CALEXICO — As blustery winds swept through Border Friendship Park last week, the city’s homeless population gathered for what was largely a second-dose COVID vaccination clinic and distribution of clothing and toiletries.
The Imperial County Public Health Department and U.S. National Guard members were on hand to administer the vaccines. One Public Health and two National Guard medical personnel administered 12 second doses of Moderna and 10 of the single-dose Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the mostly homeless individuals who gathered for the distribution and daily dinners coordinated by Brown Bag Coalition, according to Maribel Padilla, Brown Bag co-founder.
“I drove around town looking for my friend Peter (Sanchez), the Navy Vet, found him and reminded him to go to the park and get his vaccine,” Padilla wrote on her Facebook page. “I was thrilled when he showed up. I’m glad that most of the regulars have been vaccinated now.”
Volunteers braved the windy conditions to help distribute water, soda, new socks, toiletries, used clothes, and shoes.
“Thank you for braving the … winds again Lorena-Hank Noriega, Esperanza Luque, Claudia Martinez Loza and Luis Gomez. I appreciate your help so much,” Padilla wrote.
Peter Sanchez (left), a homeless man who stays around Calexico, gets some new pairs of socks from Brown Bag Coalition co-founder Maribel Padilla during a clothes and toiletries distribution on Wednesday, May 19, at Border Friendship Park in Calexico. | PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIBEL PADILLA A U.S. National Guard nurse administers the COVID vaccine to Peter Sanchez, a homeless man who stays in Calexico and a U.S. Navy veteran, at Border Friendship Park on Wednesday, May 19. | PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIBEL PADILLA Medical personnel with the U.S. National Guard and the Imperial County Public Health Department set up at Border Friendship Park in Calexico on Wednesday, May 19, to administer second doses of the Moderna COVID vaccine and single-shot doses of the Johson & Johnson vaccine. Twelve people received Moderna and 10 received Johnson & Johnson, mostly homeless individuals. | PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIBEL PADILLA Volunteers with Brown Bag Coalition and others help distribute used clothes, new socks, shoes, toiletries, water, and soda to the homeless in Calexico at Border Friendship Park on Wednesday, May 19. A COVID vaccination clinic was also held for the homeless at the same time. | PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIBEL PADILLA
