SAN CLEMENTE, CA (ANS) -- San Clemente is a beautiful city in Orange County, California, located on the California Coast, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego at the southern tip of the county. It is known for its ocean, hill, and mountain views, a pleasant climate and its Spanish Colonial style architecture. San Clemente's city slogan is “Spanish Village by the Sea”.

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev speaks during an appearance with President Nixon at the 'Western White House.' (Photo: Courtesy of the San Clemente Historical Society)

In 1968 President Richard Nixon bought part of the H. H. Cotton estate, one of the original homes built by one of Hanson's partners. Nixon called it “La Casa Pacifica”, but it was nicknamed the “Western White House”, a term now commonly used for a President's vacation home.

During Nixon's tenure it was visited by many world leaders, including Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Prime Minister of Japan Eisaku Sato, and Henry Kissinger.

Now Nixon is long gone, and the focus on the city has now returned with a project called “Love San Clemente,” during which four local churches gathered over 50 volunteers to show what could happen if believers put their faith in action.

Volunteers clean the Student Kitchen at Shore Cliffs MIddle School

The brain child of Pastor Holland Davis of Worship Life Calvary Chapel San Clemente, “Love San Clemente” recently contributed more than $10,000.00 in completed projects, labor and supplies to Shore Cliffs Middle School and the City of San Clemente.

Jason Chung in the Orange County Register described “Love San Clemente”, as a seven day community service project [which began on Saturday, July 7, 2012 and ended on July 14, 2012], that included members of Cornerstone Community Church, San Clemente Presbyterian Church, Southcoast Church International and Worship Life Calvary Chapel San Clemente.

Holland Davis leading worship at his San Clemente church

The week-long program launched with a food drive with bags donated by local San Clemente grocers including Ralph’s, Trader Joes and Stater Brothers. Over 450 bags were distributed and food collected was donated to Family Assistance Ministries, a community outreach that redistributes over $ 2.1 million in food to the hungry in South Orange County.

Holland Davis stated, “We were told that food donations over the summer months are extremely low so we felt that this would be the best way to begin Love San Clemente… by meeting the needs of the poor.”

On Monday, volunteers dusted cabinets, washed dishes and cleaned ovens and refrigerators in the student kitchen at Shorecliff’s Middle School. Chris Smith, pastor of Southcoast Church International said, “The city uses this kitchen for after school programs and with budget cuts and growing classroom sizes we wanted to help out this teacher that does such a great job for the school.”

'Love San Clemente' Volunteers launch food drive by distributing over 450 empty grocery bags through which food was collected

“Love San Clemente” says that it is now looking for working refrigerators and ovens to replace the old non-working appliances used by San Clemente students.

On Tuesday through Thursday, volunteers picked up trash, cleaned and painted two city buildings in the former San Clemente Municipal Trap and Skeet Range so they can be used for weddings and other events. Former members of the Gun Club that used the Skeet Range commented on what a blessing it was to see people who cared for this part of San Clemente history.

On Friday, volunteers arrived at Family Assistance Ministries and helped sort clothes, organize closets with professional outfits for women going to job interviews and packing food for distribution.

“Love San Clemente” finished by honoring one of the military families with a special needs child who recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan with free tickets to the Dodger Game where the family was able to attend the Los Angeles Dodger’s batting practice and meet the players for autographs.

'Love San Clemente' volunteers helping Family Assistance Ministries

The idea of “Love San Clemente” began when Pastor Holland Davis of Worship Life Calvary Chapel San Clemente went to the City Hall and asked what his church could do to help.

“We wanted to show people the love of God in practical ways,” Davis explained.

Chris Smith, who works part time as a recreation specialist for the city said he knew of needs that weren’t being met because of city budget constraints and challenged Holland Davis to expand his vision to include more churches in San Clemente.

This resulted in four churches from various denominational backgrounds joining together for seven days of community service showing God’s love to San Clemente… hence “Love San Clemente”.

According to Davis, “This is our first year and we hope now to do this every year.”

Ron Sukut, Pastor of Cornerstone Community Church said, “San Clemente is such a cool town. We really do love our city and it was a blast getting together with others who wanted to give back to this beautiful place we call home. We're looking forward to next time.”

Davis added, “I hope what we’ve done in San Clemente will inspire other churches to look for practical ways to organize as the Body of Christ and show God’s love to their cities in practical ways. Wouldn’t it be awesome if next year we could do ‘Love California’ and just love bomb the entire state?”

For more information on Love San Clemente please visit: www.lovesanclemente.com.

Note: Thanks go to Jason Chung of the Orange County Register for his contribution to this article.

For more information, please contact: Holland Davis
Cell: (949) 533-4656 Email: Holland@WorshipLifeCalvary.org 

Dan Wooding, 71, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on the KWVE Radio Network in Southern California and which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. Dan has recently received two top media awards -- the "Passion for the Persecuted" award from Open Doors US, and one of the top "Newsmakers of 2011" from Plain Truth magazine. He is the author of some 44 books, the latest of which is "Caped Crusader: Rick Wakeman in the 1970s." To order a copy, go to: http://www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335474883&sr=1-1 . Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.