Photo: Credit to Bob Brownne with Tracy Press. Pictured: Carrie Grover, TCCC’s Executive Director, sharing her thoughts during the ceremony. Read the article from Tracy Press for more photos and details, including many of the beautiful words spoken by Carrie.
On December 20, 2025, Tracy Community Connections Center gathered with community members at Redemption Road Church to honor neighbors who died while experiencing homelessness. Held on the longest night of the year, our annual Homeless Memorial is a time to pause, remember, and acknowledge lives that mattered deeply, even if their struggles often went unseen.
This memorial is part of the National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, observed across the country each year on or around December 21. Communities nationwide come together on this date to recognize the human cost of homelessness and to remember those who passed without stable shelter.
At the memorial, TCCC staff, volunteers, faith leaders, and local residents stood together in quiet reflection while names were read aloud. Each moment served as a reminder that homelessness is not abstract or distant. It exists here, in our city, affecting people with stories, families, and histories.
The names of those remembered: Jared Jones, Barbara Ezzihar, Dennis Wayne Rudd, Deedra Gollihar, Raul Madrigal, Frank Bonilla, and Lisa Nurse, were read aloud as a bell rang in their honor.
Events like this are difficult but necessary. They ground our work in humanity. They remind us why outreach, housing navigation, hygiene services, and case management matter so much, especially during the coldest months of the year. Winter is often the most dangerous season for people living outdoors, and the longest night carries symbolic weight for those experiencing isolation, loss, and vulnerability.
We are grateful to everyone who attended, supported, or held space for this event. As we move into the new year, we carry these names with us, not just as memories, but as motivation to keep showing up for our unhoused neighbors.
One of the ways that Tracy Community Connections Center aims to provide stability for our unhoused clients in Tracy and Stockton is by seeking temporary accommodation in local hotel rooms. This is more easily done with ReloShare, which offers a program called Safe Stays. Reloshare specifically serves social service agencies like TCCC who are seeking to find emergency or temporary housing for our clients.
Safe Stays
Safe Stays is a hotel booking platform similar to Expedia or Hotels.com, but specifically designed for our unhoused clients. When our clients need emergency or temporary housing, we use Safe Stays to instantly book safe hotel accommodations.
Safe Stays saves our support team a great deal of time when it comes to searching, selecting and booking rooms. Like other hotel booking platforms, all of the options are gathered in one place so that our team doesn’t have to call around lots of different hotels to check availability and negotiate rates. Safe Stays presents all the available options and rates suitable for our clients who are in need of emergency or temporary housing.
With a hotel stay offering the foundation block of safe, reliable shelter for the interim, our case managers can more easily help clients to find permanent housing. Safe Stays partners with over 15,000 hotels nationwide, offers 24/7 check-in support, and allows domestic violence victims to check in under an alias for added safety. These thoughtful services are crucial for our clients. ReloShare sends TCCC one consolidated bill for all of the hotel rooms used by our clients which saves our team the task of tracking down individual receipts all day long! ReloShare kindly offers use of their booking services for free so that we can dedicate more of our resources towards helping clients directly.
Deb has been a part of Tracy Community Connections Center (TCCC) since its very beginning, first serving as staff and now contributing as a Board Member and volunteer. Inspired by a deep passion for helping those in need, Deb has devoted her time and energy to supporting TCCC’s mission of providing essential services and resources for the homeless in Tracy.
What Deb loves most about being part of TCCC is the dedication and care she sees in every team member, from Executive Director Carrie Grover to the Case Managers, Street Outreach team, and fellow Board Members. She recalls one particularly impactful moment from her time as Street Outreach Director, when she was offered a chair to sit and talk with small groups outside their tents. These conversations allowed her to build personal relationships, learn clients’ names, and truly understand their needs. Deb wishes more people knew just how much every TCCC staff member and volunteer genuinely cares about the people they serve.
Deb Padaong (center, in checkered coat) with staff and volunteers at TCCC
Outside of her work with TCCC, Deb describes herself as loving, faithful, and happy. She has a unique passion for Hawaiian culture and has been teaching Ho’omana Hawaiian Hula for the past 13 years. On a relaxing day off, you might find her in her pajamas watching a good movie, and when asked about her favorite local spot in Tracy, she laughingly replies, “Costco!” If she could have dinner with any historical figure or celebrity, it would be the late Luther Vandross, whose music she describes as deeply touching and inspirational.
Deb’s dedication, compassion, and joy make her an invaluable part of TCCC. Her story reminds us of the power of genuine connection and the difference one caring individual can make in the lives of those experiencing homelessness.
Considering volunteering with TCCC? Click here to learn how you can get involved.
We hosted a free financial workshop led by Kendra Willis, Financial Educator with World System Builder, who volunteered her time to teach the basics of budgeting, saving, insurance, and long-term financial planning.
Clients and staff of Tracy Community Connections Center gathered to learn practical strategies for managing money, understanding workplace benefits, and taking meaningful steps toward financial independence. For many attendees, these topics felt intimidating at first, but the workshop quickly turned that around. One participant shared that she learned more than she expected and walked away ready to start saving and finally understand the benefits offered at her job.
Workshops like this help our community gain confidence, reduce stress, and feel more in control of their future. We’re grateful to Kendra for sharing her expertise and to everyone who participated. And we’re excited to say this is just the beginning! TCCC plans to host more learning opportunities to support individuals and families on their path to stability.
If you’d like to attend or support future classes, stay tuned for updates on our website and social channels!
We’re proud to share the Sierra Health Responsive Grants Program Report, which highlights the impact of our Tracy Laundry & Social Support Program, a key part of our mission to reduce homelessness and improve well-being in our community.
Through this grant, valued at $9,999.25, Tracy Community Connections Center (TCCC) has expanded access to clean laundry, hygiene, and case management services for unhoused individuals and families in Tracy. By providing laundry services twice a week, alongside our shower program, we’re helping to improve physical and mental health, reduce skin infections, and promote social connection.
Our laundry trailer has also become a powerful point of engagement—allowing our team to connect clients to housing, food, employment, and healthcare services. A large portion of this work is supported by our Street Outreach Team and Case Managers, who provide immediate assistance and long-term support.
We’re especially proud that our program reaches diverse members of the community. In 2023, 65% of the individuals we served were non-white, and 26% of Tracy’s unhoused population identifies as Black/African American, despite representing only 7.2% of the city’s population. Addressing these disparities remains a central focus of our work.
Thanks to Sierra Health’s support, we’ve been able to make a tangible difference, offering clean clothes, restored dignity, and a pathway toward stability.
Read the full Sierra Health Responsive Grants Program Report below to learn more about the outcomes and ongoing impact of this initiative.
