We want to keep you in the loop on the crisis regarding Hope Gardens, so here is a quick update.
First of all, we are so grateful for everyone’s support – you have been amazing. We certainly could not do this without you. In the past 5 days, we’ve already raised a miraculous $558,150, bringing our amount still needed down to $2.2million.
Keeping the doors open to Hope Gardens Family Center is only possible through the support of generous people like you. You can make a difference by:
Sometimes the humanity can be lost in the headlines of the recent press releases and the regional media coverage of what’s happening at Hope Gardens. We think it’s important to show you the reality and hear the stories of our guests in their own words. For the next several days we’ll be sharing their stories.
Kasha, a single mom, lives at Hope Gardens with her two boys. She is grateful to be clean and sober, and to have the opportunity to get her life back together at Hope Gardens Family Center!
Would you join us in keeping Hope Gardens open? A donation of any amount will help.
A local hero in a squad car patrols the harsh world of Skid Row with love, prayer, and faith in second chances.
When Officer Deon Joseph of the Los Angeles Police Department first learned he’d been assigned to Skid Row 11 years ago, his fellow officers warned him to transfer as soon as possible.
“These streets were Dante’s Inferno,” Deon says. “There were bonfires, tents lining every sidewalk, people stacked on top of each other, fights, and murders. People openly used drugs. Sometimes they overdosed and died – and no one would call the police or an ambulance.”
But Deon saw something more. Deon had grown up watching his father employ ex-cons who needed a second chance. His parents raised 41 foster children who had all suffered physical, mental, or sexual abuse. “So when I got to Skid Row,” Deon recalls, “I thought, ‘I already know these folks. These are my family’. And it was time to get to work.”
Deon is determined to do far more than enforce the law. “The love of Christ drives me, and I keep hearing God’s voice saying, ‘Go and do more’.'”
As a result, Deon spends time praying with prostitutes, ex-gang members, and drug addicts on the streets. He takes personal interest in their lives and makes sure that everyone who wants help gets it.
“Folks on Skid Row believe they’re worthless and that society hates them,” Deon says. “But none of them, when they were kids, ever thought, ‘I want to be a sex offender or a drug addict when I grow up.’ There’s a story behind every individual. Every one of them is somebody’s father or son or mother or brother. And they need help. That’s why I go out of my way to help people here. I tell them, ‘If you want to change your life, if you want to get your life on track, let me know. I’ll do everything I can to help you.”
Often, that means Deon personally connects people from Skid Row with Union Rescue Mission, where they can get a hot meal, safe shelter, and the real help they need to change their lives.
“Union Rescue Mission represents hope in this community, and it’s my job to help them provide that hope through their drug programs and shelter,” Deon says. “Every day, I see broken men and women enter this place. But something happens to them here that strengthens and transforms them. That’s why I encourage people to donate their money and time here – whatever it takes to keep this mission running and continuing to change lives.”
Deon says he’s only doing what God wants him to do – pray for and encourage people. “God is good,” he says. “That’s all I can say.”
The Odd Couple
Ronald Smith, a life-long gangster and radical Muslim, discovers new hope and healing when he meets a most unlikely friend.
Despite the fact that my father was a pastor in Chicago, I spent most of my life in and out of prison for various violent crimes, including attempted murder, stemming from selling drugs.
When I got out of prison in 2000, however, I honestly wanted to change my life. I earned a degree in communications and spent the next seven years working in television, from ABC News to E! and the Sci-Fi Channel. I even worked as a producer on the Grammy Awards, the American Music Awards, the Oscars, and the Golden Globes.
But despite all my success in TV, my own drug use finally caught up with me. I couldn’t control it anymore, so in July 2008, I decided to seek help at Union Rescue Mission. Over the first several months, I was often tempted to leave. But the most unlikely guy here at the mission, Scott Bonovich, made sure I didn’t.
I had spent most of my life as a black, militant gangster. Scott is a white guy from silver-spoon land. But he and I really hit it off. We both loved ancient history, we’re both writers, and Scott had even studied Islam. He encouraged me to attend his Bible studies and we’d spend hours talking about God, the Bible, Jesus, and Islam.
Jesus and the Bible slowly started making sense to me. I began praying to Jesus and I experienced His healing power in my life. I graduated from the Union Rescue Mission’s Life Transformation Program in July 2009.
I thank God He used a man like Scott to change my life. If you look on the outside, Scott and I have absolutely nothing in common. But inside, we’re so much alike. Today I call him my “Uncle Scott”. More important, we’re brothers in Jesus Christ.
Notes from Andy
No Excuses
When Jesus said, “The poor will always be with us,” he never meant for us to use that as an excuse to refrain from helping those experiencing homelessness. He’s actually quoting from Deuteronomy 15:4-11.
“If among you one of your brothers should become poor…you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need. …For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land.”
