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STOCKTON --

Two Stockton residents who used to be homeless created a Facebook group that is helping other homeless and low-income families in Stockton.

"I had some medical issues and lost my job," Linda Baskin said

Baskin is a member of "Stockton 209 Cares" on Facebook.

She told FOX40 she was at the end of her six-month time frame to collect unemployment and running low on funds to buy food. So she reached out to one of the site's co-founders, Nancy Lamb, for help.

"A lot of members, if they have extra, they bring it over," Lamb said.

Lamb keeps a small food pantry in her garage, where she keeps donated items and distributes them to families in need.

It's a comfortable and confidential way neighbors in Stockton can lean on one another for help.

"There's a lot of people I think that are embarrassed to ask for help. It can be demeaning. Because everyone feels like they should be able to do it on their own," Baskin said.

"Anybody that's in need can ask for help," Stockton 209 Cares co-founder Nicholas Burnett said.

Both Burnett and Lamb tell FOX40 they used to be homeless, and this site is allowing them to give back to the community they came from.

"I was in that same situation about 10 years ago. I was homeless, broke, had no money, living in a tent. People think they're either on drugs, they're alcoholics or criminals and that's not necessarily the case. I'm trying to show a different side of what people normally see," Burnett said.

Burnett now works full-time in the hospitality industry and photographs homeless life in Stockton, as a way to raise awareness of the issue.

"I want people to know that the homelessness issue here can be helped. We were able to find a job for a teenager and his brothers that were living in a tent under the bridge," Burnett said.

"We actually had a family, a mother with three children in tents. They do have housing now," Lamb said.

What makes Stockton 209 Cares particularly unique is that many members of the group who volunteer also rely on its resources to make ends meet.

"There's so many people like us. We struggle. We have nothing, but yet we're trying to help people," volunteer Lorelei Miller said.

Stockton 209 Cares is a closed Facebook group, which requires administrative approval to become a member.

If you'd like to donate to the group, email them directly at Stockton209Cares@gmail.com

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