OXNARD : Realtors Give $5,000 to Rescue Mission

Still reeling from a July 5 fire that gutted its homeless shelter and left 60 men on the street, the Oxnard Rescue Mission has received a helping hand from area real estate agents.

Officials with the Oxnard Harbor Board of Realtors on Thursday presented the mission with a $5,000 check, the entire proceeds from a charity auction held last week.

“All of us were really encouraged by the gift,” said Carol Roberg, the mission’s assistant director. With the donation, the mission’s building fund now stands at $15,000, she said.

“The realtors are in the business of selling homes, and yet they are doing this for the homeless,” Roberg said. “It was an unselfish effort.”

Joe Young, president of the Board of Realtors, said the $5,000 was the largest sum the group has raised since it began holding an annual charity auction in 1986.

In past years, the proceeds have usually been shared by the Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army. But after fire destroyed the shelter, the realtors’ board of directors decided that this year the mission deserved top priority, Young said.

“We were saying that money is tight this year, but we need to help the homeless people out,” he said.

Young said area merchants were especially generous in donating items for the auction when informed that the funds would help the Rescue Mission. He said the amount generated by the auction greatly exceeded the group’s expectations.

The board is already planning another fund-raiser for the shelter--a golf tournament to be held Aug. 27 at Olivas Golf Course in Ventura. For more information on the tournament, call the Board of Realtors office at 487-8549.

Roberg said the amount of concern for the shelter expressed by the community has buoyed the spirits of the homeless and volunteers alike.

“This has been real good for the morale of the men in the streets, because they see that people care,” Roberg said.