The Esplanade House came about through the efforts of two men — Greg Webb of Webb Homes and local physician Dr. Gary Incaudo — who both felt a need to establish a shelter for homeless families in our area. It opened in 1991 in an abandoned Chico motel, and expanded to the current new facility ten years later.

The idea was to provide a safe, healthy environment for kids: a daycare center that could care for infants through school age. Then, a strict on-site program, developed for those families who truly wanted to change their life. This requires good staff, counselors, drug testing, evening curfews, 24 hour security, mandatory life-skills classes and work training.

Today the “Esplanade House” is more like an “Esplanade Compound” with the apartments and buildings that make up a community of struggling families. It is a quiet community by any comparable standards, with curfews and rules that are there to help families change their lives for the better. Some don’t make it, but those that do have changed the way our community sees the homeless problem… after all, an Esplanade House graduate may check you in for a mammogram, take your call for a want ad at the local paper, or be a social worker. Wherever they are, they have our donors, staff, and volunteers to thank for believing in them and supporting their efforts to make a better life for them and their children.

In all that we do and all we call others to, we do in compliance with the command of Jesus: "Love each other as I have loved you." Without this love, all we do is in danger of becoming a vain & empty action. In love, we enter into the lives & needs of our clients w/ compassion. Founded in God’s love, we show respect for human dignity, hope for and commitment to transformation, and a servant attitude.

The Jesus Center will be a place safe from the rigors of street living - free from bad language, violence, and a sense of hopelessness. Driven by our belief in the importance of compassion, our staff will ensure that we provide food and shelter in a supportive environment for those needing our services.

The Jesus Center originated from two separate efforts to feed hungry people in the early 1980s. Mary Thekston, a member of the Church of Our Divine Savior in Chico , was determined to help the poor. After completing a master’s degree in spirituality, she began Bible studies among homeless people and gave out food in crock-pots and hot plates that soon turned into informal meals.

At about the same time, a group of young people at the St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church raised money for a ski trip but ended up using the money to feed the hungry. They started a monthly and then weekly dinner program called the Chico Free Dinner Program. Both efforts by Thekston and the Episcopal Church youth resulted in the establishment of the Jesus Center or as it became known - Jesus Provides Our Daily Bread – located on Park Avenue in Chico .

The Jesus Center provides two meals/day for homeless people, a shower facility, a shelter for women and children, a community food pantry, and a Bible study/discussion group after breakfast Mon.-Fri. in the dining room.

ACC presents a check to Bill Such, Director of the Jesus Center

Half the proceeds from our car show were presented Nov. 20, 2009