Rescue

Steph and I have been taking tours of homeless shelters in Southern California.

We started at Brother Benno’s in Oceanside California, a beautiful and raw environment with huge heart and great resources to offer. A food bank, a wonderful clothing closet, a residential recovery program, hot meals, a traveling shower rig, a safe non-judgmental place to engage with staff and explore an appropriate path back to your life and intention. Dennis, Darrell, Carol and Doug lit us up with their generous hearts and deep commitment to friends in need.

Next we visited Bread of Life Rescue Mission also in Oceanside, now officially part of the San Diego Rescue Mission organization. We spent a lot of time with Tim, the Executive Director as he walked us through their facility. We saw similar resources, clothes, a food bank, thrift store, showers on wheels, and lots of great heart. Similarly we toured the Rescue Mission in San Diego and Orange County.

All the Rescue Missions offer regular intakes to folks that want access to their 12 month residential program called the Mission Academy. In the Rescue Mission system, residents are called students. They work through semesters onto a formal graduation.
1st semester is focused on wellness, ie. physical, spiritual and emotional health.
2nd semester is focused on education and training, starting by getting folks up to speed with completing their high school degree or GED then facilitating their pursuit of education of certification(s) in line with their individual goals.
3rd semester focuses on barriers surrounding money, budgeting, satisfying debts, fines, etc.

There is a strong sense of dignity throughout these works. So happy that we were able to visit.