A group of churches and nonprofits, including the immigration rights-oriented American Friends Service Committee, will host a weekend of events,to mark the opening of a new environmentally friendly building near City Heights.
The San Diego Friends Center will open on the campus of the San Diego First Church of the Brethren on Westgate Place near 39th Street and will be leased by the San Diego Friends Meeting (Quakers) as a place of worship and by the American Friends Service Committee and the Peace Resource Center of San Diego as office space.
Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. an opening ceremony and tours of the new building will be held. An interfaith blessing will take place at 10 a.m. Sunday.
The 7,000-square-foot building was designed by San Diego-based Hubbell and Hubbell Architecture, known for using green building materials. Straw bale was used to build its walls.
"We hope that the Friends Center will become a focal point in San Diego County for peace-related
issues, issues related to human rights and justice for immigrant communities," said Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee. The nonprofit , which is based on 32nd Street currently, documents allegations of abuse against immigrants and advocates for their rights and plans to move into its new office in the spring, Rios said.
Byron King of the First Church of the Brethren said the Friends Center took more than 10 years to plan and build and "is a labor of love."
Organizers raised $1.5 million for construction and received about $500,000 in donated labor, he said.
"We're not a big church but we had a big piece of property," King said. "The question we had was how do we best use this resource that God has provided to us at that location."
"That generated this idea that what we needed to do is to serve other organizations that share many common values with us," King said.
[sidebar]For more information about grand opening events this weekend visit www.sdfriendscenter.org or call (619) 263-9301.
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