Galilee Center founders Gloria Gomez and Claudia Castorena added the Comfort Station because they know that in many cases, farmworkers in the Coachella Valley have limited housing options and do not have regular access to showers, washers and dryers and other basics that many take for granted.
“I believe that this facility will help provide a place where farm workers can feel, as human beings, dignity, love, and respect,” Gomez told web-based news outlet Coachella Unincorporated.
The Comfort Station, located at 66-101 Hammond Road in Mecca, is open daily from 10 am to 7 pm weekdays/12-6 pm weekends November-March and May-July. It is closed in April and October, between the winter and summer harvest seasons. It is able to serve 100-150 farmworkers each day. It is free to use with the exception of the washing machines and dryers, which cost $1 each to use.
Ishmael Martinez, who arrived recently to work in the fields, heard about the Comfort Station at Mass at The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mecca.
“I just got here from Salinas, and I needed a place to clean up,” Martinez told Coachella Unincorporated. “I am glad there is a place here in Mecca for me to use. I will be using this facility for as long as I am here in this area.”
Gomez and Castorena founded the Galilee Center in 2010 to provide food, clothing and essential items to families in the eastern Coachella Valley. In addition to drawing support from Bishop Barnes and the Diocese, their ministry has been aided and praised by public officials in the Low Desert. Recipients of Bishop Barnes’ Amar Es Entregarse Award in 2004, Gomez and Castorena had previously founded the successful Martha’s Village outreach facility to homeless in the Coachella Valley.
Last year, the Galilee Center served just under 44,000 people.