Beatitude House - Guadalupe, CA

 I've visited Beatitude House in the past but was only able to stop over at the Guadalupe Catholic Worker for just one night this time around as I traveled back to LA from March's Pacific Life Community anti-nuke gathering.

The town of Guadalupe is a small mostly farm worker enclave on California's central coast. If you've never heard of it before you're probably not alone but there's a decent chance you've eaten food grown in the area which produce all kinds of veggies from lettuce and kale to broccoli and strawberries. The works of mercy at Beatitude House are generally oriented towards this population of hard working yet underpaid laborers and their families.

 

While a handful of folks in need of a place to stay do stay at the house, the biggest couple of projects are their medical clinic and food distribution. 

The clinic is located in one wing of the house and is run with volunteer trained healthcare providers. There's also a shower there for folks who need to use it.

 

The garage and backyard serve as the venue for their big food give away. Big piles of banana boxes packed with food get staged there throughout the week to be handed out on given days.

 

Guadalupe is also located adjacent to Vandenberg Air Force Base and the preparations for war going on there. Its from here that the US tests its Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) by firing them from Vandenberg into an atoll in the Marshall Island, poisoning the water and marine life there with depleted uranium.

For years the folks at Beatitude House have shown up with signs and "vigil" outside the base not only monthly but on days of missile tests and other remembrances too (like Hiroshima and Nagasaki days). The Pacific Life Community had similarly vigiled there a couple days before my visit.

Hear from Beatitude House's Tensie on the Coffee with Catholic Workers podcast.

more photos of the Guadalupe CW