SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA / A news summary : Generous Callers Act to Save Shelter

The phones at Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights rang nonstop Thursday as people from around Los Angeles called to offer donations to keep the church’s homeless shelter open.

The 13-year-old Guadalupe Homeless Project, which houses day laborers and migrant workers who have nowhere else to go, lost a bid for continued federal funding earlier this year. With few other resources, the staff did not know if they could stay open past the end of this month.

But on Thursday, after reading an article in The Times about the shelter, at least 60 people called the church and pledged more than $30,000 in donations.

The callers included Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, head of the Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archdiocese, who offered $6,000 to keep the shelter open through October. He also offered to write letters of support for the program, according to Father Mike Kennedy, the pastor at Dolores Mission.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kennedy said. “This means that it can stay open, and that people basically are good, and when they see a need, they’re going to respond.”

The program, which also has applied for a separate $44,000 winter shelter grant, needs a total of about $90,000 for the year.

The shelter provides showers, food, clothing and a place to sleep for about 70 men a night, most of them recently arrived immigrants. The laborers also get English classes and medical services.

In recent weeks, the program could only afford to house about 15 to 20 men a night. Now, the shelter will immediately open the door to more people, Kennedy said.

For information, call the church at (323) 881-0039.