The Story of My New House
Ten Years of Compassion and Service.
My New House began with a dream: to create a place where people facing difficult times could find practical help, dignity, compassion, and hope.
But the story began long before My New House had a name.
Its founder, Dr. Zorayda Mejía, grew up in a family where giving was simply part of life. Her father, Ismael, was a businessman, and with the encouragement of her mother, Gladys, the family regularly brought food, money, and other assistance to families in underserved communities.
There was just one small problem.
Zorayda did not like helping people.
Her siblings, Rodolfo and Marlen, seemed to have inherited the family's compassionate spirit naturally. Zorayda needed a little more encouragement.
Her parents decided to do something about it. They sent her to volunteer with the daughters of women who were incarcerated in El Salvador.
What began as something her parents wanted her to do became an experience that changed her life.
Some of the girls had endured severe abuse and exploitation. Through them, Zorayda began to understand something she would carry with her for years: what we see on the outside rarely tells us the whole story. Behind someone's actions may be pain, trauma, fear, or circumstances we know nothing about.
Compassion was no longer something she watched her parents practice.
It became personal.
Years later, life would teach her the same lesson from the other side.
After immigrating to the United States as a teenager, Zorayda became a single mother to her son, Axel. Her grandparents, Jorge and Ana, and her aunt Tania became an important source of support as she worked, raised her son, and returned to college.
She learned firsthand what it meant to need help—and how much it matters when someone is willing to stand beside you.
Her career eventually brought her right back to serving others. She worked with gang-involved youth, underserved families, children, volunteers, and people experiencing homelessness. She helped develop community programs, coordinated hundreds of volunteers, and managed large food distributions.
Everywhere she served, she noticed the same thing:
People's needs rarely come one at a time.
A Dream That Wouldn't Go Away
In 2008, the vision for what would eventually become My New House began taking shape.
Sometimes the ideas came in the middle of the night. Zorayda would wake up, grab something to write on, and record them before she forgot.
One thought kept returning: there were people who needed help but did not know where to go, what resources existed, or whom to ask.
She couldn't get that thought out of her heart.
So she began saving money to start an organization.
She saved little by little, believing that one day she would have enough.
Then life happened.
An unexpected emergency took everything she had saved.
The savings were gone. The vision wasn't.
She still had the faith. She still had the desire. She still had the determination.
She just didn't have the money.
And perhaps that became one of the earliest lessons in the story of My New House:
You don't have to have everything to begin doing something meaningful.
Starting With What They Had
In June 2015, while completing the second year of her doctorate, Zorayda brought together three people she trusted deeply: MarAnthony, Tania, and Marlen.
Each brought something different.
Tania had a gift for numbers. MarAnthony knew how to connect people. Marlen could find a resource for almost anything and had a genuine passion for helping others.
They didn't have a large budget or an elaborate operation. But they had something just as important: different talents, a shared commitment, and a willingness to begin.
Friends and family joined them. They gathered clothing, furniture, household items, and whatever else they could find to sell.
They started with what they had.
Then others began joining the story. Board members offered their experience and leadership. Volunteers gave their time. Close friends and family stepped in wherever they were needed.
In June 2016, My New House officially opened its doors.
The beginning was simple: a small thrift store in the Rampart community of Los Angeles, selling clothing, shoes, furniture, and household goods at prices families could actually afford.
Before long, people were traveling from communities throughout Southern California to shop there.
And then came one family—and one living room set.
The $40 Living Room Set
A family fell in love with a living room set in the store, but they simply couldn't afford it.
They came back several times, each time checking to see whether someone else had bought it.
Finally, Zorayda's mother looked at the situation and said:
“Just give it to them!”
The family went home with the entire living room set for $40.
From a business perspective, perhaps it wasn't the greatest decision.
From a mission perspective, it was perfect.
That $40 living room set helped My New House understand something important about itself.
It wasn't really about selling things.
It was about helping people.
Soon, the team realized that people weren't coming through the doors only because they needed affordable furniture.
They needed food.
They needed clothing.
They needed help keeping their utilities connected.
They needed school supplies and transportation.
And sometimes, they simply needed someone to listen.
So My New House did what it would continue doing for the next decade:
It responded.
Food was distributed. Free clothing became available. Families received household necessities. People experiencing homelessness received essential supplies. Single parents received utility assistance. Young people received educational support.
As the needs changed, My New House changed with them.
The Store Closed. The Mission Didn't.
Eventually, the thrift store closed.
Then came the pandemic.
At one point, My New House didn't even have an office.
But the mission never closed.
Family members, close friends, board members, volunteers, donors, churches, and community partners continued showing up.
One person came to help. Then another. Then another.
Each brought something different—experience, ideas, relationships, skills, resources, faith, or simply a willingness to serve.
Slowly, a team was formed.
New partnerships created new possibilities.
And the dream that had been written down in the middle of the night years earlier continued to grow.
From a Thrift Store to a Resource Care Center
In 2024, My New House entered another chapter when it became a Resource Care Center.
The change reflected something the organization had learned through years of serving people:
You cannot always separate one need from another.
A person may walk through the door asking for help finding housing and, through the conversation, the team may discover that the same person also needs food, transportation, health-care assistance, benefits, clothing, mediation, education, or another resource.
So instead of asking only, “What service can we provide?”
My New House learned to ask: “What does this person need?”
Today, that simple question remains at the heart of the organization.
My New House also continues to grow because of the people behind it. Volunteers bring an extraordinary variety of talents, connections, and resources. A new generation of leadership—including Gaby, Caroline, and Aryan—brings fresh ideas, innovation, technology, and new ways of making services more efficient while keeping people at the center of the work.
Ten Years Later
Ten years have taught My New House something that no report, number, or spreadsheet can completely measure:
Behind every application is a person.
Behind every person is a story.
And sometimes changing that story begins with someone willing to listen.
My New House started small.
It struggled.
It changed.
It made mistakes.
It learned.
It prayed.
And it grew.
But its heart never changed.
Today, My New House is much more than a name. It represents the possibility of a new beginning—a place where people can be seen, heard, supported, treated with dignity, and reminded that they do not have to face life's most difficult moments alone.
What began with an idea written down in the middle of the night became a thrift store.
The thrift store became a mission.
The mission became a community.
And the community continues to grow.
This is the story of My New House.
Ten years behind us. Thousands of lives and stories woven into ours. And, by God's grace, the next chapter is just beginning.
