COSTA MESA : SOS Supporters Fast, Sleep In at City Hall

Supporters of Share Our Selves spent the first full day of their 50-hour fast and sleep-over Sunday praying, singing and talking about Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday falls today, the same day the City Council is likely to decide whether to extend the soup kitchen’s lease.

About 13 people stayed in sleeping bags within a covered area outside the Costa Mesa City Hall on a soggy Saturday night and Sunday morning, and 10 people have been fasting since Saturday. They vowed to continue their actions come rain or shine until tonight’s City Council meeting.

Along with an estimated 150 other SOS backers who came to visit them at different times during the day, the group sang “We Shall Overcome” and discussed their effort.

The fast and sleep-over began after a Saturday rally attended by 1,000 people in support of SOS at a park next to the charity’s home at Rea Community Center. At the same time, about 40 people who want SOS to move out of their residential area launched a counterdemonstration.

Last July, the 20-year-old private agency, which offers food, clothes and other forms of assistance to the needy, was given six months to vacate the city-run community center after residents complained about the facility.

SOS has raised about $300,000 in donations to relocate since then, and its officials asked the city to extend its lease until it could find a permanent home. Two weeks ago, the council turned down the request but will take up the issue again today. The council will also discuss Mayor Peter F. Buffa’s proposal to help SOS settle in a commercial area.

Despite neighborhood pressures, most of those participating in the sos campout said they were optimistic about the organization’s sos.

“I believe in the cause of SOS,” said Jamie Vega, one of the fasters. Vega said he had once “been down and out” himself and took part in the sleep-in “to give back what they’ve given others.”

Those who camped out at City Hall were awakened at 6 a.m. Sunday by the music of a La Mananitas chorus group from a local church and spent the day talking with visiting supporters.

“There shouldn’t be anything wrong with feeding people and helping the homeless,” said Joan Russell, who came to City Hall to see supporters Sunday afternoon.