As many of you know, about this time last year we had to have an amazing push at the end of our 2010 fiscal year. We conducted an all-out campaign to save URM’s Hope Gardens Family Center using mail, email, text, twitter, Facebook, YouTube, news media, and personal calls to raise a remarkable $3.8 Million in 37 days. We not only won the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Achievement Award, but I was named the Fundraising Professional of the Year in the National Fundraiser of the Year Awards held by Fundraising Success Magazine. Most importantly, we saved Hope Gardens and kept over 100 precious moms and children from leaving a place of safety and peace only to return to the mean streets of Skid Row. It was amazing!
This year, when declining giving trends combined with the continued need for services indicated a $1.4 Million dollar deficit was looming, we knew we needed a different approach. Otherwise, we would be putting all that we do, including Hope Gardens, in peril despite the fact that we have cut costs by a mind boggling $2.5 Million so far this year compared to last! We knew that we could not wait for a push and a last minute scramble as we were forced into last year.
We put together a prospectus that showed how we have stepped up to serve three times the number of families, double the people, and double the number of meals since the Great Recession hit so hard in October of 2008. The prospectus also showed the expense reductions we have made, and our sustainability plans for the future, including the introduction of our now very successful Gateway Program, which has high expectations of our guests participating in their own recovery.
I decided to call on 50 of our donors and friends, and we decided that our donor officers would call on another 250, to share the prospectus in an effort to make up the $1.4 Million deficit.
We are making incredible progress, and we are still adding up the fantastic gifts that were the results of these personal meetings, but let me take a moment to share the greatest benefit these calls have been to me.
I have met some of the most remarkable people on the face of the earth. I spent incredible time with one of the greatest aviators in history, 78 years old, still piloting jets at least 3 times per week, with a collection of aircraft that would blow your mind! He gave to URM this year instead of throwing his Christmas party for over 400 people at his company and the local airport. I learned more about airplanes and jets in 2 hours than I had learned in 52 years! His achievements were incredible but his heart for others inspired me!
I also was able to connect and provide a tour to one of the stars of the hit television show GLEE! She and her handsome actor husband took time out of their day to take a tour of URM. Their commitment to Christ and concern for others was very encouraging. Their young age, maturity, love for each other, and generosity to our guests gave me even more hope for our world and the future.
I met another gentleman at his business. He installs home video/audio systems in wealthy homes. I am talking expensive homes! He showed me one $40,000,000 home that he had just placed a Home Theater in! He shared that he was replacing the $250,000 model in his office with a new $500,000 model. I asked if he could donate the old one to the URM Chapel, and he said “Yes!” A customer came in, and he began to tell the customer about URM, and I realized that this business owner is a better salesman for URM than I could ever be! Over lunch, the business owner stated that he wanted to do more with his life. He also let me know that he is an avid surfer at the age of 55! I asked him to come to URM and give tours. “I will do it!” I said, “Beit T’Shuvah’s recovery program has a surfing component. Why couldn’t URM’s recovery program have a surfing component that you could lead?” “Now, that’s what I’m talking about!” he exclaimed! He and his beautiful wife sent me back to the Mission with a generous check and an unbelievable amount of hope.
So far, I have met with 17 of these special friends of Union Rescue Mission. I cannot wait to meet with the rest! I feel it has been the highlight of my time here as CEO! While we are still in the process of solidifying all of our plans for the July 1st start of our new fiscal year, I can tell you one thing for certain. I’m planning on meeting with 100 donors starting in September.
I believe personally meeting with folks and sharing what’s happening at URM is not only the most brilliant strategy we’ve ever employed to raise funds, it’s quite possibly the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I’ve met some of the most remarkable, generous people in the world!
Good Friday morning brought our younger children and mothers of Hope Gardens Family Center out to have fun with an Easter Egg Hunt.
The children were given personalized Easter Baskets, which were generously handcrafted and donated.
Each child opened their basket, full of toys and candy, and then rushed to the lawn to hunt for the hidden eggs filled with prizes.
The Easter festivities will continue throughout the day as another Easter Egg hunt for the older children at Hope Gardens will be held. Thank you to all those who were a part of blessing for these children and mothers. It warms our hearts to see so many smiles on the faces of our families at Hope Gardens this Easter Weekend.
Easter is one of my favorite times of year because it is when we celebrate the power of Jesus to resurrect the dead. Many of the men and women arriving at the doorsteps of the Union Rescue Mission come needing major life change. Through our Life Transformation Programs, we introduce them to the Jesus that can save.
