Archive for March, 2009
This winter, twice as many homeless families sought emergency shelter – LA Times
- Alitha Chism, 28, reads a bedtime story to her children Friday at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown L.A. The family was evicted after Alitha’s husband Amos, in back, lost his job and their apartment went into foreclosure.
Jia-Rui Chong of the Los Angeles Times writes about the increase in families who sought emergency shelter this past winter.
The number of homeless families in Los Angeles County seeking emergency shelter over the winter nearly doubled this year compared to last, according to figures from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
By the end of this year’s winter shelter program, which wrapped up this month, 620 families had sought vouchers for motel or hotel stays. Last winter, there were 330 families.
Union Rescue Mission CEO Andy Bales was interviewed for the article.
The Rev. Andy Bales, the mission’s chief executive, speculated that foreclosures were probably throwing more families onto the street than individuals. And recently laid-off individuals were probably more likely to find a friend or family member to take them in, he added.
“When you bring the whole family into a house, the welcome wears out sooner,” he said.
Fine Art Photography Auction on EBAY
Photo courtesy of Jack Guy
HEARTS AND SOULS FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES
FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY AUCTION ON EBAY
BENEFITING UNION RESCUE MISSION
March 25th – April 3rd
The number of families needing our help has risen 400 percent
The number of meals served per day nearly doubled
The number of food boxes given out to local residents is up 7 times
(CLICK HERE)
To view and bid on iconic works by renowned photographers including:
Jack Guy, Bill Curry, Sheryl Nields, Jason Willheim, Alfredo Favo,
Gregg Segal, Jordan Nuttall, Scott Miller and Lee Jeffries
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT
URM sending aid to fight cholera
“Union Rescue Mission, in partnership with Giving Children Hope (www.gchope.org), has sent cholera-fighting medicines to Zimbabwe. More than 20,000 people have been infected by the cholera outbreak and over 1,100 people have been killed by this curable disease. ”
The cholera outbreak was first reported in the high density suburb of Budiriro in Harare in October 2008. Most city health workers (including doctors and nurses) were on strike due to poor working conditions and very low remuneration. In partnership with Giving Children Hope and other partners, we managed to secure a donation to pay them their allowances and provide groceries and meals in order for the staff to return to work. We focused efforts to help the people in the Budiriro Clinic and the Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital (BRIDH) — the two cholera treatment camps. There are still efforts being made to contain the cholera outbreak in the area, with the main thrust being directed towards massive community education and awareness campaigns carried out by our partner teams, which have spread their wings to other suburbs such as Glen Norah, Glen View, Mbare and Highfield where there is a high risk of cholera outbreak due to poor sanitation and the lack of a safe water supply.
URM and its partners have been able to support the setting up a cholera treatment camp (CTC) in Chegutu, approximately 100km away from the capital city, Harare. The outbreak in Chegutu was caused by sewage filtering into and contaminating the water supply of the high density area due to low water pressure and vandalized or burst pipes.
At the local hospital only 3 nurses were reporting for duty despite there were over 300 patients in the hospital who had been admitted and the average daily case fatality rate was 10. The Celebration Health, our partner team, was mobilized and deployed quickly, armed with medical supplies from the partners and the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. On arrival in Chegutu on 12 December 2008, the team, led by Drs Andrew Reid, Jabulani Nyenwa and Kuda Katurura, was met by patients who were severely dehydrated, with some lying in their own waste and the smell of decaying bodies, cholera stool and chlorine all mixed together. The sight was almost overwhelming but the team remained focused. The team started work at midnight and they worked tirelessly all night, administering 1200 liters of fluid (Ringers Lactate) in 7 hours to the nearly 200 patients on site.
The immediate impact of this intervention was seen and felt as the fatality rate dropped from 10 to 1 within the first 24 hours. The team also helped to put in place administrative systems and structures so that the relief efforts could be sustained. A good working relationship was established with other partners and NGOs that later came into the area. Our teams continued to oversee the work in the CTC and their work continues.”
URM on ABC Tonight!
URM will be featured on ABC World News tonight at 6:30 PT. Tune in to meet our children and families struggling with homelessness.
In case you missed URM on 20/20…
This past Friday, ABC’s 20/20 featured a story on three year old Shema Kakiza and her family who are staying at Union Rescue Mission. The story was a powerful reminder of the effect our current economic situation is having on families and children.
Our own CEO Andy Bales was interviewed about the huge influx of families staying at Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles. Currently there are about 60 families staying at the shelter, and about half of them are homeless for the first time.
