Special thanks to all who have responded to our plea for help as we face tremendous challenges.

As you know, we have taken on the great challenge of opening up Hope Gardens Family Center this past year. Though it has been a tough year to open up a new facility and program, we are thankful that 42 women and their children, representing over 100 individuals, have had their lives positively impacted forever. Since its opening in June last year, 6 families have successfully moved on to permanent supportive housing and, currently, 27 moms, 56 children, and 23 elderly women are living a life of hope at Hope Gardens Family Center. One graduate told me that the smiles have returned to her sons’ faces – making the struggle worth it all!

We have the opportunity now to complete two more buildings, and then we will nearly double the capacity at Hope Gardens Family Center, bringing smiles to the faces of nearly 100 more precious people.

We not only opened up Hope Gardens Family Center, but we also kept Union Rescue Mission home base strong – graduating more men this year from our Christian Life Discipleship Program than we have in recent years. Our women’s program has grown and improved by leaps and bounds, and we graduated our first 14 ladies in caps and gowns in a joy and tear-filled event. We continue to welcome guest men, women, and women with children, feed over 2300 meals per day, and assist folks in transitioning from the streets and prisons to working as productive members of society.

This year we took on the winter shelters when others did not want to take the challenge on. Through, EIMAGO, our own public benefits charity, we were funded by the City/County partnership, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, to open up armories in West LA, Culver City, and Burbank, and assist 570 more Los Angeles folks in getting off the streets and out of the winter weather.

I am amazed that all of this has been accomplished in a year where we have been on a financial mountain climb, to say the least. Gas prices, food prices, and the unfortunate fires in neighborhoods across Los Angeles have all had an impact on our donors and our own expenses here at Union Rescue Mission.

Lately, I have faced many sleepless nights, wondering where our next dollar will come from, concerned about keeping our staff employed and paid, and our God-given guests fed. We are so fortunate to have friends who listen to God’s heart and then respond with gifts just in time to keep this work going. I feel blessed to have friends like former URM CEO Warren Currie, who sends me messages to PERSEVERE, and our own Board Chairman David Dow, who reminds me of how bleak things looked last Spring when we were down to our last dollar and faced with even tougher circumstances while we fought for the right to move our moms and children to a life of hope at Hope Gardens Family Center. I am encouraged to persevere and I hope you are too. Please keep us in your prayers! Andy B.

The Los Angeles City Council voted this morning to make the dropping off of a homeless patient a misdemeanor crime in the City of Los Angeles.

We have had a long history of distressed, confused, and very ill patients dropped off on the streets of Skid Row and at our Mission.

Four years ago, a woman was dropped off by a hospital with an IV in her arm and, 10 minutes later, passed away in our guest area from pneumonia. This caused Union Rescue Mission to place cameras on our front entrance so we could document these hospital drop-offs.

Then, in March of 2006, an elderly woman, Carol Reyes, was dropped off by a cab to wander the streets in front of our Mission, and we rescued her from the great danger that she faced. This was all caught on tape. The video of that ordeal was sent all over the world by the news media and played on CNN, 60 Minutes, Dateline, and in the movie SICKO, to name a few.

Just last week a confused gentleman, struggling with mental health issues, was driven 42 miles from a hospital in Orange County and dropped off around the corner from our Mission, on these mean streets of Skid Row. He was lost for a time but, thankfully, was reunited with his family and is now safe in a Board and Care home.

A State law against “hospital dumping” was proposed and made it through committee and the California Assembly only to be vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, much to my disappointment.

We have worked long and hard in this advocacy for our homeless friends, and I am thankful that this law finally passed in the City of Los Angeles.

Special thanks to Commander Andy Smith of the LAPD, Rocky Delgadillo, Jeff Isaacs, Mike Dundas, Gordon Turner and others from the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office for their diligent work on this issue. I am honored and URM is blessed to be represented by the Honorable Jan Perry, City Councilwoman for this District, who passionately spoke up for this ordinance and who always speaks with courage, passion and wisdom on behalf of her constituents.

We are very happy that the City of Los Angeles lived up to its title – City of Angels – today! Andy B.

What issues are you concerned about in our city?

What can you do to address them?