USD Magazine, Spring 1996

itiiitf itl ill I LMANAC I

THE HOUSE ON THE HILL

t night, from her house high on a ridge in Carlsbad, Calif., Kathleen Dunn Wellman '71 (J.D. '74) could often see the campfires

Kalhlaen Dunn Wellman '71 (J.D. '74) and family al Iha Alumni Mass.

when her third son was born with Down syndrome in 1991. But the highest praise was reserved for her work with La Posada de Guadalupe. "Kathleen is a visionary whose caring and compassion, combined with her for– midable practical skills, her boundless faith, energy and obstinacy, united the community to a common purpose - to help relieve the suffering of the home– less," the award citation read. Although the shelter she helped estab– lish has done much to help homeless men in Carlsbad, Wellman's work with the organization is far from over. She still participates as one of the facility's directors, finding new sources of funding and staying on top of the legal aspects of the shelter's land lease with the city. As she explains the shelter's amenities - from the grounds and garden the resi– dents themselves landscaped and planted to the clean beds and dining hall that make La Posada look more like a dormi– tory than a shelter - she also points out the tents of the homeless who still live in the canyon below the shelter. Wellman can be proud, however, that for many homeless men she helped pro– vide a house of their own on the hill.

Catholic Charities, which runs the shel– ter, La Posada de Guadalupe de Carlsbad opened four years ago. Since then, the shelter has provided more than 1,200 men with housing, food, health care, English classes and employment leads. "There never were any guarantees that we would succeed," says Wellman, recalling the numerous tasks she faced in helping obtain the land, raise money and find donors of materials and services for the shelter. "We decided to do the best we could so, at the very least, we could make a statement." The strength of that statement was one reason Wellman was honored in Decem– ber with USD's Bishop Charles Francis Buddy Award, given out at the annual Alumni Mass. The award recognizes an alumnus or alumna who demonstrates service to others and the community, and who makes significant contributions to his or her professional field. At the Mass, Wellman was praised for her two decades of work as a probate lawyer in Carlsbad, where she was instrumental in forming a branch of the Lawyers Club, an organization devoted to the advancement of women in the legal profession. Wellman also has worked with the Carlsbad Housing Commission, the St. Patrick Catholic Church and School and the Down Syndrome Association of San Diego. She got involved in the latter organization

lit by the homeless in the canyons below. When she drove her son to nursery school, she saw homeless men, most of whom were migrant workers, lining the roads and waiting to be hired to work the farms that cover much of the city's land. Like many people, she felt powerless to do anything for these men. But in 1990, when some local busi– ness owners, tired of the migrant work– ers who hung around outside their store, chained a homeless man to a railing, put a bag over his head and pasted a sign reading "No Mas Aquf" (No More Here) to his body as an example to other migrant workers, Wellman decided that enough was enough. "That incident was a flashpoint for me," she says. "It's the kind of thing you read about that happens elsewhere. I thought to myself, 'How can this happen here?'" Soon after the incident at the store, Wellman and a group of concerned citi– zens from her church came together to decide what they could do to alleviate the plight of the homeless in their com– munity. The group, which eventually evolved into a nonprofit organization called Caring Residents of Carlsbad, decided to focus on building a shelter where homeless men could be safe and get a fresh start. After Wellman used her legal exper– tise to help the group cut through miles of red tape, deal with city officials, search for funds and connect with

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