Dave Ferguson & Open Door Mission

“If you are hungry, do not beg or steal, come and eat with us.”

The world had Mother Teresa; Oakland had Dave Ferguson.

For four decades, he was the Director of Open Door Mission, an old-school skid row rescue mission at 7th x Oak, on the outskirts of Oakland’s Chinatown.

Stories from Open Door Mission

I was never brave enough to accompany him on his daily rounds among the most desperate of Oakland’s homeless residents. But I did support and follow the work of ODM for most of Dave’s career there, and crossed paths with him a handful of times.

With my family in 2012 on a visit to our home church, just a few blocks from the Mission

In the early 1940’s, ODM had a children’s Sunday School program that my own mother attended at age 7. That’s where she first heard about the love of Jesus and made her faith decision. Seven decades later, she had a chance to share her Christian testimony at ODM.

Chatting up my St. Mary’s College students during a 2013 visit

Dave Ferguson passed away in 2014 about seven months after receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis and about two weeks after his last day working at the Mission.

2001 SF Gate article: “Open Door Policy: Mission Marks 50 years of serving anyone in need”

2015 Street Spirit article, “Dave Ferguson’s Lifelong Mission of Opening Doors”

Oakland High alums of a certain age may recall his brother, Grover “Frog” Ferguson, who taught electronics.