SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A church in Barrio Logan is asking for the community's help with its migrant shelter.
It's hosting a jacket drive for the migrants it shelters while they get on their feet.
The shelter opened in September and it all started behind the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The church says migrants slept behind it for days.
Bienvenidos, or welcome in spanish, is the sign that greets migrants as they enter a shelter in barrio logan. --
"We have been opening this up every night for 35 migrant men," said Fr. Brad Mills.
He said some staying up to 30 days.
"The blue tape marks the spaces each migrant sleeps every night," he said. "Overtime, the tape is starting to peel a little bit but its a sign of how many people have been coming through here night after night."
They are fed by volunteers who deliver meals daily and can shower before they start their quests to find what's next.
"For me, it felt so uncomfortable using cold water outside like this. One of them made the comment- I feel like a human being again now that I've been able to shower," he said.
The shelter started behind the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Father Mills said migrants with no shelter slept here after they were released from Border Patrol custody.
One Venezuelan couple comes to mind...
"The two that came to my mind had recently arrived-recently released by immigration. their first day in the us really other than the days they had spent in immigration facility and they had no clue where to go-no clue what to do," he said.
He bought the couple a hotel room and later started the migrant shelter.
He said he estimates the parish spends $9-10 thousand dollars per month on day-to-day necessities and a security guard.
"We rely on the community's help. We can't do this without the community's help. In fact this whole shelter is due to the generosity of the community," said Fr. Mills.
The parish needs the community's help to continue operations.
So, they are putting on a jacket drive to help the migrants as the weather gets colder.
"As a mexican-american parish here, we celebrate the posada tradition, which is a reenactment of mary and joseph seeking a place to spend the night when jesus was born and not finding any room and I feel in the stories of the migrants that have come to our door. I heard that same story echoed," he said.
You can drop off jackets during mass on Sundays and find more information on how to help with the migrant ministry here.
