Guests find 'home' at Brundage Lane Navigation Center for Thanksgiving
Nov. 25—There may be a universal truth to Thanksgiving: You just want to feel at home. Home with your family, warts and all. Home with your pets, both fun and feisty. Home with your spouse, even if they annoy you at times. Home, even alone.
Every day, Sasha Rubio says, she wants to cry tears of gratitude for what she has with husband Roy at the Brundage Lane Navigation Center, where on Thanksgiving Day, she shared a meal with others who are staying there.
It wasn't always so. The Rubios lived in a broken-down recreational vehicle behind a relative's house in Maricopa. No running water, no electricity. Sasha, 43, says she didn't even realize that meant they were homeless. But here, she says, "they give you hope."
Hope that soon, with the help of housing navigators, they'll land permanent housing, after being at Brundage Lane for almost four months. Hope that they'll reunite with dogs Luna and Savage, who are in "babysitting," although Sasha is quick to point out that pets are allowed at Brundage Lane, as are couples, which just isn't so at most places.
Sasha also hopes for a "special place in heaven for every last human being who works in this facility."
To say she's grateful for the help, support and transportation Roy, 59, receives for dialysis appointments would be an understatement. Roy calls it "a miracle."
There are many working and living at the center, operated by Mercy House Inc. There are 150 beds — always full, regional director Theo Dues is quick to note. And after just celebrating the center's two-year anniversary, and the 184 women and men who now have permanent housing after staying at Brundage Lane during that time, the center is expanding by an additional 120 beds in January. With a waitlist of 70, and the average time a guest stays at three months, it can't come soon enough.
If you talk to the 150 guests, you'll hear 150 life stories, Dues said.
"What is always the case is someone has been traumatized," he said, noting that could be from a mental illness, domestic violence, or something else. But here they find a shelter, a family and a path toward permanent housing, which is how Mercy House defines success. Staff T-shirts even say "housing is essential" and "let's talk about your housing plan." It's front and center.
On Thursday, guests — and Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh — honored site leader Rebecha Gillespie for not once, but twice this year saving the lives of guests. In both instances, Gillespie said, the guests were unresponsive, turning blue. In the more recent incident, she administered Narcan and CPR, as fellow staffers Taee Wade and Reality Hollis helped with grabbing the Narcan and calling 911.
Goh lauded Gillespie for her selfless care and commitment to serve those in need, and presented her with certificates, both from Goh and Sen. Shannon Grove.
"You are surrounded by people who believe that every life matters," Goh told the guests as they dipped their forks into hot plates overflowing with a full turkey dinner.
Guests clapped and nodded in agreement. For they were home for now, as they work on their permanent homes.
Said Dues: "Everything you'd want to enjoy with your family is here."
He was referring to the dinner. But perhaps he meant a lot more.
