Hope program. Church leaders say the stolen items were intended to help people who are already struggling to get by.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody chooses to be homeless,\u201d said Jim Franklin, senior pastor of Cornerstone Church. \u201cIt’s usually because of a situation in their life, a tragedy, economic or maybe an addiction or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Jenni Slifkoff and Allen O\u2019Brien, those struggles brought them to Cornerstone Church, where they found support, compassion and an opportunity to start over.<\/p>\n

Slifkoff said the church welcomed her when she was struggling, offering not only a shower but also spiritual support and a sense of belonging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey accepted me as I was,\u201d Slifkoff said. \u201cThey helped me clean my outside, but also they helped me clean my inside spiritually, and I felt so much love here. This place is such a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said he is grateful for the help he has received from the church and the people who volunteer their time to serve the community.<\/p>\n

He said he recently reached 94 days of sobriety, crediting the support he has received as part of his journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m super, super grateful, man, for all that they do right here,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

Every Saturday, Cornerstone Church operates its Showers of Hope program, serving around 100 people experiencing homelessness with food, clothing, showers and haircuts.<\/p>\n

Michael Osmer, the church\u2019s director, said the operation relies on approximately 30 to 35 volunteers who work together to meet the needs of people living on the streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is helping those that are on the street to get off the street,\u201d Osmer said.<\/p>\n

But church leaders say the theft has disrupted those efforts.<\/p>\n

Osmer said someone stole approximately $10,000 worth of donated items sometime between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The stolen supplies included clothing, shoes and laundry products used to serve the program\u2019s guests.<\/p>\n

Osmer said he has been reaching out to people in the surrounding neighborhood in hopes of finding out who is responsible. He is also asking community members to be on the lookout for the stolen items if they appear at yard sales or swap meets.<\/p>\n

Church leaders are asking whoever took the supplies to return them. They are also encouraging community members to donate clothing and other necessities to help the program continue serving people in need.<\/p>\n

Slifkoff said learning about the theft was heartbreaking because of what the church represents to the people it serves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 A downtown Fresno church that helps people experiencing homelessness get back on their feet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-500818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}