“Long ago I gave these commands to my people: ‘You must see that justice is done, and must show kindness and mercy to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners who live among you, or anyone else in need.’”
~ Zechariah 7:9-10
Dear OSC family,
Update: 10/13: As a result of the County allocation of funds to assist the rapid influx of asylum seekers, the County is taking over coordination of all services, which will be consolidated in downtown San Diego. At this time, we are pausing our emergency shelter and volunteer team. Thank you so much to all of you who have given your time, effort, and love for people in need!
UPDATE 10/9: Migrant drops are increasing. OSV has committed to operate as a nightly emergency shelter for asylum seekers until Oct 22nd, at which point we will re-evaluate the need and our ability to provide.
—> To VOLUNTEER, scroll down and complete the form.
—> Click here To GIVE towards the rising costs of food, clothing, and shelter staffing.
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We want to update you on OSC’s involvement in the ongoing migrant crisis unfolding across San Diego County and how you can help with this urgent situation.
Estimates are that more than 8,000 asylum seekers have been dropped by Border Patrol at transit centers around the County over the past two weeks. On average, about 100 are being dropped at the Oceanside Transit Center every day. This is likely to continue for several more weeks, if not months.
OSC has been involved from the beginning. Our pantry manager Victoria McGoldrick has been working tirelessly to help with on-the-ground processing and transportation for two weeks. OSC volunteers have been driving migrants to the airport and bringing meals and last week we opened our building to be a drop-in center. This has been a massive effort involving staffers and volunteers from the City of Oceanside, Interfaith Community Services, the North County LGBTQ Resource Center.
Last night our partners at the City asked if OSC would temporarily shelter a group of these asylum seekers and we said yes. We quickly setup cots in the basement and 12 migrants arrived at 8 PM, delivered by staff from Interfaith Community Services. We cooked them dinner using food from our pantry and stayed with them until midnight. At 12 AM we were relieved by Sal Roman, the head of homeless services for the City and Sal was relieved by Adrian Mendoza from the City’s Neighborhood Series Department at 4 AM. Jenell and I returned this morning at 6 AM to relieve Adrian and an OSC volunteer brought them breakfast.
You need to know that the asylum seekers are truly amazing human beings. The twelve people who slept in our church last night hail from China, Mauritania, Gambia, Ghana, Sudan, Peru, and Uzbekistan. They speak Spanish, Arabic, French, Mandarin, and Uzbek. They are all fleeing life-threatening circumstances in their native countries. One young man, Idoumou from Mauritania, is quick with a smile and makes friends with everyone, but he broke down and wept last night as he shared his story of being beaten and tortured because he fell in love with a woman from a rival tribal group. His parents had to mortgage their home to raise the money needed to send him to safety in a foreign country. He has little hope of seeing his family, or the woman he loves, ever again.
We have committed to the City that we can function as a 48-hour emergency shelter and daytime drop-in center as-needed. This is likely to happen again, but we don’t know when. This situation is changing rapidly every day.
In the meantime, we urgently need to build a rapid response team of people who can help with the following needs:
Providing transportation to the airport
Providing dinners for sheltered migrants
Providing shelter supervision in 4-hour shifts (both day and nite shifts)
Please sign up below if you can help with any of these urgent needs.
In the meantime, we will keep you posted on ongoing developments. Please keep the asylum seekers in your prayers. Like Idoumou, they are all fleeing dangerous and traumatic circumstances in their home countries and navigating confusing circumstances and an uncertain future in a foreign culture.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support!
Jenell & Jason Coker
Co-Lead Ministers