DEL MAR: Church ministry helps homeless in affluent coastal city

From San Diego-

Homeless people are a common sight in downtown San Diego, Grape Day Park in Escondido and other places in the county, but pastors at a church in Del Mar know that even the more affluent areas have their share of people in need.

"There are people who are homeless in Del Mar and have been homeless in Del Mar for decades," said the Rev. Paige Blair, rector at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Del Mar. "It's not a new thing at all."

Blair, who has been at St. Peter's for 2 1/2 years, said she would like the church to expand its services for the area's homeless.

"It's a hard reality," she said. "We might not want to think about it, or we might want to avoid having to see this kind of poverty, but we can't. It's real."

The church began its Helping Hands ministry in 2008 to give food and clothes to the homeless, and it is part of a network of churches that each provide shelter for two weeks during the winter.

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http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/del-mar/del-mar-church-ministry-helps-homeless-in-affluent-coastal-city/article_77a469b1-dfaa-59d5-a6d3-6d932d9360d5.html#ixzz1ixdOGde2