We are on a Mission...
to provide 50,000 bed nights to asylum seekers by the end of the year!
Welcome to GateWAY
Dr. Bill Jenkins, Executive Director
This is the first edition of the Safe Harbors Network GateWAY Newsletter. We chose that name to honor the GateWAY Loft at Christ Ministry Center, San Diego, where Safe Harbors was born. Safe Harbors provides "a Gate" and points "the WAY" for immigrants on their exodus journey.
This edition launches our fundraising effort. Our goal is to provide 50,000 "bed nights" for asylum seekers by the end of 2019. We will make it, with your help. (Photo credit:Jessica Bal for BuzzFeed News)
Safe Harbors at a Glance
Safe Harbors Network is a coalition of congregations, individuals, charities and organizations dedicated to helping immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers find safe shelter. We are the oldest and only long-term shelter in Southern California, and one of only nine along the entire U.S./Mexico border. The mission of Safe Harbors is to create alliances and partnerships that connect refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers with providers of temporary emergency shelter and necessary basic services. Our goal is to keep families safely together.
Top Story
Central Valley: Poetic Justice
For almost a year, Safe Harbors has been working with the trustees of a closed church in the California Central Valley. On Saturday, May 4, 2019, the trustees voted unanimously to become a Safe Harbors Network shelter. There is a 3-bedroom 2-bath parsonage, a sanctuary, education unit and separate social hall with kitchen sitting on five acres in the fertile Central Valley. The plan is to convert the spaces into six bedrooms. The sanctuary will be kept for religious services for the long-term asylum seeker residents who will occupy the facilities. What makes this story "poetic justice" is that the church was organized and operated by Japanese families, who suffered discrimination. Now that most of those families have died or moved away, their legacy lives on as their church welcomes a new generation of immigrants in the Safe Harbors Network.
Sponsor a Bed
We average one childbirth every two weeks. Sponsor a bed for a pregnant mother or mom with a newborn baby.
1 day..................$8.22 1 week..............$60.00 1 month...........$250.00 1 year............$3,000.00
We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Safe Harbors Network is funded completely through private donations.
Donate at safeharbors.net or Text "Harbors" to 91999
26 Countries
That is how many nations have had at least one person who has stayed in a Safe Harbors shelter over the past year.
How YOU can help! SPONSORING Sponsor a Bed for $250 a month
HOSTING Congregations & homes provide shelter and basic needs for 3 months or more
VOLUNTEERING Contact us for details for opportunities Each HOST (Organization or Home) crafts its own Memorandum of Agreement with Safe Harbors, specifying what they can and cannot do, such as: how many immigrants it may host, for how long, and what services it can and cannot provide.
