Hundreds turn to San Diego Rescue Mission for some physical, spiritual nourishment for the holidays

By her own admission, Michele Loo has “gone though some horrible patches in life.”

But even though the 60-year-old is spending the holidays at a women’s shelter, she had a smile on her face, wearing glasses with frames adorned with Christmas trees, sitting inside the cafeteria of the San Diego Rescue Mission on Saturday afternoon.

“Today’s meal was amazing,” Loo said. “The ham was so tender and so good. I haven’t had a Christmas dinner for quite some time.”

Staff and volunteers served free meals to about 900 guests experiencing homelessness, struggling in unstable conditions or living in low-income circumstances.

Earlier this year, the rescue mission, funded primarily through private donations, celebrated 70 years of serving those in need in the San Diego area.

“Jesus said, ‘love thy neighbor,’ ” Donnie Dee, the nonprofit’s president and CEO, said. “We started as a soup kitchen, evolved into a rehabilitation program. This gives us a chance to celebrate Christmas so that nobody’s left alone and gives us a chance to provide a hot meal to somebody that’s hungry.”

Well before food was served, a line extending about three blocks formed in front of the entrance to the San Diego Rescue Mission’s downtown headquarters on Elm Street.

Volunteers greeted and escorted diners inside, where they were served a traditional holiday meal of honey baked ham, green beans, potatoes au gratin, salad and selections of pumpkin and apple pie.

“The strategy behind this is that we are trying to build trust,” Dee said. “We want (guests) to see that we have a beautiful facility and they’re going to be inside our facility that they could potentially do rehab in. We want them to see our staff, our volunteers. There’s a lot of love, a lot of joy and there’s no condemnation.”

The mission’s kitchen was stocked with nearly 5,000 pounds of food. With the cafeteria’s seating capacity at 200, it took about two hours for all the guests to be served. Upon leaving, each diner was offered a backpack stuffed with a blanket, socks, shampoo and lotion, a water bottle and a Bible.

“We’re all in that pretty low place where we’re all just surviving,” said Natalie Bossard, who said she has battled depression and is living in a nearby shelter. “So to have things like this that are family-oriented and community-oriented really help us.”

Throughout the day, free haircuts and hot showers were provided. Volunteers and staff also offered free medical services, pet care and spiritual support.

Michael Kidd said he has struggled since the death of his wife and has lived in a tent for about two years.

Asked why he came, the 51-year-old said, “Just get a hot meal, talk to a few people because I don’t have many friends … socialize, just try to stay focused, you know?”

The rescue mission’s services include a 12-month residential program with 300 beds called the Mission Academy that helps give homeless people and single parents the tools they need to become self-sufficient. The organization reported a record-high number of 160 graduates from the program this year.

After living on the street, Martin Salcedo completed the program two years ago. He now works as a cook and server at a downtown hotel.

The Mission Academy “helped me to have the skill, the strength, the awareness that I’m not alone,” Salcedo said, “that I have people I could count on, someone who loves me and cares for me.”

Back in 2014, Crystal Hernandez said, she was addicted to meth and without a home. Shortly after coming to the rescue mission and eating a holiday meal, she joined the 12-month program and put her life back together. She’s now on the organization’s staff.

“I feel like my story is encouraging enough to impact somebody’s life,” Hernandez said. “I’ve been there, I know how it feels. I can empathize with you because I’ve gone through tough times, too.”

The mission’s initiatives also include a children’s resource center and a program that provides mobile trailers with hot showers.

The San Diego Rescue Mission said it has helped more than 1,300 people receive immediate shelter so far this year and supported almost 300 in securing permanent housing.

“I get to tell people that this is not going to cost you anything,” Dee said. “You don’t have to pay anything for this meal and if you get into one of our programs you won’t have to pay anything. This is all provided to you because there’s a community that actually cares about you.”