The Mission: December 2009
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Starting Over in a One-Room Mansion: By Jasani”
No child ever deserves abuse. So what do you do when your own stepfather tries to rape you? When I turned 17, I moved in with my boyfriend. But I couldn’t escape the abuse. He got violent with me and it continued through the rest of our marriage. But I didn’t have the courage to leave. By the time I turned 22, I had three kids. And I needed help. But my husband wouldn’t let me have any contact with family or friends. I was so traumatized, I started to feel like I deserved the abuse. My whole life just kept getting worse. First, we got evicted from our apartment. We lived in motels for a while and finally ended up living out of our car. I couldn’t even afford to wash our clothes. My kids struggled with speech problems and even started acting out violently. It broke my heart, but I felt so helpless.
Then, in the fall of 2008, I learned I was pregnant again. I had to do something. My husband didn’t want to go to a shelter, but what choice did we have? I started praying, “Lord, please give us a stable roof over our heads and help us keep our family together. Please.”And God answered. Union Rescue Mission gave us our own room, but that one room felt like a mansion. When we moved in, I wanted to kiss the floor. But soon after we arrived, he left me for another woman, just before our fourth child was born in May.
Yet God never abandoned me. Last year August, we moved in to Union Rescue Mission’s Hope Gardens, which helps single mothers and kids get their lives back on track. Now we have a safe place to live, I’m going to school, and I even have a part-time job. I have a peace I’ve never known. I walk with my head up and I really see myself achieving something with my life now. My dream is to get a job as a licensed vocational nurse – that’s my passion. I give God all the credit, because He led me to Union Rescue Mission and Hope Gardens. This place saved my life.
Together, Let’s Change the Face of Homelessness in the City of Angels
Although we’re a city named for angels, Los Angeles contains more people who are homeless than anywhere else in the country. In fact, 10% of all people who are homeless in America live in L.A County. Today, as many as 110,000 men, women and children – maybe more – live in homeless shelters, SRO’s (single-room occupancy buildings), cheap motels, cars, and even on the streets and sidewalks of neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles.
For years, our region’s long-time strategy was to funnel people who are experiencing homelessness toward Skid Row, corral them there, and then forget about them. But it’s not working. We need a new plan. After years of neglect, the problem of homelessness in Los Angeles is an infected, open wound that we all must face today. No one deserves to be homeless. That’s why - with your help – Union Rescue Mission is planning to change the face of homelessness forever in the City of Angels.
Reaching for Lofty Goals
Next year, beginning with our January issue of The Mission, we will outline a bold plan with 10 specific solutions to address the four states of homelessness in Los Angeles. Our goals are lofty.
We Can Do It If We Work Together
Reaching these goals will be hard – and we can’t do it alone. First, we need the extraordinary generosity of people like you. But if we’re going to reach our goals, we must enlist the resources – and the hearts – of the entire city of Los Angeles. Our message? All of us must band together to end homelessness. Together we can change the face of homelessness forever. Union Rescue Mission has been reaching out to people who are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles for 118 years, and no one is more motivated to lead this movement against homelessness that we are. We have hope and faith in a God who cares about those who are experiencing homelessness, and who gives us the strength and courage to confront what seems to many a tragic but impossible problem. Poverty and homelessness have reached all-time highs in our City of Angels. Enough is enough. It’s time to help our city live up to its name.
Help make a difference to end homelessness in Los Angeles – we can’t do it without you.
Every morning, I wake up heartbroken over the thousands of people who are living homeless in Los Angeles. I’m heartbroken because it’s a personal issue for me — personal in that every man, woman, and child who’s experiencing homelessness is a precious, beautiful soul with a face I cherish. A face just like Jasani’s, who you read about in this newsletter. Or a face like the father I recently met who was laid off and lost his home. Thank God he had the courage to bring his four precious little girls and his pregnant wife to Union Rescue Mission, where he’s now getting the help his family needs. Or a face like the 16-year-old boy I recently encountered who was looking for a job. His mother had been unemployed for 18 months and they were about to lose their home. He was considering dropping out of school so he could work and help save them from homelessness. Fortunately, we were able to help him find an after-school job.
Yes, those who are experiencing homelessness have faces. That makes it a personal issue for me. And I pray that everyone in Los Angeles makes it a personal issue, as well.
Blessings,
To read more from Rev. Andy, visit his blog.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Dan Portnoy, Union Rescue Mission. Union Rescue Mission said: Finding peace in a one-room mansion? Check out Jasani's story in the December issue of The Mission : http://bit.ly/87vaeX [...]