OUTREACH EFFORTS BRING MANY IN NEED, LIKE WILLIAM, TO THE MISSION

After finishing a nearly 20-year prison sentence—serving the first half in San Quintin and the second in Susanville where he trained in wildland firefighting— William wanted to change his life. He had regrets.

While he was in prison, his mom had visited. “It was two days before Mother’s Day,” William said. “She looked at me and dropped her head down and said, ‘I can no longer look at you. I don’t know what I did so wrong in raising you, why you veered off. My prayers were never answered.’ She was in tears. I lost her in 2014.”

William promised himself that he’d leave crime behind. He got hooked on meth after visiting a friend at a homeless encampment at the Santa Clara River bottom. “It spun my life out of control,” William said. “I wound up building a house down there. The police would come down and chase us out every now and then and then we’d just go back and rebuild.”

For two-and-a-half years, that’s where William lived. He soon met Brent Ferguson, who leads outreach efforts at the Mission. “Brent, every time I szaw him, he’d tell me, ‘Quit running. Quit fighting it. God’s calling you.’ He was always trying to get me into the program. He was not giving up.”

Brent spends most of his week doing outreach, spending Mondays with the backpack medicine team led by James Boyd, from the county's Healthcare for the Homeless program, and Wednesdays at One Stop, regular events that provide healthcare and services to the homeless. “I’m able to offer them shelter or program, and I can do it now,” Brent said. “If they’re ready to start this, we can do it. We’ve done it. We have a couple guys in the program right now who have come from this outreach.”

On Thursdays Brent heads out locally in Oxnard, usually with liaisons from the Housing Authority or Police Department. Brent also spends time with the Salvation Army’s veteran’s specialist, and also goes over to the Samaritan Center in Simi Valley. Outreach is so important, Brent said, because you’re meeting people where they’re at. “That builds trust,” Brent said. “When they come here, they probably feel a little intimidated. When

After finishing a nearly 20-year prison sentence—serving the first half in San Quintin and the second in Susanville where he trained in wildland firefighting— William wanted to change his life. He had regrets.

While he was in prison, his mom had visited. “It was two days before Mother’s Day,” William said. “She looked at me and dropped her head down and said, ‘I can no longer look at you. I don’t know what I did so wrong in raising you, why you veered off. My prayers were never answered.’ She was in tears. I lost her in 2014.”

William promised himself that he’d leave crime behind. He got hooked on meth after visiting a friend at a homeless encampment at the Santa Clara River bottom. “It spun my life out of control,” William said. “I wound up building a house down there. The police would come down and chase us out every now and then and then we’d just go back and rebuild.”

For two-and-a-half years, that’s where William lived. He soon met Brent Ferguson, who leads outreach efforts at the Mission. “Brent, every time I szaw him, he’d tell me, ‘Quit running. Quit fighting it. God’s calling you.’ He was always trying to get me into the program. He was not giving up.”

Brent spends most of his week doing outreach, spending Mondays with the backpack medicine team led by James Boyd, from the county's Healthcare for the Homeless program, and Wednesdays at One Stop, regular events that provide healthcare and services to the homeless. “I’m able to offer them shelter or program, and I can do it now,” Brent said. “If they’re ready to start this, we can do it. We’ve done it. We have a couple guys in the program right now who have come from this outreach.”

On Thursdays Brent heads out locally in Oxnard, usually with liaisons from the Housing Authority or Police Department. Brent also spends time with the Salvation Army’s veteran’s specialist, and also goes over to the Samaritan Center in Simi Valley. Outreach is so important, Brent said, because you’re meeting people where they’re at. “That builds trust,” Brent said. “When they come here, they probably feel a little intimidated. When they are in their element, it’s different. ... It’s so important that they know that we are here to help.

“I’m always planting the seed. I’m always talking with them, giving them my phone number, offering to pray with them or spend a little time. It’s all about building these little relations.”

Monthly, they also visit former River bottom residents who have been relocated to Ventura motels as part of Project Roomkey. Teams from the Mission and Lighthouse bring 125 meals over. “It’s a great place to minister to people,” Brent said. “Even though they are in a motel, they are still in a desperate situation.”

Brent himself came through the Mission’s program four years ago. “I’ve been homeless,” he said. “I can say, ‘I know exactly where you’re at. I know what you’re going through. Let us pour into you, feed you, clothe you. It’s not a jail here. If you don’t like it, the door is wide open.’ ”

That was the message for William, and eventually he heard it. “William struck me because he was so sincere that he wanted help,” Brent said. Finally one night, he decided to stay in the shelter. He told me how safe he felt there. That changed things.”

The next day, William entered the Mission’s Life Recovery Program. “It can be tough, and I have to take it one day at a time,” William said. “I’m so used to living a life of destruction. Now, I’m clean and sober, and God’s working in my life. I have no desire to go back out there. I see something going on in my life today that I’ve never experienced ever.”

Since being at the Mission, William has encouraged others. “I went to the eye doctor, and there was a lady on the bus who kept looking at me.

She said, ‘Is that really you? You look so good.’ She started crying,” said William, who used to smoke with the woman in the River bottom. “Now she’s seeing a different person. I told her, ‘Things aren’t getting better out there. People are dying left and right.’ She lost her little girl to CPS. She wants her life back too.

“I feel like God is calling me to be a soldier, to touch a lost soul and have them come into the program. They are already seeing a walking miracle because I’m still here. ... We called the River bottom ‘the jungle.’ I’ve seen people (overdosing on drugs). I’ve seen lives deteriorating. My life was one of those.”

William was tired of hurting his family. “When I talked to my sister, she said, ‘You don’t understand how much I love you. I don’t want to get that phone call that you’re back in prison, or that they just found you dead at the river bottom. Please get help.

“Getting into this program was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”