On their “Padres Thank SD Tour” the San Diego Padres stopped by the San Diego Rescue Mission South County Lighthouse in National City on Jan. 31. The tour was the Padres way of thanking fans in the community for all their support ahead of FanFest held at Petco Park on Feb. 1.
The South County Lighthouse is a permanent 30-day emergency shelter with 162-beds serving men, women, and families experiencing homelessness throughout the county.
San Diego Rescue Mission President and CEO Donnie Dee said the SDRM is one of the nonprofits the Padres support.
“The Padres supported us last year in honor of Peter Seidler [former chairman and owner of the San Diego Padres] with a gift of $350,000. Most of that came from the Padre Foundation in honor of Seidler, and a part of that came personally from Padres’ Manny Machado. Manny has a picture up on our wall in our Padres Community Center in the South County Lighthouse, so Manny and some of the other players stopped by to not only see the mural on the wall but also tour our new shelter and see what we are doing to help people who are experiencing homelessness,” he said.
Dee said when the players showed up, they held a welcoming time, explaining their mission, then gave them a tour of the facility.
“We showed them where the men, women, and families were housed, and where we do our meals. Then we came back into the San Diego Padres Community Center, and we had a person share what they had been through in our program and the impact it had on her life. Then the Padres did a service project. They put together hygiene kits for us. We call them I See You packets, and they put soap, sanitizer, combs, and toothbrushes in each of these packets. Then they hung out with some of our staff and guests, people who are staying at the shelter, for about 20 minutes,” he said.
Dee said the Lighthouse is part of SDRM’s vision in addressing homelessness.
“The SDRM team and our board of directors, it was during COVID we had one primary facility in downtown, a 300-bed facility where we do 12-month rehabilitation. It was during COVID that we got the idea and the vision that we should open remote sites and use those to get people off the streets in the areas in which they find themselves homeless. Build trust, triage their situation, and figure out where they go next. In the last 18 months, we have opened a 100-bed facility in Oceanside, and the 162-bed facility in National City. Those two shelters are designed to just do triage. Thirty days. You can stay there. You are safe. You can shower. You can sleep. But you must see a case manager and through that case management we help you eliminate your homelessness. They are working better than we expected, and we are enjoying the successes that we are having at those two Lighthouses,” he said.
For more information, visit sdrescue.org.
