Be sure to Read Lucy’s Article on the Reuter’s Photographers Blog and engage in the conversation about fighting homelessness among children.

Also, be sure to check out MSNBC’s Phot Blog for more on the topic.

We would like to thank Lucy Nicholson (@lucy_nicholson) for taking the time to share about the issue of homelessness among children and women and invite you to join the conversation on putting an end to homelessness.

Hats off to South Pasadena High School Teacher Ruth Moonesinghe and her Calculus students for making a difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness this weekend by hosting “Charity Tutoring” at South Pasadena High School!  For a $20 donation to Union Rescue Mission, over 125 students received up to 3 hours of tutoring in Math, Algebra, Math Analysis, Calculus or Statistics.  Approximately 50 teachers, parents and students volunteered their time handling everything from publicity, to registration to tutoring.  The event raised over $2500 for Union Rescue Mission which was presented to Jacqui Groseth, Vice President of Marketing and Development at the close of the event.

URM is extremely grateful to all of those who made this event possible.  It is through the willing hearts of these individuals that a life can be transformed!

April 1^st of 2011, Union Rescue Mission, in some eyes, made a controversial decision to ask our guests who were able, to begin paying part of their way.  The decision was made with a lot of thought, planning, and prayer.

There is no question that the economy was a factor in the decision, but it goes much deeper than that.

Let me start by saying that I have long believed in guests paying part of their own way thanks to the influence of the grandfather of Christian Community Development, Dr. John Perkins, and his book, “Let Justice Roll Down.”   John taught me that the dignity of people is affirmed when they can pay their own way, at least in part, instead of having everything handed down to them as charity.  John and I both feel that people are empowered when they can learn to provide for themselves.

I also had the distinct opportunity to begin my Missions career at the Door of Faith Mission in Des Moines.  A Mission, I quickly learned that was ahead of its time.  My prior Missions’ experience was as a teenager accompanying my dad.  He would preach and I would sing.  We’d walk into a Mission he was scheduled to preach at , see the guys lined up, many of them intoxicated, and then watch as they moved to an area where they had to sit and listen to a message (my dad and I) before they could eat.  Routinely we would see a fellow fall out of his chair.  After the message, the men would be served a piece of day old bread and some watery soup, before they were allowed to go to bed for the night.  That was the picture I had of a Mission as I walked in to The Door of Faith Mission to apply for a job as the Associate Director 25 years ago.

However, when I entered the Door of Faith, I noticed that the guys were all sober, neat and clean, and the food portions were substantial.  I was intrigued.  I learned that the Founder of the Door of Faith, George Holloway had experienced homelessness for 37 years.  He had travelled the country and experienced Missions first hand.  He found Christ at either the LA Mission or Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles.  And, when he arrived in Des Moines, he decided to start a Mission that was unique.  George felt that it was hard to get sober when surrounded by people who were drinking or using so he had an expectation of sobriety, and instituted a breath test, and later I added drug testing to assist.  George also felt that men would feel better about themselves if they worked and paid a part of their own way, so he instituted a $6 a day fee, and this produced about 1/3 of the needed income for the Mission each day, while the other 2/3rds came from generous individuals and partner churches.  I later instituted a gradually rising daily fee after 3 months so that around 6 months later, when men began to pay $8 per day, they began to consider relocating to nearby apartments. George also believed that feeding men well helped them battle their addiction and strengthened them to go out and work hard to earn their pay, so he moved from what was known as soup kitchens to serving heaping portions at what we later called “The Faith Café”.

As I arrived at Union Rescue Mission nearly seven years ago, an impressive, historic place with a long tradition, I brought this idea of paying your own way with me.  When I brought up the idea in my interview, I could tell it was met with a look of “We’ve never done it that way!”, so I dropped it until I at least got hired! J

Four years later, when the economy worsened and our finances tightened, I broached the subject again.  It was again met with skepticism, caution, and the idea was put on hold.

Probably 18 months ago, the recession was putting a squeeze on URM and our future was not at all certain.  I was being pressed by the Board of Directors to come up with a strong sustainability plan, and as part of the sustainability plan, I introduced a Pilot Program, the Gateway Program, to implement with only 10%, or 50 of our guest beds,  ½  on the women’s side, and ½ on the men’s side.  To assist in my proposal, I shared with the Board that the idea came not just from me, but from one of our front line staff members, who was frustrated that many of our guests had substantial incomes, even more than $1000 per month, yet they would fritter away and use up all of their funds in a few short days and rely on the charity of URM the rest of the month for their meals and bed. This hurt our not highly paid staff member to see this charity taken advantage of.

