Bill North
Shelter Coordinator for Santa Sophia
Parish Outreach: 619-463-6629 ext 102
“As each of us has received a gift use it to serve one another.”
Each year parishioners are informed when the shelter program will be held at Santa Sophia. Parishioners are invited to support shelter needs through donations of time, talent and treasure.
For more than a decade Santa Sophia has been a host congregation for the Interfaith Shelter Network. For two weeks each winter we provided a safe haven for up to 12 guests who would otherwise be living on the street. We provide our guests with the basic needs of food and shelter but we also offer them resources for basic human dignity such as clean clothes, hot showers and a small amount of personal privacy. Our community gives the gift of fellowship to our guests, playing cards, plinking on the piano, talking while sharing a meal, cheering on the Aztec’s basketball team, playing games on the internet, laughing over YouTube videos, delivering cookies for guests as they arrived ‘home’, or listening to them when they needed someone to hear their story. At the end of two weeks, the whole operation — cots and guests — rotates to another area congregation. Guests can stay up to eight weeks in the Network.