As we approach Easter Sunday, I hope you will take a moment to watch a short video of Yemi, a participant in our 2nd Step Women’s Program, as she shares what Easter means to her.
Yesterday, Ross Stores District 22 came to URM to hand out handmade Easter Baskets! Over 50 kids at Union Rescue Mission were excited – and surprised! – to receive these baskets full of toys and candy.
Children lined up outside our Teen Room and were able to meet Ross employees and pick out their own Easter Basket.
Due to Ross’ generosity, there were enough to also bless 60 kids at our Hope Gardens Family Center, as well! Thank you so much to everyone who made this special Easter surprise happen!
On Saturday, Union Rescue Mission hosted an Easter Outreach event for the local Skid Row Community. We had live musical performances while guests were able to “shop” for items they needed. Everyone receive tickets that they could redeem for items/services of their choice, such as clothing, shoes, snacks, hygiene items, Bibles and even a foot washing and medical check.
In the past, we have gone out into the community to deliver hygiene boxes. This year we wanted to try something new that would accomplish the same purpose of blessing our community during Easter, but would also allow people to customize the items that they needed and could use, not just a generic box of hygiene items.
The event was a success thanks to many volunteers from Faith Community Church, Rights of Passage group from Faithful Central Bible Church, UCLA students with our foot washing stations, Reality LA Church, A Village Community Church, and Church of God and Christ.
Last year the URM Men’s Basketball team won the Skid Row Basketball Championships. They are now facing a new year, as defending champions, and competing against seven other teams in the league.
Every Thursday night, the league’s games take place in the URM gymnasium.
Thursday, April 16th the gym filled with an audience as URM took on Project 180 in one of the closest games played this year. The two teams were neck and neck all night, as Project 180 rarely let URM keep much of a lead on them.
With 15 seconds at the end of the second half, URM was down 55-57. Unable to make another shot, the game ended with Project 180 as the winner.
Player David Jackson was the URM high scorer for the game, with fifteen rebounds and scoring eighteen points for the team.
Although our men played hard, the loss was still disappointing to the team. However, our URM players are looking forward to playing next week and continue working to repeat their championship title again this season.
Coach Carl Williams calls a time out late in the second half to encourage the team to fight till the end.
A young mother of two young children endured years of verbal and physical abuse – until you gave her a second chance.
For years, Maria could only dream of peace and open windows. The man she lived with, fueled by drugs and alcohol, beat and berated her mercilessly. And he kept her nearly imprisoned in her own home. He was convinced an open window meant she was letting in other men – and he’d beat her again.
She begged her family for refuge. No one helped. She begged his family for help. They told her, “You have to go through a lot to make a relationship work.” Finally, in 2008, she had enough. She took her six-year-old son, Ricky, and one-year-old daughter, Cindy, and secretly moved into an apartment without telling anyone where she lived.
“But somehow he found us,” Maria recalls. “He was drunk and started beating me up in front of the kids. He slapped me against the wall and the toilet and whatever he could use to hurt me. Then he started choking me. “He threw me on the floor and I thought he was going to kill me.” Fortunately, the police arrived in time to save her. They encouraged her to leave the apartment and find someplace safe where she could stay and get long-term help. That’s when she turned to Hope Gardens Family Center.
Hope Gardens is a transitional housing and residential facility, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, that provides a safe environment and the long-term help moms and children experiencing homelessness need to get a fresh start.
“When we came to Hope Gardens, you should have heard my kids,” Maria says. “My son said, “Thank you, God! Thank you, God!” and my daughter said, “This is happiness, Mommy!” we felt safe. What else can you ask for?”
Since arriving at Hope Gardens, Maria has poured herself into classes about co-dependence, parenting, domestic violence, as well as individual therapy and Bible studies. Hope Gardens has given Maria and her children safety, the chance to heal and hope for their future.
“Hope Gardens isn’t a shelter,” she insists. “My kids call it home. Everyone cares about us here and they treat us like family. I want all the donors to know they put smiles on my children’s faces. They have given me the chance to keep my children safe and for me to become a better person. How wonderful can that be? I am so thankful.” And every day Maria opens her windows and listens to the wind blowing through the trees.
Return of the Prodigal Mom
When drugs and alcohol led Debra to walk away from her 10-year-old daughter, would she ever get a second chance?
Even at the age of 22, Debra was ill-prepared for motherhood. She could barely read or write, she never knew her father, her mother hated her, and she had no friends.
