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TechnoratiLOS ANGELES — Like a shepherd waiting for his sheep to fall asleep, the big wooden Christ hangs on the wall as dozens of illegal immigrants get into their sleeping bags.
(Photo: AP Images / Richard Vogel)Homeless man David Gomez reads the Bible before going to sleep in the Dolores Mission Church in the Boyle Heights section of East Los Angeles, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008. The Dolores Mission Church has provided shelter for the homeless and immigrants for the last 20 years, hosting homeless immigrants for a 90 day period. Its program includes breakfast, dinner, employment searches, transportation and religious instruction.
It has been another uncertain day for them, but they know they can sleep safely and thank God they have a roof to protect them for another night.
These temporary beds fill the church and hallways of the Dolores Mission Church, which on Dec. 12 will commemorate 20 years of opening its doors to immigrants and homeless men as a shelter.
"They are Christ. We recognize ourselves in them. They enrich the community with their lives," said Scott Santarosa, the Jesuit priest at the church. "Some people have asked me, 'Why don't you build a separate place for them to sleep?' And I tell them, 'No, because they make the church holier.'"
Dolores Mission started the immigrant shelter in December 1988 when thousands of Salvadorans arrived in the United States fleeing the civil war in their country.
At the beginning, the immigrants were allowed to sleep on the pews of the small church, which is located in the heavily Hispanic neighborhood of East Los Angeles. But that changed at the end of the 90s, when the public agency Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority started giving funds to the church and required that the immigrants sleep on folding cots.
Now, the Guadalupe Homeless Project, which is run by the nonprofit group Proyecto Pastoral, shelters a maximum of 55 men—28 sleep inside the church and the rest in the parish community room and garage, explained program director Raquel Roman, 28.
Almost all of the men are Hispanic immigrants, she added. About 20 percent are usually immigrants with about a month in the United States, and about 70 percent are illegal.
"They are fathers who left their families in their countries to work and send money back home," Roman said.
The church turns into a dormitory at 9 p.m. after the homeless set up their cots. Beside one of the doors two small signs read "Capacity for 28 beds" and "No smoking."
"This is not the Hilton, but it helps people who want to get on their feet," said Dana Gonzalez, 40, a native of San Francisco who was left in the street after resigning his truck driver's job so he could go to Los Angeles to fight for custody of his 6-year-old daughter Melissa, who is in state care.
Two months after arriving at the church in August, Gonzalez landed a job as an assistant manager of a toy store earning $9 an hour. He has now saved enough to rent a room.
"I've learned to appreciate life. (This experience) has opened my eyes to a new world," said Gonzalez, who is of Mexican descent. "Now I have a new and better perspective on the world."
The program, which allows participants to stay a maximum of 90 days, also provides breakfast and dinner, help in job hunting and services such as references, transportation, English classes and various workshops. It also urges the men to participate in religious activities, including meditation and treks into the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border to bring water to border-crossers.
Besides the director, the program has two case managers, an intake worker and security guards. A mobile clinic comes to the church once a week, Roman said.
"My plan is to start working again and stand on my own," said Juan Arnulfo Guillen, a 47-year-old Guatemalan tailor, who is illegal and said he cannot work in his chosen profession because he's losing his sight due to diabetes. "But with this vision, I can't work any more." Continue »
