FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Community Gives Back to Volunteer

By DEBRA CANO

March 3, 1994 12 AM PT

The first time Mary E. Selz saw homeless parents and their children in Orange County, she was compelled to do something.

So she, with the help of others, founded Thomas House Temporary Shelter in Garden Grove for families living in their cars or on the streets.

For that and for a variety of other contributions to her community, Selz, 57, of Fountain Valley was recently recognized as Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce’s 1993 Citizen of the Year.

A mother of four and grandmother of five, Selz has been a Brownie troop leader and has raised money for such organizations as the American Cancer Society and United Cerebral Palsy. She also has taught Catholic education classes and helped coordinate volunteers who visited senior citizens in nursing homes.

“She has a warm heart for people in need, and it has been manifested not just with the shelter, but in everything she’s been involved in,” said Mayor John Collins, one of the judges and a past recipient of the award.

“If you go back through all the names of citizens of the year, (many are) high-visibility people,” he said. “Not many people are going to recognize the name Mary Selz, but it’s people like her who make the major accomplishments in our community and who have that volunteer spirit.”

Selz said it is a “wonderful feeling” to receive the honor.

“I feel I have done a lot of things in my life, but it’s a drop in the bucket when I compare it to what God has given to me: my family and good friends.”

Selz refuses to take all the credit for founding the shelter. Her husband of 34 years, Bernie, was also instrumental.

“They’re the heart of Thomas House,” said Sister Kathy Stein, the shelter’s program director. “Without them, it wouldn’t have started or continued. They’re inspirational people.”

Selz said about a dozen friends pitched in with support and seed money to start the shelter, named after St. Thomas Villanova, who helped the poor.

The shelter opened in 1987 in a low-income neighborhood lined with stark concrete apartment buildings with sparse landscaping. The shelter started with one three-bedroom apartment, and the first family was a single mother with a young daughter and infant son.

Today, Thomas House consists of four apartments in the same building, two apartments in a nearby complex and one apartment in Santa Ana. Financed through donations and grant money, the shelter currently serves nine families with a total of 18 children.

Stein said residents stay three months, look for jobs and child care or attend job training programs, and they must attend classes in life skills such as parenting, budgeting and savingmoney.

Selz said Thomas House is its own reward.

“It’s wonderful to know that they didn’t slip back, that they’re working and making it.”