Bush Makes Local Mission Point of Light : Award: These helpers of the homeless ‘address our most pressing social problems,’ President says in making his commendation.

The San Diego Rescue Mission is the latest recipient of President Bush’s Point of Light award.

Volunteers at the mission, 1150 J St., received notice of the award Tuesday in a letter commending their service to the people of San Diego.

The Rescue Mission relies on more than 1,000 volunteers each year to help feed, house or educate as many as 8,000 people every month.

A statement from the White House described the volunteers as “those who successfully address our most pressing social problems.”

The letter said the Rescue Mission was one of the “Points of Light” in the nation combatting “drug abuse, illiteracy, environmental decay, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, and other social ills.”

And some of those who help at the mission are mission residents themselves--men who are down on their luck, out of work, and some who are trying to turn their life away from drugs and alcohol, said Gardner Farwell, who works at the facility as an educator and personnel director.

At the mission, residents take part in a live-in rehabilitation program based on a 12-step program centered around Christian spirituality.

The “Education for Life” program gives free counseling, drug rehabilitation, high school equivalent education, and help to find work. The men may stay with the program for 1 1/2 years, yet there are always some who drop out, Farwell said, leaving the membership at about 125 people each week.

And the privately funded program is expanding.

The Rescue Mission opened its downtown shelter in 1955. It is building a new educational and shelter program for women and children next door to the existing men’s center, and its 97 beds are scheduled to open early next year.

“Homelessness was strictly a men’s issue until about 10 years ago,” said the mission’s development director Ruth Shepersky. “Every night, right after dinner, we close the door on women and children.”

There aren’t enough shelter beds for women and children in the city, Rescue Mission spokesmen said. About 2,000 women and children are on the street on any given night, Shepersky said.