If you missed the story please take a moment to watch it here.
L.A. County seeks to classify violence against the homeless as hate crimes
Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the L.A. Times writes about the Los Angeles County effort to begin tracking the growing number of atrocious violent acts against the homeless as hate crimes. Union Rescue Mission resident, Richard Pearson, is featured as one of many victims of violence.
During the last year, the homeless in Los Angeles County have been set on fire, stabbed, shot and beaten with baseball bats in attacks. Advocates for the homeless say the incidents have become more violent but until now no one has tracked such crimes countywide.
Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously recommended that sheriff’s deputies, prosecutors and the county Human Relations Commission start tracking and reporting attacks on the homeless as hate crimes. The vote came as the economy worsens and the number of homeless in the county increases — with some shelters seeing four times as many people seeking help this winter.
The Rev. Andy Bales, chief executive of downtown’s Union Rescue Mission, called the hate crime proposal “long overdue.” Bales said he believes the intensity of such crimes has gotten worse.
Alternatives to Tent Cities in this Emergency Situation
The news has been scary lately with so many people in trouble due to our economy. At ground zero here on Skid Row in Los Angeles the reality is even more incredible. Real unemployment in Los Angeles is at nearly 21% according to Jack Kaiser of the Los Angeles Economic Corporation. It is no wonder then that families coming to Union Rescue Mission are up over 340% since last year, and our meals are up 32% from 18 months ago. 47% of the families needing shelter throughout the city are homeless for the first time ever in their lives.
And it’s not just Los Angeles, it’s everywhere. I was contacted by a friend of Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento, a former NBA great, asking me what could be done about the tent cities springing up in Sacramento and around our country. Sacramento’s tent city has grown to 1200 people and there is talk of demolishing it. But that will not solve the problem.
I have come up with a plan, and though I can’t say that it originated with me, I believe that it is a tremendous alternative to letting folks sleep on the streets or in tents. First of all, the Governor should declare a state of emergency and ask that all armories be opened to house people as we do in the Winter Shelter months. Non-profits like Union Rescue Mission and our EIMAGO public benefits charity should be commissioned to operate them. We could provide emergency housing for 200 people each night, along with meals, a cot, a shower, and bathroom facilities for $1.2 million per armory a year.
Secondly, I received this note from a friend concerning a dream of hers. She told me, “One morning I awoke about 5:30 am to the words, ‘Hotels will be given to house the homeless, restaurants will be given to feed the hungry.’” I considered her dream—the empty hotels/motels in our area that are struggling to do business, and the nearly abandoned restaurants on the brink of closing. Then I thought of the tsunami of families coming our way seeking assistance and experiencing homelessness for the first time in their lives. What if we exchanged hotel/motel vouchers and restaurant vouchers for a small fee? Whatever a family could afford to pay, we put roofs over the heads of children and good food in their bellies while at the same time assisting the hotel and restaurant businesses in keeping their doors open and their employees working. We could provide case management to assist the families in pursuing permanent housing and employment. For those without a partnering family to turn to as they struggle through this ordeal, we could connect them with a church family to encourage them along the way. Some churches could possibly even step up and provide a gym for housing or an empty apartment that they could sponsor. Could we as a city, state, and country find it in our hearts to join in a bit of a bail out program for desperate families—along with some accountability and dignity to boot?
I want to encourage all in authority that this is an increasing emergency situation and needs an emergency response. We should not allow anyone, especially children to experience the devastating effects of homelessness.
Blessings, Andy B
Take a moment to watch this report from NBC Nightly News about Sacramento’s tent cities.
Homelessness goes Hollywood
Morley Safer of 60 Minutes reports on a unique urban fable that happens to be true.
Steve Lopez is a newspaper columnist for the Los Angeles Times; Nathaniel Ayers is a troubled man with a brilliant past.
They met by chance on the streets of downtown L.A. – an encounter that would change them both. The story of their friendship is a tale about madness, redemption, and the mysterious power of music.
Some of the footage for the story was shot on the rooftop of Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles. The story has also been made into a feature film called The Soloist, which will be in theaters on April 24, 2009.
URM on ABC’s 20/20 this Friday.
Reporters from ABC’s 20/20 came out to the Union Rescue Mission for 3 consecutive days this week gathering stories and film footage for a special on “Homelessness Through the Eyes of the Children”. Reporters and film crew spent their time at URM interviewing children and families new to homelessness. The special is scheduled to air this Friday, March 20th. Please check you local listings for air time.