In other words, when someone falls into poverty, you should do whatever it takes to help him climb out. There will always be poor in the land, so be generous to folks in need so they can find a way out of their poverty.
This is a call to action, not an excuse to leave things the way they are. In this day, when so many average Joes and everyday families are falling into poverty, it is time for us to take action – to make sure that no one suffers the devastation of homelessness.
Thank you for taking time to read what I promise is a once-in-a-lifetime letter from me. Our last board meeting was the most grueling meeting I have experienced in my 32 years of ministry and nonprofit work. Everyone was kind and supportive, but the circumstances are alarming and battered my soul.
We have increased our services by 45% over the past two years in a valiant attempt to step up amidst the continuing economic crisis to meet the needs around us. To make matters worse, this fiscal year our giving is down 21%. This is a devastating combination! We have cut expenses in every area, including pay reductions and the layoff of eight faithful staff members. We have also developed a sustainability plan that will strengthen us in the long run, but it will not fill the immediate gap in our funding and get us through the next few months.
I must share with you that unless we raise $2,800,000 by June 30, we will be forced to close the doors of our Hope Gardens Family Center — a proven life-changing and life-giving environment for women and children.
This would be crushing news for the 24 additional families we are preparing to move from Skid Row to Hope Gardens. And it would be devastating to the 34 moms and 74 children and each of the 23 senior ladies who have escaped homelessness and are living a life of hope.
Closing Hope Gardens would be my worst nightmare…I am not sure my heart could take watching the precious women and children gathering up their belongings and moving out of the oasis of peace, safety, opportunity and hope we have fought so hard to provide.
If you would join with the tens of thousands who will receive this mailing and give a gift of $100, $50 or any amount you can spare, we can avert this crisis. Please help us keep these precious women and children from returning to Skid Row. Thank you for prayerfully considering this life-giving gift.
In the past two years, we have increased our services by 45% in an effort to step up to the growing economic crisis. And in this past year, giving has been down 21% – this is a devastating combination! In an attempt to counteract this, we have already taken two pay reductions, stopped our 401K match, and laid off 8 faithful staff members.
We have developed a sustainability plan that will strengthen us in the long run, but it will not fill the immediate gap in our funding or get us through the next few months.
Unless we can raise $2,800,000 by June 30th, we will be forced to close the doors to Hope Gardens Family Center. This option is our last resort – Hope Gardens has proven to be a life changing and life giving environment for many women and children, and it is heartbreaking to imagine bringing the 34 families back down to the streets of Skid Row.
We hope you will PLEASE take this time to considering a gift so we can continue to provide for the 119 women and children that call Hope Gardens home. We need your help now more than ever. Thank you for all your support and please keep us in your prayers.
Recently, we had a very generous donor offer to match $1 for every person who becomes our fan on Facebook (up to $25,000)! With just the click of a button, you can help us earn $25,000 to help people experiencing homelessness. We are very excited about this opportunity, and hope you will join us in this challenge. Please become our fan by clicking here. Then, click the Share button to let all your friends know!
Thank you so much for being a part of the solution to ending homelessness as we know it in L.A.!
On Saturday, May 15, 2010 over 200 volunteers from Wells Fargo spent the day serving at our Hope Gardens Family Center in Sylmar and downtown at Union Rescue Mission. The activities began at 9:00am with a brief program hosted by former Lakers star AC Green.
After that, we kept the volunteers busy with all kinds of projects! At URM, volunteers helped prep and serve meals, clean and disinfect the whole facility, hosted a Kids Fun Zone in the gym, served ice cream, and did a water and sock walk for residents of Skid Row. The day ended with a BBQ and karaoke on the roof for volunteers and guests staying at URM.
In Sylmar, team members assisted in various projects including: planting trees, clearing brush, and overall spring cleaning of the buildings.
“Hope Gardens Family Center is a wonderful place that provides families and children with shelter, clothing, food and other needs,” said Shaffi Poswal, Wells Fargo California Cash Services. “It gives me great pride to be part of Wells Fargo where volunteering and giving back to our communities are part of our culture.”
In addition to volunteer efforts, Wells Fargo team members donated 5,000 pairs of new socks for the guests at both locations – 4,000 of which were raised by the Los Angeles Cash Vault team.
Andy Bales said “Generous individuals from amazing corporations like Wells Fargo engaging on the streets with people who are experiencing homelessness will play a vital role in moving toward the day when not one person is left on the streets of Skid Row”.
Big thanks to the Wells Fargo Volunteers for all the hard work!
One of the steps in our plan to end homelessness in Los Angeles is to “stop making excuses”.
Austin, one of our volunteers, is a prime example of doing just that. As an Eagle Scout, he decided to use what he had to benefit Union Rescue Mission and give back to those in his community. Please take a moment to watch this video of Austin, and see how one person really can make an impact.
Each of us has talents and resources that can be used to make a difference in the lives of other people. We encourage you to join our movement to end homelessness as we know it in Los Angeles.
