Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you again, Blessings
Archive for November, 2009
The Best Part of Waking Up… Is Starbucks In Your Cup!
Guests at URM were pleasantly surprised to see that Starbucks of Chino Hills had come down to provide coffee and hot cocoa for nearly 1,000 people this morning! Nine volunteers arrived early this morning to start serving coffee at 6:00am. The coffee was a wonderful treat to compliment our breakfasts and a great start to the day.
Thank you, Starbucks!
Thanksgiving Celebration Brings Joy to Skid Row
Today, Union Rescue Mission hosted its Annual Thanksgiving Celebration- and it went off without a hitch! It started with many hard workers gathering at 1:00am to fry turkeys. Then around 8:00am this morning, hundreds of volunteers joined in to set up and start serving!
We served a great Thanksgiving meal, as well as Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider and pumpkin pie! Guests were entertained with live musical performances while waiting to eat, and KJLH 102.3fm was also playing music throughout the day. After the meal, they were able to play games, get their caricatures done, have their faces painted, rock climb, participate in a dance-off and lots of other fun activities.
Thanks so much to all the hard-working volunteers and organizations who really made this day happen. Without you, we would not be able to touch the lives of so many of those who need it down here on Skid Row.
We appreciate all you do!
Union Rescue Mission to Hold Annual Thanksgiving Street Festival
MEDIA ALERT – For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Kitty Davis-Walker
(213) 673-4585 or (213) 507-5562
Email: kwalker@urm.org
UNION RESCUE MISSION TO SERVE THREE THOUSAND THIS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21st
AT ANNUAL THANKSGIVING STREET FESTIVAL 2009
LOS ANGELES CALIF. (November 17, 2009) —– This Saturday November 21, 2009 Union Rescue Mission (URM), CEO Andy Bales will be joined by 300 volunteers at 11: 00 a.m. to transform San Pedro Street into a diners paradise. This year’s festival is sponsored by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and will feature a delicious Thanksgiving meal, live entertainment, lots of give-a-ways and a Kids Zone that’s sure to be a big hit with children and those acting like children.
URM staff and volunteers will serve up plates of Cajun fried and Oven Roasted Turkey, stuffing with gravy, mash potato’s, green bean casserole, candied yams and much more to over 3,000 men, women and children experiencing homelessness on Skid Row this holiday season. Herbalife’s Smoothie mobile will also be on hand serving their signature smoothies.
Union Rescue Mission’s CEO Andy Bales said “We are honored to invite all of our friends experiencing homelessness over for this very special Thanksgiving dinner, made and served with love! We hope that it will be a life changing event and one that starts the journey home for many. Thanks to our community for providing the resources to make this possible!”
When: Saturday, November 21, 2009. 200 Turkeys will be deep fried on San Pedro St.
beginning @ 1:30 a.m.
Event Time: 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Where: Union Rescue Mission
545 South San Pedro Street (between 5th & 6th on San Pedro)
Why: Union Rescue Mission along with major sponsor Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, and
KJLH Radio Free will continue to bring people together as long as there is a need for
hope & healing.
Note: The visuals of 20 turkey fryers cooking 200 turkeys in the middle of the night (1:30 a.m.) for people experiencing homeless is a great photo & film opportunity. Also, the Kid Zone activities, rock climbing, bouncers, arts & crafts and interactive games.
About Union Rescue Mission
Union Rescue Mission is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the poor and homeless. Established in 1891, URM is one of the largest rescue missions of its kind in the United States and is the oldest in Los Angeles. It provides a comprehensive array of emergency and long-term services, including food, shelter, clothing; medical and dental care; Christian recovery programs, transitional housing, legal assistance, education, counseling and job training to needy men, women, children and families. For more information, please visit our website www.urm.org
The Mission: November 2009
Available for viewing or download is the November edition of The Mission.
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The Many Benefits of Volunteerism
Union Rescue Mission in LA is the oldest Rescue Mission in Los Angeles and the largest Mission of its kind in the United States. One of our best kept secrets to success is the impact volunteers have on our organization. We have nearly 14,000 volunteers that come to give of their time throughout the year. This allows us to house over 1,000 people a night at Union Rescue Mission downtown and our Hope Gardens Family Center in Sylmar and feed more than 3,000 meals each day at a greatly reduced cost, as volunteers join our staff to prepare and serve the meals, teach in our learning centers, tutor children, carry out special activities, and provide much needed love to our guests. This ability to serve our guests well at a greatly reduced cost is an incredible benefit, but it does not come close to the benefit received by the delivery of much needed love by our volunteers. One very special volunteer in our cafeteria shows up to serve the guests each day, and does so faithfully, but she also has a nearly 50 lb. purse loaded with candy that she hands out to the 130 children under our roof, and to the nearly 400 grown men as well. Getting candy from anyone is special, but it is the love that this volunteer and the candy represents that is so life-changing to children and adults who have been devastated by homelessness.