“Growing up, I was the girl everyone called ugly, ignorant, and stupid,” Debra recalls. By the time she gave birth to her daughter, Angel, in 1979, Debra had already endured an abortion, nearly died from syphilis, and was brutally raped. Nurturing love was never part of the picture. “I tried to raise Angel the best I could,” she says. “But I was drinking a lot and using speed so I could work enough hours to make some money. I was lost. And I just started leaving her with a babysitter more and more.
When Angel was eight, she asked Debra, “Mommy do you love me? How come you don’t talk to me anymore?”
That tore Debra apart. She knew she was putting Angel through the same emotional trauma she had grown up with – something Debra sore she would never do. “So I did the only thing I could,” Debra says through tears. “I gave her up to a foster family where I knew she would get the stability and love I couldn’t give her. I’ll never forget when we had to say goodbye. Angel said, ‘Mommy, it’s OK. Mommies are allowed to make mistakes because mommies are human too. You’ll get better.’”
Over the next 20 years, Debra continued to struggle with drugs, alcohol and homelessness, and Angel wanted little to do with her. But in November 2009, Debra finally found hope, recovery, and healing at Union Rescue Mission. She gave up drugs and alcohol, learned to read and write, experienced God’s healing love – and prayed ro find her daughter.
In the summer of 2010, her prayers were answered. She found Angel.
“I’m proud to say Angel and I are doing better than ever,” Debra says. “She talks to me like I’m her mother and asks for my advice! It’s like a dream. I’m so grateful for this chance to give Angel the love and support I should have given her all along. If it wasn’t for Union Rescue Mission, I wouldn’t have my daughter back in my life. She means everything to me and she’s everything I live for.”
Helping mothers like Maria and Debra is important to me. That’s probably because my own mother, Joanie, is a special mom. My dad taught me to stick up for justice – Mom showed me how to do it.
It was my mom who gave me an inflated self-esteem that causes me to take on the world. She dedicated me to the Lord when I was born, and from then on she made me think I could do anything. And she still tells me that.
I watched Mom run a thrift store when my dad worked at a mission. Her sensitivity and deep love for hurting people filled my own heart with that same care. And her fiery passion encouraged me to fight for them, too. And at the age of 75, she still volunteers for a clothing ministry at her church.
She’s the reason I care for the mothers here so much. And I am proud to say, Union Rescue Mission is the only rescue mission in Los Angeles that not only houses women and children but enables them to climb out of poverty and homelessness.
I am always grateful for friends like you who support the Union Rescue Mission to end homelessness in LA and transform lives through the power of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who gives us hope that new life can come from death.
Please take a moment to watch this short video of Walter, one of our graduates, speak on what Easter means to him. No matter what the circumstances, Jesus has the power to save.
Many of the valuable life lessons needed to survive in the world are learned outside of a traditional classroom. There are key components in addition to school such as developing dreams and goals, becoming well-rounded individuals, and learning from all different walks of life and professions that can make a person more successful. This is exactly what Christopher Kai had in mind when he began his weekly “Life Skills” class for teens at URM in September 2010.
Each Monday night, Chris brings in guest speakers in addition to teaching his own classes – they have ranged from an entrepreneur, a singer, a child psychologist, a security expert, a graphic designer, a special ED teacher, a college admissions counselor, an NFL football player, a fashion designer, an LA Times writer and more.
He aims to actively engage the small group in learning, whether it is having them pretend to be blind or stand up straight when they are practicing public speaking.
The goal is that by the end of the class, students have learned something about the schooling, career choice, and overall perspective on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of each speaker. He volunteers to hold this class for an hour each week in the hopes that students going through a hard time with struggles now will realize that those struggles can be used in a positive way for their future successes.
Christopher Kai is an author of a self-published college-success guide as well as a speaker and professional songwriter.
Life Transformation is one of the main ideas we focus on here at URM, from men’s programs, to women’s programs, and families. This week, we were honored to celebrate the graduation of 5 women from our 2nd Step Women’s Program.
We were blessed with awesome music thanks to Francisco “Chico” diaz, our special guest singer. And Ms. Carol Picott delivered an encourageing message to our graduatin ladies about what it looks like to be a vessel of Honor for the Lord. At the end, we got to see our graduating ladies dance their way into the next season of their lives.
Congratulations to these 5 new graduates – they have worked hard and we wish them the best as they continue their journeys. Thanks to everyone who made this graduation possible!
