This morning ,the Assistance League of Southern California and Union Rescue Mission along with over 30 volunteers joined together to provide some much needed back-to-school assistance to children on Skid Row.
A fully outfitted 53-foot trailer was loaded with school clothes, back packs, and supplies to hand out to over 200 school-aged kids!
The UCLA School of Nursing and Jules Stein Mobile Eye Van also provided children with their required immunizations, physicals and eye exams.
Union Rescue Mission CEO, Andy Bales said “We are so thankful to the Assistance League of Southern California for equipping our precious children for school. Our hope for their future as educated, productive world-changers is greatly enhanced by this wonderful opportunity”.
Last week, BBC America came to URM to meet some of our guests, interview Andy Bales, and experience life on the streets of Skid Row. Click here to watch the segment they featured on air last night!
A few weeks ago, we were honored to have Andre Ethier join us for lunch. Along with some great people from Farmer Johns, he served up Farmer Johns hotdogs and signed autographs, handed out Dodger blankets, and took pictures with guests. Everyone had a great time!
In this short video Andre explains why he feels so passionately about URM – check it out!
This month has been busy here at URM – we’ve been blessed with amazing sponsors, great food, and celebrity guests helping to make the end of summer a good one. August has also brought us high temps, and we have been busy hitting the streets to deliver cold water to our neighbors on Skid Row.
Please take a moment to watch the August update, and hear all about our fun-filled month!
Recently, Project Night Night donated over 50 “Night Night Packages” to our kids here at URM. The organization, whose mission is to provide packages, free of charge ,to children experiencing homelessness from birth to preteen who need their essentials to feel secure, cozy, ready to learn, and significant, donates to hundreds of shelters across the United States. On average, they deliver Night Night Packages to about 25,000 children each year!
Each Night Night Package contains a new security blanket, an age-appropriate children’s book, and a stuffed animal — all nestled inside of a new canvas tote bag.
We are so thankful to Project Night Night for providing such a sweet gift to the children at URM!
Summers in Southern California can get hot, but for the people on Skid Row, the heat can be excruciatingly painful, and even life-threatening. That’s why we go out every time the temperature is 85 degrees or more to hand out bottles of cold water to our neighbors on Skid Row. It’s amazing what something as seemingly small as giving a bottle of water on a hot day can do to someone who feels alone, exhausted, and unloved.
To learn more, text WATERWALK to 27138 to subscribe to text message updates. You can also contact our volunteer department at 213-347-6300, ext. 1143 for more information if you would like to join us on a water walk. And be sure to check out our latest edition of The Mission featuring Carlos – a man who was touched by the water walk and his since graduated from the URM Men’s Life Transformation Program!
Sixteen years of heroin and Skid Row summers took Carlos’ life away. A simple act of kindness gave it back — thanks to people like you.
Growing up in Santa Ana, my stepfather abused me, so I left home at the age of 12 and ended up on the streets. I was hurt, angry, frustrated, and filled with hate. But at the age of 17, I discovered heroin. It took all my pain away. Before long, however, it also took all my life.
In 1992, I ended up on Skid Row, living like an animal on the sidewalks. Every day was the same: I’d wake up and get my fix of heroin. Then I’d hustle all day to get another fix every three or four hours, until 10 o’clock at night when I’d collapse on the hard, unforgiving sidewalk, exhausted again.
But the long, hot summers on Skid Row were especially hard. Despite the brutal heat, restaurants and stores won’t give you water, there aren’t any drinking fountains, and all the water taps are locked. Somehow I survived 16 summers on Skid Row.
But by August 2008, I was not only thirsty, I was tired of my whole life. I knew I had to change or I’d die.That’s when some people came by and handed me a bottle of cold water. I asked them what organization they were with. They said Union Rescue Mission. The very next day I came here and completely surrendered my life to God.
Thanks to Union Rescue Mission, today I’m in college studying psychology so I can one day be a substance abuse counselor. I want to help other people like me get back on the right path.
Today I thank God, because a bottle of cold water and a simple act of kindness changed my life forever.
** In loving memory of Carlos Godoy, 2/26/1965 to 8/19/2010. **
Bottled Love
Surviving on Skid Row is hard enough any time of year. But during the summer, when temperatures rise to 90 or 100, life is particularly brutal.
Often people who are addicted and living on these streets — like Carlos — are more focused on looking for their next fix than asking somebody for a drink of water.
Right now, there are people literally dying on the streets. That’s why, every summer, the Union Rescue Mission goes into life-saving mode to make sure people don’t die of dehydration or overheating. Any time it’s over 85 degrees, we go out at 3 o’clock and hand out 1,500 bottles of ice-cold water to folks on the street.
This is one of the ways we reach out to people on Skid Row and remind them that we’re here and available to them — and remind them that God loves them right where they’re at. When we do, many of these precious souls are convinced that we care, and they come in to the mission to give life another try.
We hope through these efforts that not one human being will be left on the streets of Skid Row. That’s our goal.
Please join us on Saturday, September 11th for our first ever “You Are the Mission Service Day”! We are inviting everyone in LA to roll up their sleeves, come down to Skid Row and make an impact.
Today, URM guests enjoyed delicious chicken sandwiches for lunch thanks to the popular restaurant Chick-Fil-A.
We are honored that Chick-fil-A has selected Union Rescue Mission as the launch site to celebrate their new restaurant that just opened in Los Angeles. As CEO Andy Bales said, “We are looking forward to developing a long-term relationship with an organization like Chick-fil-A that shares the same values as URM.”