I credit the difference inside our Mission, as compared to the violence surrounding us on the streets of Skid Row, to the love delivered inside Union Rescue Mission by volunteers. While the streets around us are filled with crime, drug use, violence, and even death, once inside URM there is warmth, peace, hope and life. Our committed staff plays a part in this, but our swarm of loving volunteers transforms the environment.
URM is not the only beneficiary. I once had a poster inside my office with a Dr. Martin Luther King quote: “10 steps toward getting rid of the blues: do something for someone else and repeat it 9 nine times!”
I have followed that principle in getting the blues/depression out of my own life, and I believe that our volunteers have learned this secret as well. Nothing is more satisfying or healing than giving yourself and your time away to others who are struggling in our society.
I have had friends find their life’s passion and work by taking time to volunteer. A friend of mine had a passion for carpentry. He had an office job, but came down, volunteered at our Mission, and built a wonderful stack of strong shelves for our food storage. Soon he volunteered for other building projects and realized what a gift he had for building. He now builds $1,000,000+ homes. I am still looking for my own hidden talent like that! :)
Another friend of mine, a CFO for an insurance company, met me for lunch and shared his heart with me. He had a burden for young people experiencing homelessness. After our meeting, he volunteered in our work. He found his life’s calling and purpose. He left the high paying job to launch a very successful program for young people. It is called Hope For Homeless Youth. Taking that first step into the waters through volunteerism helped him discover his passion and make a huge impact on his community.
We’ve recently had several large corporations join us at URM for, what I call, Acts of Kindness Day. We line up about 12 acts of kindness throughout our building and our community; delivering cold water to people on the streets, handing out socks and sandwiches, working in our kitchen, BBQing for our families on the rooftop, karaoke with our kids, volleyball in the gym with our guys, footwashing along with new socks and shoes for our men and women. Certainly our guests were blessed by these events, but I believe that the corporations experienced a wonderful time of team building and joy.
As you can tell, I believe in volunteerism for selfish reasons. Volunteerism makes my job easier, helps me achieve our Mission’s objectives, and transforms our environment. However, I also appreciate volunteerism for some selfless reasons, as I watch the positive life changing effect it has on those who volunteer.
For more information on how you can become involved, check out our Volunteer Page!
Blessings,
Andy B.
This Year’s Box Outreach – A Great Success!
Volunteers from all over joined forces on Saturday, November 14th for our annual Box Outreach Event. Groups of about twenty volunteers split into groups to canvas the Skid Row area and deliver hygiene boxes to residents of the SRO (Single Resident Occupancy) Hotels.
Thank you to all the volunteers who came out to help; we are already looking forward to our next Box Outreach Event!
Veterans Honored with Daily Grill Lunch (Updated)
The Daily Grill came down to URM on Wednesday to serve up lunch for many homeless Veterans. The Veterans sat at a special table, and were served a delicious meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed green salad, penne pasta with rock shrimp, and cobbler, which was topped off with ice cream by children at URM!
The Daily Grill also announced that they will be donating a portion of all proceeds from cobbler sales throughout the rest of 2009 to the Union Rescue Mission! Thank you so much to the Daily Grill for your generosity, and for all the veterans who so selflessly served our country!
Thanksgiving Celebration at Union Rescue Mission
We are getting very excited for our annual Thanksgiving Celebration, which will be held on November 21st. The event begins at 11am, and will include a Thanksgiving Dinner, with fried turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, and pie; we will even be serving Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider! In addition to the meal, there will be many fun events going on. This year we are honored to have Orelia Reed as an entertainer, as well as a rock climbing area, jousting, bungie run, photo booth, and more!
Currently, we are at capacity for volunteers. For more information on getting involved, or volunteering at other events this holiday season, please contact our Volunteer Department!
Introducing, “The Mission”
We’re very pleased to announce our new print newsletter is also now available as a PDF download. The Mission is replacing our RescueLine publication and we want you to check it out.
There’s a few ways to get this publication monthly
- Download the file below
- Sign up for the email version of The Mission by clicking here.