A little after two o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon. Rebecca Younger is following a couple of moms from New Life Beginnings, Inc.'s mothers home - the nonprofit she cofounded 25 years ago in Long Beach - across Sixth Street to St. Anthony Elementary School. Kids in forest-green polo shirts and khaki pants run up and hug their mothers in the schoolyard, including Younger, who's the temporary guardian of five children while their mother is in jail.

"Hi, grandma," calls out a junior high girl at the parochial school. Then she hands the woman a glossy proof sheet of class photos.

"Oh, you look wonderful," Younger says, beaming like a proud parent.

The adolescent, who's been in and out of the shelter with her brothers and sisters nearly all their lives, blushes when her guardian tells a visitor she's getting mostly As, except for one C in math. "Isn't she the most incredible young woman?" she declares. "Her first day back at school this year she asked the teacher, 'I need enough homework to catch up with my class.'"

A little later, out of earshot, the girl says her "grandmother" doesn't just take care of her and her siblings because it's her job. "She does it out of the kindness of her heart," the 14-year-old reports. "And I know that she loves me and all my brothers. So I love her."

Fr. Caruso's last work
That steadfast love extends to the four women and 23 children living at the mothers home today as well as hundreds of other kids and their moms who have found shelter at New Life Beginnings over the last quarter century.

It all started outside a Long Beach abortion clinic when a woman named Beverly told Younger if she didn't get an abortion her boyfriend wouldn't let her back in their apartment. So the Wilmington native, who went to Holy Family School there, invited the pregnant woman to come home with her. Six months later Beverly had her baby.

That led to helping another woman in dire straits. She slept in one of Younger's sons' bed, while they slept on the living room floor in their small three-bedroom house. "It was a real struggle," the parent of five recalls, shaking her head.

The first real shelter for homeless pregnant women was a three-story house at 17th Street in Long Beach. Younger and a friend from Los Alamitos, Bonnie Beardslee, founded what was then called "New Life Mothers Home" because they saw a local need for an alternative to abortion.

"We want to stop the welfare and abuse cycle," Younger told the Long Beach Press Telegram in May 1991. "Many of these women were abused in the past or have their own history of abuse. We want to motivate them and help them set up goals so they can succeed."

After some 17 years, Father Lawrence Caruso, then pastor of St. Anthony Church, sold New Life Beginnings the former residence of the Franciscan brothers who had taught at the parish high school. He negotiated the price and got the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to finance the deal.

"Father Caruso knew about our work and wanted us here," Younger says. "He was an incredible man. Before he died on New Year's Eve in 1997 this was his last work, and nobody knows that he did this for us."

Parenting program-plus
"Homelessness has changed in the 25 years we've been open," Younger points out. "When we started, I never saw a pregnant woman with children. But today I rarely meet a woman without other children with her. Very rarely."

She stresses, however, that the shelter's mission - to care for women who are pregnant, struggling to survive and basically homeless - hasn't changed. Referrals come mainly from churches as well as public and private social service agencies, hospital emergency rooms and the Long Beach Police Department.

Some women and children are victims of domestic violence. In other cases the dad's in jail, so the mom and kids desperately need a place to stay. For many of the hurting families who wind up at the mothers home, the children have been or are about to be placed in foster care.

"As long as a family needs assistance, we are here to help," the cofounder says. "If the mother is going to school, doing job training, they can stay. Some of them come on board as staff members."

The average length of stay is six months, although one mom with two kids was at the shelter for three years in one of its 13 bedrooms. The sprawling U-shaped building can house up to 50 adults and children.

The program includes parenting, life skills, English as a second language and anger management classes. Women can also earn their GED (General Education Diploma). The structured daily schedule begins with a 6:30 a.m. session.

"I'm a hard-working woman, I think my generation are hard workers," Younger notes. "And so I expect the women to work as hard for themselves as I work for them. They have to do all of the housework and a lot of the cooking. If they don't know how to cook, then one of us stands next to them and teaches them."

Besides more than 100 churches, support comes from donations from individuals and area businesses along with foundation grants. Ten of the dozen children from the home going to nearby St. Anthony School receive partial tuition awards from the Catholic Education Foundation. During the last five years, CEF has supported some 25 other students at the nearby parochial school.

"Not all the children here are in St. Anthony's, but the most broken ones are, the ones who have so much pain in their lives," Younger explains. "The value of a Christ-centered school is so critical for the children gaining hope. Parents who invest putting their children in a private school do it for a reason. It's because they want something better for their children, and that's what I want for these children."

Skid row odyssey
Back at St. Anthony's, Cesar and Ana Sosa have come to walk five of their six children home from school. Three years ago the family was living in boxes on L.A.'s infamous skid row. When their kids were taken away by social workers and put in foster homes, the parents made a commitment to God to separate to get them back.

Cesar went into a rehab program at the Los Angeles Mission; Ana, who was pregnant, moved into the Long Beach shelter. A year ago Cesar joined his reunited family when he was hired as live-in chief cook and bottle washer. And today he holds the distinction of being the only male to ever reside at the place.

"It's been a blessing," says the soft-spoken 35-year-old man from Mexico. "It's given me the opportunity to really come back with my family, to reunify as a family. And since we were separated, everything has worked out. Now we are helping other families to come back together."

Ana is busy nearby, keeping track of their kids in the schoolyard. "Thanks to New Life Beginnings, I have all my family together," she says with a smile. "Yes, it's a big blessing for my family."

For more information on New Life Beginnings, Inc., and its mothers home, call Rebecca Younger at (562) 590-1538 or e-mail nlbrebecca@aol.com.