I was allowed to implement the Gateway program into 10% of our guest beds.  It worked like this; guests who had an income from Social Security, Social Security Disability, Veteran’s benefits, or General Relief would pay $7 per day, of which $2 would be placed into their personal savings fund.  The extra $5 would pay for more intense case management for the guest, there would be an expectation of sobriety, attendance at some educational and life transforming classes, we would add a foot locker under their bunk so that their belongings would be safe and secure, and they would be allowed to rest in their bunks at any time rather than retreating to the guest area each day.  I blogged about the pilot program, Twittered and Facebooked in hopes of alerting the public of the change and receiving most of the questions and criticism up front during the trial rather than later when I hoped to fully implement this program.  We did make the news and received  good questions and some criticism up front.

We operated the 50 beds this way for a number of months, and then an even greater financial squeeze came on URM and even more pressure for a stronger sustainability plan came from the Board of Directors, and the only additional step that I could think of was to broaden  the Gateway Program from Pilot to full implementation to all 300 guest beds. This would not only implement what I always believed as a philosophy, but would also produce about $40,000 of much needed funds each month; equal to 1 day of our operating budget.  I also strongly believed it would have great benefit to our guests.

I’ve always believed that if you had 1000 beds for people to crash in any condition, you’d have 1000 people crashing in any condition, and if you had 1000 beds with high expectations for people to help themselves, you’d have 1000 people working hard and helping themselves.

We began to alert our guests of the change 90 days out.  Again, I blogged about the success of the pilot and the coming change.  We also invited community activists and bloggers in to discuss the change.  One supported it strongly while others had doubts, but at least we had informed them of the coming change.  Believe it or not, on April 1^st, we instituted the change.

Men were grabbing the communications off of the wall and trashing them in disgust, saying, “is this a cruel April 1^st joke?”  One man asked me, “What are you trying to do to me?”  I replied, “I’m trying to get you to help yourself and I am trying to keep this place open for all!”  “OK”, was his response.

So, on April 1^st, 2011, the worsening economy provided the opportunity to implement this new approach at URM.  We eased it in with good planning and care. The first 5 days are free for all, allowing folks to decide between the Gateway Program, our free long-term Life Transformation programs in which they will not pay fees but they will invest a lot of time and effort, or relocating elsewhere. Immediately, our guest bed count went from 300 to 170, and dropped off especially significantly on our women’s side which surprised me. The women, many of whom had substantial resources, were more reluctant to give part of their resources and chose the cold sidewalk rather than handing over any of their income.  This was and is heartbreaking to me.

However, many of the remaining guests came to me and said, “What you’ve done has transformed the Mission. Everyone who was causing problems and not working on their lives left and only those who care and want to try stayed.” Or “You’ve turned this place from a den of anger and rebellion to a place of peace.”

I was encouraged, but it was not without controversy.  During a drive back through the mountains from vacation I received an alarming call from a big radio station about our “charging rent” to URM guests.  This was followed by news agencies from all around, including the LA Times, NPR, and others inquiring about this new approach and it was difficult, though not impossible to share that it was not just the recession that brought this about, but a firm philosophy that we believe that people feel better about themselves and are empowered when they pay a portion of their own way.

The Results:

Soon, the numbers began to grow and today we have 295 guests.  132 men and 86 women are paying the fee.  Another 58 men and 24 women are in the 5 day free period, and a few without an income of any kind are allowed to stay if they volunteer a few hours a week.

The number of men enrolling in our long-term program has risen 20% and 100 of our Gateway guests have secured permanent housing and moved on since implementation.  Our emergency and police calls have been greatly reduced, and with this change and one other, we’ve been able to lower our security costs.  Our front-line staff thanks me each day for reducing their workload, their stress and their efforts to keep the mission in clean working order.

The other change also goes back to the Door of Faith.  At the Door of Faith, we fed guests staying with us 3 times a day, but the outside public only once, at lunch.  URM had been feeding overnight guests and outside public visitors 3 times per day.  At times it was dangerous and our daily meal count was quickly approaching 5000 due to the recession, a number that might not be sustainable and might take us under.  So, we moved from feeding outside guests 3 times per day to only once, at lunch.  In hindsight, it was wise that we did, because even with that move, our meals are only down 15% from last year.  Can you imagine the numbers we would be feeding if we were still offered 3 meals per day to outside visitors?  This also goes with my philosophy, that simply letting folks be on the street and report for 3 meals a day with no expectations is not helpful to them.  Now we utilize the 3 hour window at lunchtime, 12 to 3, to recruit our outside guests and invite them to become part of URM and enjoy the 3 meals and all that comes with being part of our Gateway Program or Life Transformation Programs.

Despite the positive impact we are seeing, we’ve heard that a radical activist group, LA CAN, is preparing to sue us over our Gateway Program. They’ve even handed out flyers to our guests telling them that LA CAN will assist them in suing us for charging “rent”.  All I can say is that some times when certain people attack you it is affirmation that you are doing the right thing.

Blessings, Andy B.

