The Donor: The Reluctant Hero
Bruce, a retired TV/film sound engineer, has been a URM donor as long as he can remember.
Bruce has never forgotten the days when his single mother struggled to make ends meet. “If my mother didn’t have relatives we could stay with, we would have needed the kind of help Union Rescue Mission gives people today,” he says.
Perhaps it’s that memory that led Bruce to start donating to Union Rescue Mission more than 40 years ago. Today, Bruce’s commitment to URM is legendary. And sinc he retired in 2004, his dedication to URM has grown.
“There’s a lot of pressure when you retire,” Bruce says. “What are you going to do? A good day is when I help somebody. What other delight are you going to get?”
Bruce takes financial giving seriously. He’s arranged to leave most of his estate to URM when he is gone; and he’s determined to double the amount of his monthly giving. “Anybody who donates money wants to see it used well,” Bruce says. “URM has been here for a long time. More important, it is a Christian mission with people o great faith, and they’re helping people all over Los Angeles with basic needs like food and shelter. And I believe that’s where all charity starts.”
When URM’s Andy Bales sent Bruce a personal letter regarding the growing tsunami of homelessness in Los Angeles, Bruce wrote Andy his own note of encouragement — along with a check twice his usual giving.
But don’t call him a hero. “I may be involved. I may be enthusiastic. But I’m not a hero. I really think what I’m giving to URM is peanuts. I only wish I could devote more,” he says.
Bruce’s Heroes: I am an incurable romantic. My first hero was the Lone Ranger, a guy who rides in and fixes everything. Later it was Cesar Chavez, who dedicated his whole life to lifting an entire class of people out of poverty to make their living better.