This summer, the kids at URM are learning lots of fun ways to stay active thanks to one of our great volunteers. Ana Dewar has been coming down three times a week to hold fun activities for the kids as part of her project to receive the Going for the Gold Award from Girl Scouts.
Ana has been dedicated in creating fun activities for all ages that focus on health and fitness for youth.
Today, the kids went to the roof for hula hooping! Everyone had a great time, especially 5-year old Bernadette (above) who was very enthusiasitc about learning to hula hoop!
Thanks to Ana for bringing fun and fitness to the kids this summer!
Tomorrow, 20 tons of snow will fall in Downtown LA! Subway restaurants are sponsoring our 8th Annual Christmas in July celebration.
Nearly 200 kids will enjoy snow ball fights, carnival games, face painting, cotton candy, gifts from Santa and more! Subway is also providing lunch for everyone.
Union Rescue Mission CEO, Rev. Andy Bales said “I don’t know what I look forward to the most, the 20 tons of snow or the smiles on the children’s faces. Santa, snow, toys, lots of snacks and food go a long way in helping children forget, even for a little while, that they are living in a shelter and not their own home. I am thankful to SUBWAY for providing this great time for our kids”.
Festivities will get underway promptly at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 in the San Julian parking lot located just behind the Union Rescue Mission, 545 South San Pedro Street, in Los Angeles. (On San Julian Street between 5th & 6th Streets).
For media inquiries, please contact Kitty Davis-Walker at (213) 673-4585 or (213) 507-5562, email: kwalker@urm.org
Yesterday, our guests got to enjoy some live music during their lunch! Mike Sullivan, a singer/songwriter who plays the harmonica and the guitar, came in to bless people at the Union Rescue Mission with his musical talents. Mike has performed at over 200 colleges on a nationwide tour, opend for Taylor Dane, a multi-platinum artist, and enjoys giving back by performing at places such as children’s hospitals, and now URM!
Thanks so much to Mike Sullivan for performing some beautiful music and brightening our lunch! You can learn more about Mike on his website, www.mikesullivanband.com.
Be inspired by 2 of our volunteers, Sean Stewart and Chantel Dreesen, who created a soccer clinic for our kids. Sean and Chantel have been coming down every Tuesday afternoon to play soccer here at URM. Please take a moment to watch this short film we made to thank them!
On Saturday May 21st, URM and Hope Gardens welcomed over 180 Wells Fargo volunteers to the 3rd Annual Wells Fargo Act of Kindness Day. Teams of volunteers worked on every floor of the downtown URM facility serving the needs of our many guests.
These volunteers brought not only eagerness to serve, but also huge amounts of donations for our URM guests. Volunteers from Wells Fargo donated a total of 2062 packs of diapers, 1298 pairs of socks, 270 sticks of deodorant and 228 toiletries from a drive they coordinated on their own.
Thanks to generous donations from Wells Fargo, URM was able to build a new playground area for the children of the Mission. We dedicated our new Children’s Rooftop Playground on Saturday with an informal ribbon cutting and are so grateful for Wells Fargo’s support.
The volunteers then spent the morning deep cleaning the halls of each floor, painting planters on the roof, hosting kids activities in the gymnasium, putting together sack lunches in the kitchen, and serving ice cream to the guests. Volunteers served the Skid Row residents as well, handing out water bottles and sack lunches. A few volunteers also taught a class to single mothers on the importance of banking and finance.
The day ended with a BBQ dinner and karaoke on the roof for both volunteers and families staying at URM. With music playing, everyone enjoyed themselves during this time of fellowship and fun.
While the event took place at the downtown URM location, 24 volunteers from Wells Fargo served our Hope Gardens location. Together they cleared our hiking trail, cleaned and sealed the stone walls, and replace old tables in the senior center.
Thank you to Wells Fargo and every one of the volunteers that came to serve URM this past weekend. We were blessed by your kindness and hard work!
Women and men guests of Union Rescue Mission were treated Monday afternoon with a Grooming and Beauty Day. The event was hosted by The Church of Love and Unity Christan Fellowship in the guest chapels. Stations were set up for men’s haircuts, women’s hair styling, makeup, facials, and manicures. Thirty men and thirty women took part in this Day of Beauty Make Over’s spa, in the spirit of this Mothers Day coming up this Sunday!
Volunteers prayed with the women as they finished up their makeovers and sent them off with a smile on their face.
Thank you to the Church of Love & Unity for gifting our mothers and guest men with this service for the third year!
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!
This past week, Union Rescue Mission welcomed a group of 19 college students to the mission. Resonate Church, from Pullman, Washington and Moscow, Idaho, has for the past few years offered a Spring Break missions trip to Los Angeles, bringing them to URM.
Staying in tents on the roof, this group devoted themselves to serving the mission in any way they could. The students worked daily, serving breakfast and lunch in the kitchen, beginning at 6 a.m. They also helped in our recent renovation of the roof, putting together new lawn furniture.
During their breaks, the group volunteered their time in the Women’s Day Room. Laura Slatemaker proposed the idea of offering manicures to the women. The women loved it, lining up excitedly for their chance to receive a manicure. These students were able to serve the women for two afternoons and gave every woman have a chance to get their nails done.
Thank you to Chad McMillan and Rachel Tweet and their group for all their work and joy they brought to the women and kitchen of URM last week.
Sisters Jazmine and Aundria are two returning volunteers of the Glendale winter shelter. They first heard about the winter shelter efforts though their local church and came the next day to offer their help. Having gone through tough situations of their own, they both know what it feels like to need help. This connection with the guests gives the sisters a reason to keep coming back and doing as much as they can for the shelter.
“I like to help people and this is the perfect place to help people out a lot,” says Jazmine. In addition to preparing and serving dinner, they gathered unused clothes from home and donated them to the guests. The donated clothes, as they pointed out, can now be seen being worn by guests all around the room.
Over the past months they have connected with the guests and become close with many. “When they see us come in to serve, they all get really happy,” said Aundria.
Check back tomorrow to hear of another story from the Glendale winter shelter. If you are interested in being a volunteer, like Jazmine and Aundria, click here for more information.
The Women’s Group of Faith Community in Covina hosted a wonderful Kids Party on Saturday for all the children, and their families, at URM!
The gym was transformed into a fun zone, with games, music, free-throw contests, photo booths, hoola hooping, face painting and more! The kids had a blast, and didn’t want it to end. The ladies of Faith Community generously supplied everyone with pizzas for lunch, which was a great ending to a great morning of fun.
Thanks to Faith Community and everyone who made this escape from life on Skid Row possible for our kids!