Kimberly’s Full-Circle Life

My mom did her best, but as an alcoholic trying to raise eight kids, it was hard. However, we all graduated from high school, and none of my siblings ever turned to drugs or alcohol — except me.

I was 17 when I learned my new boyfriend was a drug dealer. I started selling crack cocaine for him, then I started to smoke it as well. And just as I started using, my mom passed away, my nephew died of cancer, and my boyfriend got shot and died right in front of me. I blamed myself because I believed that somehow my drug use caused their deaths. To cope, I just used more drugs.

By the time I was 37 I had six daughters, I was sick with lupus, tired, hopelessly addicted, and I knew if I continued on the same path, I’d die.

I went to Union Rescue Mission for help. I literally fell to my knees, crying for God to deliver and save me. And He did.

Today I’ve been sober for eight years and I have a great job working at a nonprofit organization that helps addicted and underprivileged people in Los Angeles. I also have my own home, my three oldest daughters are in college, and life has never been better.

But I want to do more. Union Rescue Mission gave me the chance to live a new life; and now I want to give other women that same chance. So today I’m getting ready to go back to Union Rescue Mission — to volunteer my time to help and encourage other women like me. I want to show them that if I can do it, they can, too.

I’m so grateful God gave me the strength to get my life back — and for giving me the chance to help other women get their lives back, as well.

It’s Union Rescue Mission’s 120th Birthday!

We are celebrating 120 years of NEW BEGINNINGS that compassionate friends like you have made possible — because YOU are the Mission. To help us celebrate, please follow these 3 easy steps to create your personal fundraising page to support Union Rescue Mission even more.

1.  Go to urm.org/120
2.  Create your own personal fundraising page
3.  Share your page via email, Facebook, and other social networks.

Invite friends and family to donate at least $10 each. 12 Friends x $10 = $120

We will use your birthday gift to help feed, shelter, and restore precious souls experiencing homelessness. Thank you!

The Miracles of New Life

I first met Kimberly shortly after she arrived at Union Rescue Mission with her beautiful young daughters.

Kimberly’s life was in shambles. I can’t imagine the nightmare she lived through or what she felt when she hit rock bottom and came to Skid Row seeking help. But she not only succeeded in building a brand new life, she’s now coming back to Union Rescue Mission to help others succeed as well.

Everything we do at Union Rescue Mission is designed to turn lives around like Kimberly’s. But it’s never easy. First, they must be strong enough to fight through the pain that life change demands. It also takes quality staff here at the Mission who give them the tools they need to succeed. Of course, it takes a miracle of God, as well. But finally, it also takes caring people like you. Your ongoing support makes it all possible. If any of these ingredients are missing, change doesn’t happen.

Stories like Kimberly’s are miracles. So at the beginning of this New Year, thank you for participating in the miracles of new life we see every day at Union Rescue Mission.

Blessings,

Rev. Andy Bales, CEO, Union Rescue Mission

Secrets and Highs

When I came to Union Rescue Mission a year ago, I had no self-respect and no dignity. I had lost everything that mattered to me. I was a broken man — with a lifelong secret.

I was just 6 years old when a teenage girl sexually molested me. When I told my parents, they didn’t believe me. The whole experience left me so traumatized, I started to stutter. And I’ve never been able to stop.

All through school, I got into fights because of my speech impediment. But when I turned 18, I discovered crystal meth — and I felt a rush of power and liberation I’d never experienced before. I didn’t care how I talked or what anyone thought of me anymore. From that first line, I was hooked.

Over the next 18 years, I got married, had three kids and held all kinds of jobs — and I lost every one of them due to my addiction.

My wife threatened to leave me many times, but I was always able to manipulate her into staying. I disappointed her time and again.

I wanted to change. I wanted to be the husband and father she believed I could be. I even went to rehab. Twice. But nothing worked. As long as I held on to my secret, I could not control my addiction.

By July 2010, I was no longer working, my wife and kids had finally left me, and I was losing my mind. One day I woke up on Skid Row, where someone literally took me by the hand and led me to Union Rescue Mission. That day I gave my life to God. In the Mission, I went into counseling, and for the first time, I started talking about my molestation, shame, and years of stuttering. I cried like never before. In time, I forgave the girl who did that to me and forgave everyone who never believed me. And I forgave myself.

Today, I have been sober for more than a year. God has given me back my dignity, self-respect, and even my wife and family. I no longer live in shame — even my stuttering has decreased.

As I head into 2012, I am a new creation in Christ. And my New Year’s wish? I’m going to college to learn how to help at-risk youths deal with their struggles and addictions. But mostly, I just want to stay clean and be the best husband and dad I can be — for the first time in my life

Watch a powerful testimony of Jose’s life Transformation here.

Help End 2011 Strong

Many of our Skid Row neighbors have little hope that their lives will be different in the coming year. In our present economy, how can they hope for something better to come?

