Temecula church opens its doors to homeless
On Friday and Saturday, Mountainview Community Church in Temecula took in 12 single men and two single women.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Because the Murrieta City Council voted to allow churches to set up temporary shelters for homeless families, but not single transients, a Temecula church began housing singles this weekend.
On Friday and Saturday, Mountainview Community Church in Temecula took in 12 single men and two single women, said Calvin McCargo, the church’s homeless outreach coordinator.
“They were cold and wet and had no place to go,” he said.
The church had to turn away about five people due to lack of room, but did provide them with a meal.
Though the church has been a shelter during emergency situations before, Grace of Temecula Valley Church in Murrieta was the primary shelter provider in the area, McCargo said.
On Tuesday, the Murrieta City Council declared a housing shelter crisis to enable local churches to set up temporary shelters for homeless families, but not singles.
That leaves many homeless individuals out in the cold, said John Wells, Mountainview’s pastor.
“It doesn’t make any sense. You should be able to do an emergency shelter for anybody,” he said. “It’s kind of strange Murrieta is restricting it to families.”
Mountainview set up cots for the men in the church’s Community Center, which usually acts as a smaller sanctuary and an area for youth activities. The two women slept in one of the adjacent classrooms.
Congregation members from various local churches, including Grace of Temecula Valley, Southwest Christian, Revival Christian Fellowship and Calvary Chapel, staffed the shelter in six-hour-long shifts alongside Mountainview volunteers.
Though the emergency shelter closed its doors today, Mountainview will shelter the homeless as needed, McCargo said.
Tags: Calvin McCargo, Grace of Temecula Valley Church, John Wells, Mountainview Community Church, Murrieta, Murrieta City Council, SWRNN, Temecula
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