Yet throughout our Mission in downtown Los Angeles, and among our families at Hope Gardens — hurting men, women, and children are gaining the skills, courage, and strength they need to hope again. That’s what your gifts mean — hope, as a strong foundation to start their lives over again. Thank you!

Your gift will provide shelter, warm clothes, hot meals — and hope for the New Year.

So I urge you, please send the most generous gift you can today. Thank you!

Click here to help us finish 2011 strong!

Since California’s economy tanked in 2008, the number of people seeking help at Union Rescue Mission has swelled to epic proportions, while our income has fallen to frightening levels. And economic experts predict 2012 will only be worse.

For three-and-a-half years, we tried to meet the needs of everyone experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles and it almost took us under. It’s painful to admit we can’t help everyone. But, we simply don’t have the resources.

That’s why, as we head into 2012, we are determined to focus only on what we do best — helping people who truly want to change their lives through the power of Jesus Christ, by helping folks who want to heal past wounds, get sober, find jobs, and re-enter society healthy and whole.

We won’t save everyone. But we know that hundreds of folks who come through our doors every year will live exceedingly better lives than when they first arrived. I believe that when we do our best, and our guests do their best, God performs a miracle. I expect to see a lot of miracles in 2012.

Blessings,

Rev. Andy Bales, CEO, Union Rescue Mission

Yesterday, December 19th, Union Rescue Mission was announced as one of the winners of the “12 Days of Giving” Facebook Campaign sponsored by the Walmart Foundation.

“This incredible gift of love from Walmart comes right on time during a season of great need,” said Reverend Andy Bales, CEO of Union Rescue Mission. “What a difference you’ve made in the lives of our precious families.”

URM would like to thank any one who nominated us for this grant as well as the Walmart Foundation for making a difference in the lives of those experiencing homelessness.

Parents and kids alike were given the opportunity to come in and shop for each-other.  Our wonderful volunteers took the shoppers through the booths to help them find the perfect gift for their loved ones.

Santa was able to take some time out of his busy schedule and make an appearance.  The kids were absolutely thrilled to get a chance to meet Santa and get a picture with him.

This wonderful event would not have been possible without the help of our wonderful volunteers and all of the individuals, businesses, and churches who have put on toy drives to collect gifts for our guests.  You are deeply appreciated.  Your generosity went a long way and put huge smiles on the faces of many.

As we close in on Christmas Day, we hope that each and everyone of you has a wonderful Christmas remembering the things in life that are truly and deeply important.

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours from URM.

God bless!

For more pictures please Visit the Album Here.

This past weekend, Help Portrait, with over 300 locations around the world, blessed individuals with the gift of a picture.  There were five Help Portrait locations in LA.  URM was blessed to be one of them.  Over 40 volunteers photographed over 80 people and distributed the photos to the subjects.  These photos tell stories of redemption, reconciliation, gratitude, and love.

Please take a moment to view the pictures and read the powerful captions written by the subjects.

A big Thank you goes out to Help Portrait LA for partnering with URM for a 2nd year and blessing the men, women, and children of URM who are experiencing homelessness this Christmas season.

This past weekend brought together a group of enthusiasts, old and young alike, who all share a passion for Remote Control Cars.  It isn’t every day you get to watch RC cars speed around a dirt track at speeds up to 50 mph, hitting jumps that take them a good 12 feet in the air.

It was an exciting day at the races as renown RC car drivers such as Adam and Ronda Drake, and Cody King  gave the crowd quite a show.  But more importantly, drivers from all over the country who came to Revelation Raceway generously donated toys to be given away at Union Rescue Mission’s Christmas Store event coming up this Thursday and Friday.

A huge THANK YOU goes out to Revelation Raceway for putting on this event, and to all the drivers who generously donated toys to bless youth and families experiencing homelessness this holiday season.  Special thanks to Dana, owner of Revelation Raceway, for his partnership with Union Rescue Mission in our 2nd annual Toy Drive Race to support the URM Christmas Store.

Christmas Store allows families in need to shop for their children for free – we have a Main Store for parents to shop for their kids, while kids get to spend time in the Kids Store shopping for mom and dad, taking a picture with Santa, making crafts and more!

If you are interested in volunteering, please click the link(s) below that corresponds with the time(s) you are available. You will need to enter all your individual information in order to be registered; if you are coming as part of a group, please make sure each individual registers through these links. If you have any questions, please email volunteer@urm.org

Thursday, December 15^th from 8am-12:30pm –www.urm.org/christmasstorethursday8am

Thursday, December 15^th from 12pm-5pm — www.urm.org/christmasstorethursday12pm

Friday, December 16^th from 8am-12:30pm — www.urm.org/christmasstorefriday8am

Friday, December 16^th from 12pm-6pm — www.urm.org/christmasstorefriday12pm